Pardon the bad pun, but I just couldn’t resist. I’ve seen this grey 190D, with its Hungarian front plate, running around town for over a year and only now got around to snapping a few pictures. From a distance, I misread its 2.2 liter call-out as 2.5, and not having seen the front, with its sealed-beam headlights, I overlooked that with its 2.2 diesel, it is painfully slow (though with judicious use of the five-speed gearbox and regular foot-to-floor applications of throttle, keeping up with traffic in-town looks to be a cinch).
The 90 horsepower and 116 lb-ft put out by the later naturally-aspirated inline-five offered a much-needed twenty-ish percent increase in output over this car’s 2.2 liter four (with its 72 horsepower and 96 lb-ft of torque) when it was replaced 1986. But clearly, this newly married couple could not elope but instead had to lope over to their wedding reception. On today’s freeways, even the meager addition of power from the aforementioned 2.5 wouldn’t go unappreciated, but it’s the 1987-only 190D 2.5 turbodiesel which would be ideal. I snagged a picture of one of those in Maine, complete with a five-speed swap, which just might be my ultimate diesel Benz (stay tuned for pics and a write-up).
But hey, while men are married for more than just their cars, any dude with a degree of mechanical savvy and interest in an uncommon, cool set of wheels deserves to attract attention from an interesting suitor. I can’t say I’d be able to resist the charms of such a gearhead myself. Plus, this W201 has a much more obscure appeal than the deservedly ubiquitous W123.
Incidentally, I’ve steadily been snapping pictures of all the local W124/W201 diesels I could find in hopes of doing a “diesel W124/W201 grab bag” feature, but as examples with the naturally aspirated 2.5 five and 86/87-only 3.0 turbodiesel six have proven difficult to come by, I’ll be breaking the remaining finds down individually into CC capsules. Now that I think about it, it’s a more fun way to share my finds, allowing our readers to fully take in each of these lovable models.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: 1985 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel – More Than A Fashion Statement
CC Capsule: 1978 Mercedes-Benz 300 SD Turbodiesel – A Curbside Classic for the Thrifty
Curbside Classic: 1970 Mercedes-Benz 220D – Ride In Teutonic Luxury (With 65 HP)
The smoked corners and backup portions of the taillights are interesting, and have a nice effect with the color fo the car. The hood pins and “tail” on the hood ornament, however, confuse me.
He also needs to replace that missing trim piece at the bottom of the driver’s door. That’s the only thing that’s missing on an otherwise well-kept old car.
W201’s are getting rare overall, so good find on this one with the smaller diesel!
These are interesting, a clean diesel stick shift one could make an interesting highway commuter, if you were handy with the tools. I remember these were the first Mercedes cars with the “mono-wiper” which I thought was soooooo interesting when it was new.
You would have thought GM would have taken notes. Guess not.
Luxury cars have never appealed to me unless there was a really good foundation underneath. My LTCs were like that and I always thought the MB diesels were too. Good find. Nice article.
Well, the Cimmaron came out before this, it was speculated, until late in the 190’s development that it would be the the first FWD Mercedes, since FWD was reportedly the best thing to come down the pike in the late 70’s since sliced bread, hand jobs and the birth control pill, then of course….everyone turned on FWD and it became the devil incarnate. But since today Cadillacs small car is still RWD and now Mercedes has a FWD entry level car, I’m wondering who should have taken notes from who?
Yes the one-year only ’87 2.5 Turbo would be the one to get though I prefer the 190E with the cladding and more flush headlamps that came in ’89. I just picked up a one owner ’90 2.6 with 55k miles. Most of the ones for sale had 200k+. Nice ones with any engine have become very difficult to find, I looked for over a year. I will try to write the car up at some point as a COAL. It is incredibly well-engineered, very comfortable and fun to drive.
Congratulations! Disable the traction control and you’ve got an excellent executive express.
Very nice sir ! Mind you, with a smooth straight six.
Still plenty of W201s of course, most of them with a 4 cylinder diesel and a very high mileage on the clock.
This Benz-youngtimer specialist though has 3 immaculate W201s with a 5 cylinder diesel in stock with relatively low mileages (2x turbo, 1x naturally aspirated). http://www.klaasdepoel.com/verkoop/#.VBsXQZUcSM-
Thanks guys it’s a real sweetheart.
I have to say, the euro plate and the us spec lights just don’t jibe….
The W201 was unloved for multiple reasons. As you point out, the initial variants were sloooow (1.9L gas engine), interior space is cramped (the front passenger footwell…isn’t), and so on. I’ll keep my W124, thank you very much!
I wonder why they kept using sealed beam lights?
Flush aero lights weren’t allowed in the us until 1985 or 1986(can’t recall exactly), the Lincoln Mark ? was the first to have them.
The Mark VII was the first US-market car with composites, in 1984. It may have been the only car to use them that year though (I think Ford had to work with the DOT to get them approved specifically). They showed up on a handful of vehicles in ’85 (Toyota Camry & Cressida, Audi 4000, Golf GTI, a few others) and were widespread for ’86.
Well I got the gist of it! Working strictly from memory on that one. Thanks for the fill-in. I remember noticing all the cool headlights popping up in the mid-80’s when I was a 13 year old, and thinking that that detail definitely separated the new from the old cars. These Benzes got much better looking when the right headlights were applied.
The W201 was so loved in these parts the factory sent us boatloads of an Australian exclusive stripper version, the 180. W201s appeared before the beancounter revolution unleashed “cars cost-engineered like no other”. Unloved and unlovely…look no further than the W202.
Perry, you’ve reminded me of this silliness:
The 180E was more because the Mercedes dealers needed to eat, and sales of the low-end cars were destroyed with the introduction of the luxury car tax in the midst of the recession at the time. Anything over 45k had 25% added to the additional cost, so you had cars costing up to 45k then nothing until 55-60k.
Wow, stainless steel bonnet locks. This car’s been racing…
The front plate is a Hungarian temporary license plate, issued for cars imported to Hungary that already passed safety inspection but before tax, customs and registration procedures.
I think the design of the W124 aged much better than its smaller brother. MB designer Bruno Sacco said in an interview that the baby-Benz targeted a new customer group, a much younger one than the average Benz-buyers of that time. That was the reason for the more boxy, edgy shape of the 190. The W124 were designed for the usual Mercedes buyers – less sporty, but more balanced, smoother surfaces. Sacco said the biggest challenge in the W124 design was to integrate the classic Mercedes grille into the aerodynamic body, and to make it looking good from every angle. I think he made a good job. 🙂
For me, it is one of Mercedes best post war designs.
Especially it’s ass.
And unfortunately these were typical Mercedes : bought new and well maintained by the first owner, to fall into the hands of shady figures who ran them into the ground eventually, fitting them with replacement body panels that d not match not fit properly.
And of course there’s the 2.3 16 valve, which was a real fast car.
Engines, or at least cylinder heads made by Cosworth , but most of these also ended up with the group of people I already mentioned.
A crisp Original 190 series, always makes me happy, elegant, looks light ( like a pagode) and has charm more then being a typical teutonic Benz.
I know people who still hang on to their beloved 190’s spend a fortune on maintenance to keep ze baby Benz in perfect shape, they can afford a whole flee ton new Benzes but only stick with the Original.