124 - most classic shape ever.

I have owned a 123 300D and a 124 300D at the same time. Both standard non turbo salons. The 124 is much faster and responsive , but for some unknown reason, the 123 takes you into a relaxation state of mind , basically just going with the flow wrapped up in a world that you don’t care how fast the outside world is going past.

Rare to find someone who appreciates this stuff on KZfaq. The greatest era of Mercedes, absolutely love it all

I think something worth mentioning is that all wagons of this size Mercedes (so not the c-class) starting with the W123 had slef levelling rear suspension. So no when loaded and started up, the car would level itself and retain the full suspension travel and geometry when driving! To the single wiper: The W202 and i think the 190 series had them too. And a note to the 2 batteries in the 211: I had a 2002 one and the second battery and the battery management to me were the best of all cars i have seen to this day. After years of use the starter battery was at its end of life. So when i wanted to start my car in winter temperatures (alps) the car started immediately, but the display told me that additional features were deactivated. (for a few seconds) So it never left me stranded anywhere, even with a dead battery! All the newer Mercedes models don't have that feature anymore. Even my X204 which has 2 batteries (one is for the start stop function) can't do that. It refuses to start if the normal batteries voltage is too low. (but it doesn't tell you on any display) I always wondered why, until i heard a motor journalist saying that this is due to emission standards. They are prevented from working the starter for a longer period and having bad emissions during that time and the following startup. So i had to use the mobility warranty on two W212 for a battery that worked normal the previous day...(I hate when it's that unpredictable!) I had a W123 300TD (non Turbo) as my first car. Old by that time, worn, and used by my parents during house building. (so regularly overloaded and not babied around) It never left me stranded, outbraked a at that time new Audi comming up to the end of a traffic jam, outrun a 90hp TDI Golf and equally motored Fiat Bravo up a mountain road...(Those cars were almost new, and it had over 300 000 km on the clock, so who knows how many of the 88 original horses were still present. It has earned a place in my heart. If i had a dry and garage place to park it, i would want to have one again. Never myself owned a W124 or 210. But i had a W211 220 CDI for 200 000 km and 6 years. Comfortable, beautiful looking, low fuel consumption, huge range (mine had the 80L tank, so the reserve light went on after 1100km on the tank :-D ) And it had the CD changer. The SBC brakes i really liked. Immediate full braking power even when it pourred down as the brake pads are put on the rotors unnoticably but frequently when the rain sensor detects rain. So no water film on the rotors. And it didn't even increase the brake wear at all. (i bout mine used and until i sold it again after the 6 years, the front brakes were still original!) Had to do a number of emergency brakings at high speeds in my 23 years of driving, and out of all the cars i have driven, it felt the best at doing emergency braking in any conditions. (And the fact that i have an AMG for 7 years now should tell something i guess it feels as good, but not any better in that discipline) I also had a W212 350 CDI. Enginewise great, brakes didn't feel as potent as the SBC ones. Even quieter and more comfortable, better seats than the 211, but not as good looking. And they cut costs in interiour material thickness like the sun wisers. Also the "head rest flip down button" was gone with the 212! (sedan owners from W124 to W211 will know what i mean) Have now a W212 E63 (non turbo) and a X204 220 CDI. the X204 with its edges looks a bit like a mixture between the 124 and the G. And i fully agree,the star on the hood is great. It's something i dislike on the current lineup of Mercedes.-> That the S-class is the only one to get with the star on the hood. (Oh and the flood of displays and touch input devices. I prefer the classic elegant look of the instruments up to the the 212. And real buttons with haptic feedback)

My W124 had remote full window closure. I loved walking away from the car watching all the windows close at the same time. It was an amazing car. Now thinking of buying all these years later after watching this video

Hi fantastic vid. I have a 82 300d (non turbo) . Then the W126 500sec and most recently a w140 s 500. And they are all silver . Best wishes to the world wide Mercedes lovers around the world

I used to get in my 124 and drive somewhere, just to relax after hard day work.

Amazing video! Thank you for putting it together. A great mixture of testing data and humor. Keep the videos coming!

Hello. I am a owner of a w124 300 diesel automatic OM 603 in the same colour like yours! Yesterday i had 677777 kilometer on the speedometer! It is the best car ever. It only uses about 1 liter of motoroil on 10000 kilometer! It drives very well.

I love how much he gazes about the OM606 just a pure love

That W123 sounds fantastic!

What a treat to watch. Used to be a proud owner of W211, sedan petrol version of it. What a beautiful car that was. Had it for six years, no problem. Would love to own 124 and 123 any day. Thanks for such a beautiful video, didn't skip a second.

Really injoyed watching this.I love mercedes especially the older ones my Dad had the 230 te estate best car iv ever been in.

Best Visio I've seen,my old boss had them all but for me your daily driver had what I liked as a sales engineer. Thanks !.

I own the W123 240d Mercedes and the engineering is incredible. The car was so well built that I see other Mercedes W123 body style almost on a daily basis and these cars are over 40 years old.

Brilliant video, I’ve owned all of these over the years, not all diesels unfortunately, but loved them all. Brought back some great memories.

Thank you so much.Great compilation.Beautiful relaxing song.I love it.When you're happy you enjoy the music,but when you're sad you understand the lyrics.May God bless you always.Have a worderful day.

Brilliant video, nice to listen to someone that actually has the knowledge

I Can't get over how good the w123 Sounds with that turbo conversion!

The 2006 E320CDI is a real sweet spot for the car. It was a special year with the CDI diesel and the SBC break system. A lot of people like to complain about SBC because initially it had some reliability problems, but over the years those were all ironed out and Mercedes covers all of those issues. In practice SBC is a radically superior breaking system. It gives me a lot more confidence in my car to have a braking system that will steer the car for me. It's always going, but there's time the front wheel gets hit in a bump or hits some gravel and the other wheels are already in control and the car is steering for me with the brakes. Sometimes I'm going fast and there's a sudden obstacle when I need to just go for the brakes without thinking about heel toeing it and it can give me full braking power much faster plus if I need to take evasive maneuvers the braking system will not only maintain traction but assist me in steering the car. The 211 was break through car with computer control; the computer controlled motor with the entire computer controlled driveline is revolutionary. It has a great transmission too, the way the torque converter lock up works is fabulous, the ability to build torque and then smoothly snap down the power in a launch is badass. It's a very fast car, honestly 0-60 in 6.6 second is quite reasonable, its faster with a left foot brake. The windshield wipers have electronic self adjusting control. It's a very rapid car, not so much fast so much as extremely rapid. It drive fabulously, great fuel economy, the inline 6 is a better motor then the V8, practically it has the muscle down low, and smooth when you really want it. I get in drag races with V8 all the time, it's a formidable car. All the street racers here in cali are seeing that CDI label and being like, damn! that's a CDI, watch out. Really the value on these cars is going to go through the roof. The CDI is the best motor mercedes ever made, if you can get one, you better get one while you can. It's really one one of the finest cars on the road, Period.

Hello, thank you for this video comparing the different 5 and 6 cylinder Diesel engines. She is very informative

Best comparison I've ever seen on these, you've made a lot of people very happy ! 😁 Great vid..many thanks.

Thanks!!, you made my week, really love those cars, really feel a well made car inside, all of them are special at a particular way....

I owned a W126 300 SDL for 350K miles. What a great car! Never had a problem, not even a flat tire. Did service, preventative maintenance and just drove it every day for 30+ years.

Been waiting for something like this! Cheers

Cool vid Luke! Thanks again for all your valuable input with my G wagon 606 build. Regards from South Africa😎😎

nice trip down memory lane. I rode in the fintail diesel, the /8 Diesel, drove the W123 240D, the g wagen diesel in the mid 80s, the sprinters grandpa the 207D, and also the 314D Turbo, the W124 when i worked for MB, loved the 190 2.5 Turbo Diesel. i commercially drove a Ruthmann Unimog. Never drove the E-class or newer. here in the US '99 7.3 Liter Powerstroke F250. I may be a Diesel man :) edit: forgot the LP813D and the 613D, 809D, 1320D, etc

There's this W124 diesel that I see all the time and it is still running today. There is a little bit of rust but it's still in relatively good condition. When it accellarates there is no black smoke or anything from the exhaust. Shows how reliable these cars are.

You've achieved the impossible here - giving us new information about cars that have been done to death on KZfaq. Nicely done!

The W123 set the example, the others of course followed. W123 will always be legendary.

Love those old Mercedes diesels! I am driving a S212 as my daily now, but those old diesel-mercs are something special.

That's the best video you guys ever made!!!😀

Excellent video!! Subscribed! Greetings from Madrid!

made it to the end .. i'm certain people have used various merc estates for long distance charity drives .. makes sense if you have a crew of 4 , one drives , one navigates & other 2 are fast asleep in the back .. change over every 4 hours & just keep on motoring

Awesome video guys love these videos I really miss my w210 think I might hunt one back down again w211 is Awesome car to my dad had one I loved driving it

I have a 92, 124, 300D 2.5 turbo diesel. I also had a 77, 123 240D? It was the most reliable car. But definitely not a jack rabbit off the line!🙄🤫! 2 days later 60! Just kidding. My 92 300D is still remarkable. I Unfortunately need a new turbo. And the pump seals are starting to leak after 150k. Thank you very much for sharing these Beautiful cars! And the Differences between them!

Good talk...very interesting and smooth delivery

Glad to see that are a lot of diesel and merc enthusiasts like myself in these days. Greetings from Romania!

So glad I found this channel. I love these cars also. I had 2 1987 W124s 300Ds in the US and my most recent daily is the 2005 W211 E320 CDI. The only things that go wrong on these it seems are the injector seals causing Black Death but other than that no major issues at all with these. Super reliable. I also have a US BMW 535D but that engine is a ticking time bomb with the CP4 injection pump and weaker timing chain and carbon build up. It performs well and had a lot of nice tech but nothing like the Mercedes solidness and reliability. With that Mercedes had continued with solid Diesel engines but seems like they are getting phased out. Such a pity. Really enjoy the content. Hope you doing something with the OM648 some day.

Great video guys. I have a couple of 123's. Both 240's. Slow as a turtle but will never leave you stranded. I also have a '92 300D W124 with the 5 cyl diesel. That is an amazing car. Like a floating tank. Keep up the great work.

Love the sound of the 5 cylinder, (biased though) I did stupid distances in 124's fantastic cars, great to see them on the road :-)

I have a S210 300Td (1998) Avantgarde since 4 years ! Its super(family)car... Your channel is fantastic! The 6 cylinders is the best architectural motor... 👍 👌

thank you for making a video with w123.

I’ve driven a 124 delivering furniture, and a couple of different 210s when I was taxiing. In 1999 my boss bought a red 200e estate for £2500, a 1988 model. I remember £40 of petrol then would take you 300 miles. When I taxiid a few years later, I drove a 210 300D saloon in non turbo automatic diesel, and a 220CDI. These covered obscene mileages but the CDIs had many electrical gremlins. I experienced similar gremlins in our Vito 7 seaters, and in Vito vans that I drove delivering meat to butchers. One common fault was if it wouldn’t rev past 1800 rpm, you had to switch engine off, then back on again, and this fixed the problem. With the 300D the only problem was whether it would rust to death before reaching 55 mph lol, and whether the gearbox wanted to shift from 1st to 2nd gear! Outside our depot would get dangerously icy as it was next door to a car wash, so giving it the beans used to “accidentally” lead it to donut mode, this was hilarious. The 300D and 220 CDI were both crashed not by myself though. One succumbing to snow in the Mourne Mountains, and another had a bump with a bus as far as I remember! The 300D was ran on red diesel before we bought it, so smoked like an old coal fire for the first few thousand miles. After that it was quieter and cleaner, proper working cars these were 😊

Great video very informative! We had a 1996 e300 avantgarde in azurite blue over black cloth bought it brand new factory order! The wood trim in the avantgarde was black birds eye maple lol

I Loved that in the end of the video the new Mercedes drove by just to say Hallo, I had to reply n I felt so happy

Fleet goals

Every part of this gathering of kings. The most powerful diesel engines ever. Long-distance kings. I love mercedes. Every Mercedes. Especially diesel. Big like.

rally enjoyed that i bought a w211 e320 cdi not long ago and i love it

Beautiful cars, I have the w211 cdi sedan wish the wagon was available in 🇺🇸, thank you for your videos really enjoy watching.

Great video!👌🏼👍💪Legendary cars!👍

I'm a massive VAG Fanboy, but after watching this video even I want one of these cars 😃. Great upload!

The conductor plate in the W211 is likely the reason for the sluggish shifts and a very common issue with those cars. I've done mine and it made a big difference.

Very good report. I drive W124 200D, only with 4 wheels, 4 cylinders, 4 crank windows, but a lot of fun. My summer car unfortunately has no star on the hood, but in the radiator grille, a W209 CLK 320cdi, 2005 model with only 70tkm. Next week he goes into hibernation again, then the murderous 200D has to work again.

thanks for sharing watching here from the philippines

That w124 is almost identical to mine except it has cruise control. Beautiful cars

Interesting video with some good info 👍🏻

The W123 wagon my favorite 😍

Mate, great quality vid!!!!

Never had noticed before how nice the NA 603 sounds at higher RPMs, it almost sounds like a gasoline car. The 606 and the 648 are quieter but they sound like a diesel at any RPM. The 300TD is possessed. I own a W123 turbodiesel and didn’t know they could rev that fast, sound like that and accelerate that quickly.

I bought a 220CDI 211 facelift Elegance new in 2007 with some options, beautiful car inside out. Today I'm driving 2016 250 Blutech 9-gtronic with almost all options. Great car but the W211 ser 2 is in my heart.

Love this already

Luke’s take is amazing for him choosing the w124 💪👌👌👌👌💯

Friend owned W124 CE and it was liking sitting on a couch. Nice ride, quite and all time classic. I'm thinking about buying W210.

W124 still looks so good.

Great video

Just clocked 240,000 on my beloved 2009 W211 Wagon, driving back from IKEA with a boot load 😊 Nothing will part me from Mercedes but especially the E-Class, Stuttgart taxi for a reason! 😄I'll get another 100,000 out of her! The new ones just don't have the same feel, and no badge, it makes me sad 😔. They truly are the best family car ever, great vid showing real appreciation

Great video pals. It is nice to see that I'm not the only cat driving these. I bought a 97 e300d with 300k on it last year for use in Africa. Before that, I had shipped a 1996 e300d in Africa in 2010 because back then it was almost impossible to find a "luxury" car that would yield and average 30mpg. Ten years later, I went for the same car and I'm glad I did. Now, Diesel fuel is filthy dirty in Africa, so I was wondering what your guys think of the Liqui Moly 2005 Diesel injector cleaner. I have seen them used on the w124, but I wonder if using them on the w210 is wise.

i was gonna say that the w210 is my favorite but to be honest i love all of them and all of them are my favorites

I love the old Mercedes, from the Ponton diesel and onward. So many nice touches that make the cars. I have a W210 320CDi that I love, and think it's far better than my facelift 124. I really want a W115 240D 3.0 with a nicely sorted 617 around 150bhp.

Very entertaining vid 👌👍 loved it 👍 W123 is a peach 👌👍

Loved this video! Keep it up! The w123 would fetch 15k easy. Those 124s are starting to look very nice.

That 123 is beautiful! Would love to own the estate!

Great video 🎉

I had a 123 I loved it I sure miss it

From the 1990's to the early 2000s we had the W124 200D as standard mini cabs in Kenya along with the Hackney carriage. There are a few still left today. Miss the sound of this diesel motor.

Thank you for very good video 😎👌

True true true. I have A8 4.2 TDI, CLK 240 and A6 2.0 TDI and... my trusty W124... I dont know why I bother with other cars - I just choose W124 everytime I am going out... such a lovely car!

Enjoyed the drive by btw, never seen a W123 move so fast and in a somewhat undignified manner with its back end squatting down under hard acceleration. Mmm, rarely used together, 'acceleration' and 'W123'. Great camera work and editing guys, you really know your Mercs. Whilst this seems to be a diesel channel, I've got to say my W124 300TE petrol was one of the smoothest, quietest cars I've ever driven and with its self levelling suspension was just sublime, the steering was so light I could turn it with one finger but the steering was also so low geared that you could never tackle a roundabout aggressively, the car would insist on sensible progress at all times, none of that hooliganism.

This was very entertaining for me because i had all those cars with exactly those engines. Only the W123 i did not own. I had the W140, W219,W220 and a Viano all of them Diesel. Currently i drive the W212 Estate. Mercedes : Wilkommen Zuhause !

This makes me want a W211!

I have the E240 2005 now and I really love it so much that I want upgrade but can’t let her go. Sometimes I drive it hard to breakdown but it doesn’t 😂. I had the E220 cdi, E320 cdi and even the E220d w223 but came back to w211 as it’s so cheap and the comfort and reliability is the same.

Woo Excellent - see you next video

Awesome guys👍

Great video !

Ohoo ..Love this🤩

Loved this

Awsome vid!

When it comes to diesels, torque is the number worth mentioning IMO.

You've nailed it re theses old mercs. Went from a 95 c180 that cost me 400 quid to a 2013 audi. Now in an e39 bimmer

Nice video! 😊👍

Love all 4 of them. Add a w124 300d 88 manual…loved it, drove all europe, Nurburgring and back to Portugal 🇵🇹 exchange it for a w126 260e converted to a 300 TD 603 with manual gear… not soo much in love like i was with my old w124🙀😻🙀 Love your work. Best regards

nice video 45min in a blink of an eye

4 Mercedes in 1 day HAHA love it! "THE CARS"

I own a w210 saloon with the 3.0 TD OM 606 . Of course is fully loaded for it's time. I also have AMG whells and suspension lowered a bit. The engine is tuned and has a big turbo developing somewhere around 380 hp. Not the max you can pull from this engine, but more than enough for me to make the car move, keep the reliability and have a decent gas mileage. I really love my merc. Owned a w211 and sold ot for a W219 CLS and then a W218 cls wich i still own today. My wife has a the new 2021 e class....But that old w210 is the best of the bunch. I really love old Mercs.....Sad they don't make mercedes as they used to do.

Different car but my father ran a merc 190 E diesel OM601 and when he got rid of that car it had no joke 560,000 miles on it, the running costs were brilliant, absolutely bomproof!!!

I've got an e270 2.7cdi avantgarde. The catch to open the bonnet further is for the workers at the workshop. 👌

Like them all, but the S123 is the number one for me 😎

I owned a w123 300tdt 1985 stw. One of the best car I've driven.

Hi, I live in France and my daily drivers are a W124 300D 571000kms, (uses NO oil!) and a W124 520D 5 cylinders 20 valves, 349000kms (uses NO oil!) a Marseille taxi drivers son gave me if I promised to put it back on the road and to save it from the scrap yard. They are great, but the 250D has so little power!!! I don't know if this is normal?!! Anyway, love your vids, love W124's, keep up the good work and vids!