280E

Amazing Build Quality, Fantastic Comfort & Refinement

I live in Thailand, used cars are much more expensive in Thailand than in the UK, however repairs and maintenance are very much cheaper and corrosion is not an issue.

For the last few years I have bought new small cars, I decided that I wanted a second car and I wanted it to be something interesting. I decided on a W123 because they are easy to buy parts and maintain and they look good in my opinion.

After 6 months of searching a friend told me his neighbor was selling a 280E, it's a left hand drive german spec but it only had 2 owners from new and the current owner has owned the car 15 years. I wasn't keen on LHD, but when I saw the car I decided it was the best that I would find as the 280 K-Jetronic M110 engine runs very sweet with a genuine 170,000 Km. It cost me nearly 4,000 pounds to buy the car, but it was worth it.

Initially I had to get all the brakes replaced, new pads 2 new discs and all calipers rebuilt and a full service with all fluids and filters replaced (that cost 150 quid in a mercedes dealer, I told you Thailand was cheap!), next I changed the fuel filter, fuel punp and pressure regulator to fix a hot start issue (again cheap) and then I had a whole new leather interior with new carpets and headlining which cost 1000 pounds (but it was a super job) and that included repairing the sagging drivers seat.

I had a whole new exhaust system fitted that cost about 125 quid. Last but by no means least the Air Con was fully checked and repaired at a cost of about 80 pounds, now the air con is ice cold which is very important here in the tropics.

I had all the mechanical work done at a proper Mercedes dealer in Chiang Mai, then just before christmas last year we took the car (3 adults and a child on board) round Thailand and Laos for a holiday, we covered thousands of km and about 500 of those were on really bumpy tracks in laos where the only other vehicles were 4x4, my 208E was comfortable and handled the rough roads with ease.

Just 2 weeks ago I drove a 1800km round trip to the Bangkok motor show and spent 2 hours in standstill traffic in Bangkok's notorious traffic jams, it didn't miss a beat and the car and me were kept nice and cool despite furnace like temperatures outside.

It uses about double the amount of fuel that a modern small hatchback would use, and it cannot use the cheaper E10 or E20 gazohol, but thats OK.

I'm convinced that no other 34 year old car could offer such stylish and affordable luxury, I don't use it as a main vehicle and it leads a pampered existence now. I'm so pleased I'm thinking of replacing my primary car (A 2010 Suzuki Swift) with a late model W124.

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