No 56k: Racing to the Punchline - kicking tires with public and frankiess

That seems like great fun ! If I get my stuff sorted I would gladly join you guys for something like this at some point, that is if extra company is welcome and you'll be continueing this.

If you're looking for a car in the near future, it would definitely make for some great content for this thread; going to check out Jags and Mercs, taking pictures and commenting on the cars afterwards.
 
Whilst I am not looking for any cars at the moment, I would gladly join as well at some point.
 
we shall see if im doing this kind of a trip myself..
 
As some of you may have noticed, I'm now more or less seriously looking for some wheels. The winter won't last forever, so chances to drift are becoming scarce..

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and I'm beginning to despise public transport (not public's transport, mind).

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Problem is, the good cars have all disappeared and we're left with either utter crap or merely crappish cars. Anyway, to see what we're up against, we found our way to a green W201 Mercedes-Benz 190E. 263tkm, 4-speed manual, 2.0l petrol. Basic daily runabout, it would seem. And the asking price of 1750e seemed fair, especially if I could pull it down to ~1500e.

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First impressions:

Very neat, looking good. No rust to be seen. Interior seemed ok. Engine started as if it were brand new. I gave it a bit of boot through the backroads, and handling was great. The problems started when we reached the service station and a bit of light.

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public realized there's about 10 years of ownership-history missing. Nothing to account for the kilometres from that time? Not a good thing. Also this:

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The driver's side door was heavily rusted. Definitely lowered my enthusiasm. But I didn't give up yet. Driving back though, we noticed something else: 2nd gear was horribly hard to engage, and the diff gave out a bit of a clunk in each gearchange. public talked me into reconsidering, this was not a good deal.

I asked the seller if he would consider an offer of 1400e. He did not. We walked.




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While filling up, I contacted a certain BrotherMichael, who was cruising the neighbourhood in his impose-o-mobile. So we set up a mini-#gear.fi-meet, which consisted of warmness and closeness, as we Finns are famous for. :)

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But soon after we got to hearing a valuable third opinion from Bromic, regarding big cars, Mercs, Audis and the Kummeli-series.

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What now? Well. There's a prime example of a Merc 300TE for sale in Eastern Finland. We already got three guys with nothing better to do, two good cars and alot of open road. Roadtrip, anyone? :cool:
 
Heh, looks like a lot of fun this tire kicking project of yours :) Wouldn't mind joining in (as a paparazzi for example, like MXM already mentioned @ IRC), you have to make a "Pirkanmaa Special" some day :p
 
Yeap, the 190E had a lot of good points about it, but as a purchase it didn't have that "gotta have it"-factor. I noticed the random small rust spots around the car at first, but then the nasty driver's door ruined much of if for me. The hood had been repainted rather badly, and looking at the resprayed side panels it did give out some repaired crash victim vibes. The seller only had had the car for a month, so he couldn't really say anything, and as I compared the plate's letters to the approx date the service history ended, I felt like it had been in a shunt in the late '90s and rebuilt. I didn't have any evidence that wouldn't suggest so, and while the 265k odo reading probably could have been true, I couldn't confirm it. With a hole in the driver's seat and the thudding rear end, I was doubting the car more than praising it. I also thought that everything that was good about this example was due to the 190E being a good car, but as an example this was not a really good 190E. So, the search continues.
 
Photographers always welcome. As you can see from my heavily photoshopped footage, my old Powershot is beginning to show its age, never being too good in the first place. We'll have to shout out a bit before the next gig and see who turns up. :D

Thanks for the interest!
 
So right now the focus is on W124 and W201 + BMW E28; all other makes and models might make do, but aren't exactly what frankiess wants. Namely, I'm still making noises about the Japanese import Opel Omega 3000, but looks like it's difficult to convince him about a 20-year-old Opel automatic. :p
 
That's a very nice country you have there. I've always said that if I wasn't British I'd like to be Finnish.

Right now everything has been snowy, frosty and foggy and generally very magical-looking around here. :)

I'll leave the complaining about taxes, fuel prices and road salt 'till later. :mrgreen:
 
To go further in offtopic a bit, let me post a photo I snapped today. Illustrates the frosted over part quite nicely me thinks ;)

Pardon the phone-quality.

 
Good thing you didn't buy that Merc. The Diff problem is common on high mileage W124 and W201's, it has to do with a socket thingy (VERY hard for me to explain in english so here it is in Finnish: Jep, eli per?murikan sis?ss? on semmonen tappisysteemi, joka "irtoaa" lokerostaan aina moottorijarruttaessa tai vaihdetta vaihdettaessa, tarkoituksena vetareiden s??st?minen ja ajamisen suurempi sulavuus. Ajan mukaan kun autolla on ajettu paljon, alkaa tapin "lokero" kulumaan, jolloin se alkaa kolisemaan vaihdettaessa. Manuaaliaskisissa ei tunnu niin pahalta kuin automaateissa. Kaverin mersulla on ajettu hiukka vajaa 700 000km (300dt automaatti) ja on vasta alkanut tekem??n tuota. Aivan 100% varmasti on mittaria kopeloitu jos muka reilun 200k ajettu Mese tekee tota.

Also, it's never a good idea to buy a 4sp as a daily driver :)
 
Google-translated it for lolz:

Yep, that stern murikan inside is semmonen peg system, which "falls off", or trays, as moottorijarruttaessa gear changes, to vetareiden savings and driving higher digestibility. According to the time when the car has traveled a lot, starting pin "niche" to run when it starts to kolisemaan schedules. Manuaaliaskisissa does not seem so bad as the machines. Buddy mersulla particle has traveled less than 700 000 kilometers (300dt automatic) and has only just begun to do that. Absolutely 100% sure to be comfortable if the meter kopeloitu fair 200k mileage Mese makes tota.

But yeah, the 190E gave out such dodgy vibes it's not a good buy.
 
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100% sure the mileage is fake if a 200tkm Merc does that. Also, it's never a good idea to buy a 4sp as a daily driver :)

Thanks for the insight. I've long wondered how long before the supposedly infamous Merc rear-end starts giving in. Never figured it to have that sort of longevity, though.
 
Thanks for the insight. I've long wondered how long before the supposedly infamous Merc rear-end starts giving in. Never figured it to have that sort of longevity, though.

Well, the diff durability is of course not "fixed". My friends car (which is for sale btw: http://www.nettiauto.com/mercedes-benz/300/2969023 ;););) ) was owned by an elderly man before he got it, and has been seriously trashed for the past year or so. Im not sure when his diff started giving in, but must have been sometime after last winter.

If you are looking for 190E's, I'd suggest you try and find a 2.3 8V or a 2.6 12V with an ASD diff (It's an absolute bitch to retrofit with all the hydraulic stuff) with a 5 speed or an automatic. Never buy a 190e with a carb engine either.

Props for looking at RWD cars aswell, it's where it's at! :cool:

EDIT: One more thing in Finnish: En ole satavarma onko kaverin auton per? sen 700tkm vanha mik? korilla on ajettu, mutta ainakin 380tkm+, josta viimenen 15k hiton kovaa ajoa, ja tosiaan viime kev??ll? alkoi ??nt?m??n.
 
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Apart from the diff problem...what did you guys expect??? You're in the market for a cheap 15/20+ year old car, and you expect it to have a full service history and no bodywork problems??? Dream on...
 
Yeah, who here has ever bought a low-mileage 18-year-old car for 1500 euro with FDSH and no rust? :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, who here has ever bought a low-mileage 18-year-old car for 1500 euro with FDSH and no rust? :rolleyes:

Speaking of which...did you fix the pop-ups?
 
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