Minneapolis Street Sighting: Mercedes E320 W124 Estate

Every decade has its toughest-built cars; cars that take whatever life throws at them. Be it longevity and superb reliability,extreme comfort and an excess of class. Safe? Yeah, the W124 series of Mercedes has that, too. I have seen numerous episodes of the TV show Fifth Gear, where these things have plowed into other vehicles (and still objects like highway barriers and stopped semi-trucks) and have still come away drivable--and all occupants inside would still survive.

But the W124 isn't  solely designed to be a safe car; Mercedes (up until recently) has a thing for designing vehicles that are ahead of their time in terms of styling; for instance, can you believe the W124 itself is nearly twenty years old? This one (marked by the wheels) is one of the later ones, and its at its newest, nearly twenty years old. It wears its age well, doesn't it? Exactly.

Engine choices ranged from mild to wild (only in the 400E, and 500E versions), and most were powered by a quite-long-lasting series of six-cylinder. This one is powered by its namesake, a 3.2 liter six cylinder that churned out a not-terrible 217 horses and a decent 195 foot pounds of torque; no, this is not quite racing estate, but it isn't slow either. Word has it that the six-cylinder car can scoot along all the way to a 141 miles per hour top speed. I would almost call this a sleeper. While it's far from being the fastest thing out there, it does move along rather nicely.

While I do like these W124 wagons, this one leaves a little bit to be desired From across the street, the paint looks great, and fairly glossy. Perhaps, too glossy; it almost looks like a respray done a bit too well. The aluminum wheels are pretty clean too, and look recently refurbished as well, and the whole appearance reminds me of something Wheeler Dealers has just cooked up for a quick re-sell.

Honestly, though, I shouldn't rag on this wagon too much. I quite like the W124, and as rust eats these alive (yes, these do rust, eventually), their presence shrinks ever so slightly. I remember seeing tons of these when I was younger, but now I hardly see any.

I am glad I shot this example because, while this one looks a bit too nice, its a good representation of what these look like "new" shape. Even better, this is one of the more mundane wagons as well, and not the enthusiast-driven 400E or 500E.