Free guide · 1995–1997 · M104 E32 · 220 PS
Mercedes E 320 W124 coupé & cabriolet: what to check before you buy
What this car is, and the six questions that decide whether the one you are looking at is a good buy.
In this guide · 6 chapters
Who built it, and what they built
The two-door W124: a coupé built until March 1996 and a cabriolet built until July 1997. Both with the M104 3.2 straight six — 3,199 cc, 220 PS.
This guide is about those two bodies; the saloon and the estate are not covered.
What is unusual about it, specifically
It is the car people mean when they say Mercedes used to build them to last. The cabriolet was the last of the line — it carried on for more than a year after the saloon had been replaced — and the straight six is the engine that belongs in it: smooth, unstressed, and mechanically straightforward next to what came after.
One warning that shapes this whole guide, and we are not going to hide it
On this car, our years are not the safe years.
On some of the models we cover — the S-Class W140 and the SL R129 among them — the famous fault sits mainly in the production before the years we write about. Not here. The M104 head gasket is named most often for the 1994 and 1995 cars, and the engine harness whose insulation goes brittle runs through the 1992 to 1996 build years. A 1994 or 1995 car sits inside both.
The car to look for is the late cabriolet — a 1997 build, after the harness years and later than the years the gasket is usually named for. Later is not the same as clear of it, as the next paragraph says, but it is worth knowing before you read any further.
What we cannot tell you, and are not going to guess
We have not been able to establish whether the head gasket is named as often for the 1996 and 1997 two-door cars as it is for the 1994–1995 cars. So we are not going to tell you that a later car is safe. We are going to tell you how to check it in two minutes, on every car you look at, whatever the year.
How the figures in this guide work
There are no prices in here, and that is deliberate. A workshop rate differs by a factor of two or three between countries, so a figure we cannot verify for you is worse than no figure. What does not move is how much work a job is — that follows from what has to come off the car.
So every item says whether it is an hour or two, half a day, a day, two or three days, or a week or more in the workshop, and whether the money sits in the part or in reaching it.
The six questions that decide whether this car is a good buy
1 · Is it the coupé or the cabriolet, and what is the build date?
A late cabriolet is built after the harness years, and later than the years the head gasket is usually named for.
2 · May I look in the expansion tank, under the oil cap and at the front of the engine before we drive?
Two minutes, no tools, and it is the most expensive fault on the engine.
3 · Has the engine harness ever been replaced, and is there an invoice?
On a car built between 1992 and 1996 this is not a bonus. It is the question.
4 · Has anything ever been done under the window rubbers?
Rust there is expensive for one reason: the glass has to come out first.
5 · May I take the covers off the rear jacking points?
Free, and it is the place where corrosion on this car stops being cosmetic.
6 · How much coolant does it use?
Ask it plainly. Topping up regularly on a car that shows no leak is a sentence that should stop you.
Which years, which specification
Coupé to March 1996. Cabriolet to July 1997. One engine in this guide: the M104 3.2 six, 220 PS.
Why the cabriolet ran longer. It was the last W124 body in production, well after the saloon had been replaced. That is what makes a 1997 cabriolet interesting here: it is built past the harness years, and it is the newest two-door W124 there is.
What that means in practice. On a 1997 cabriolet, the harness is largely behind you and the head gasket is a check rather than an expectation. On a 1995 coupé, both chapters apply and both are checkable before you spend money.
One difference between the two bodies. The coupé's heated rear screen can delaminate at the edges, and that is named for the coupé. The cabriolet's hood has a heated glass rear window too; we have found no source on whether it does the same, so look at it anyway.
What it is worth
Not in money, but in the only currency that matters when you are standing next to one.
A W124 two-door is bought on condition and repaired on access. Three answers decide what a specific car is worth, and the mileage is not one of them:
- what the coolant, the oil cap and the front of the engine look like, and
- what state the engine harness is in, and
- what is under the window rubbers and the rear jacking-point covers.
A late cabriolet with good coolant, a sound harness and sound jacking points is worth substantially more than its advert suggests. A cheap coupé with none of those checked is the same car with the bills in front of it.
What it is actually like to own one
Slower than you expect and better than you expect.
The M104 six is smooth and unhurried rather than fast, and the car around it feels engineered to a standard that has simply gone. Doors that shut like a bank vault, and a driving position that still makes sense.
What it asks in return is honesty about rust. This is a thirty-year-old shell with seams and rubbers, and the difference between an expensive W124 and a cheap one is almost entirely what is underneath things you have to lift.
The honest summary: it deserves its reputation, and the reputation is the problem — people buy them on the reputation and skip the two-minute checks that decide whether this particular one is worth it.
The buying guide — €24
Everything above is what the car is. This is what you check.
Seven faults that belong to this car, taken apart one by one, with how much work each repair is and how to tell which of them you are looking at. Eleven things that are simply thirty years old, every one with how much work it is, what tells you about it at a viewing, and whether it has to be done now, within a year or two, or not at all. Where a W124 shell rots that you cannot see, and which of those three places carry load. Why the build date changes which of the two famous faults you should expect, and why the late cabriolet is the one to look for. The viewing in ten steps, including the three moments that come only once. The sentences you say to the seller, and how to build an offer out of what you found.
And a card you print and take with you — twenty-three lines, in the order you do them. That comes as a separate file, because nobody wants to print a whole guide to take a few pages to a car park.
This is what one of the eleven looks like
6 · Front suspension bushes and ball joints
Half a day · in the labour Chapter 5.7. Ordinary wear at this age, not a design fault.
When the steering feels vague or the front is noisy over bumps.
And this is how the card reads
- Before the engine is started
- Standing
- On the move
What €24 buys, put next to what it saves
A failing head gasket on the M104 means the head comes off: two or three days, mostly labour. Looking for it costs nothing and takes two minutes before the test drive; what you are looking for is in the guide. The guide is €24. It will not stop any of that from being needed — but it does tell you which of them you are looking at before you agree a price, and that is the whole of the difference between paying for a car and paying for someone else's postponed maintenance.
Why there are no prices in it
Because a price we cannot verify is worse than no price, and because a price would be wrong for most of the people reading this anyway. Workshop rates across Europe differ widely, and so do parts prices. A quote from a specialist in one country tells you nothing in another.
What does not change is how much work a job is — that follows from what has to come off the car. So every point in the guide says whether it is an hour or two, half a day, a day, two or three days, or a week or more in the workshop, with a labour figure where a source gives one. And it says whether the money sits in the part or in getting to it, which is what lets you tell a fair quote from a bad one.
If you want a figure, ask any workshop one question — what is your hourly rate? — and every effort level in the guide becomes your own number, in your own currency. One question, and the answer is actually true for you.
How this guide was put together
Because you should know before you pay for it.
- Every fault and symptom comes from a source the guide names, the manufacturer's own documents first. The effort levels are our assessment, unless a source gives the hours.
- The guide says plainly that on this model our years are not the safe years — the head gasket is named for 1994 and 1995 and the wiring runs to 1996 — and that we could not establish whether the head gasket is named as often for the 1996–1997 two-doors.
- The effort of every job is counted item by item and checked against the list before every edition.
- It says as plainly what you can leave alone as what you have to do. None of the eleven age points start from leave it.
Leave your email address at the checkout and both files arrive straight away: one guide and one card, as two pdfs. No subscription, no account.
The full guide · €24
17-page guide, A4 and phone · 2-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included
Have every car inspected before you buy by someone who knows this engine. This is general information about the model and not advice about a specific car.