Off the R&T 1987 November issue, come three articles of new-for-1988 luxury cars from Germany. And camels!
Well, perhaps Audi were still not considered as such back then, but they were certainly on their way:
Now for the BMW:
Ending this trio is the slick MB:
Still think the W124 coupe is one of the nicest-looking Benz designs of all time. As to the 80/90, there is a car that has completely disappeared (though I don’t know how well they sold in the wake of the Unintended Acceleration Fiasco anyway). One still sees the occasional facelft 90, but not these original cars.
I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw this generation of 80/90, either…until I visited Poland three years ago. I was shocked at how common they were!
I’ll take the coupe.
It’s the car for which the phrase “carved from a solid block of pure unobtainium” applies. I badly wanted one back then. I never got it but still have the craving.
The last of the Proper Mercs. What a piece of S–T its replacement was the CLK.
Now worth less that a £1000 complete with rust and electrical problems. RIP 124 series.
You just have to search for one that was loved accordingly… Hard to find, but there are a fees still out there..
A 1986 750iL brochure for American market quoted 186 mph with asterisk denoting the electronically restricted top speed. A 1987 brochure was revised to show 155 mph.
I liked the Audi story and that Dr. Piech lead the drive. Typical of R/T though is the excitement over euro spec models that would not come to the USA. The 1988 USA Audi 80 has a 108 hp 2.0 instead of the 110 hp 1.8 and even the five speed version topped out at 116 mph not the 120mph the auto euro model did in the desert cruise.
When I bought my 87 300TD, I also had the opportunity to buy a 190D. This smaller Benz with the previous years 5 cylinder turbo Diesel was deceptively fast and handled very well. While I would have loved to buy both, I could only afford one… I chose the wagon. I often wondered if I had made a mistake. You just don’t see many of the little 190D’s on the road.
My favorite of the nearly 30 cars I have owned was my 1995 E320 coupe. Performance, comfort, style – it had it all. Interestingly, my wife was driving a 1994 E320 sedan at the same time. I could tell quite easily that the sedan was more rigid than the coupe. That is not to say the coupe was too ‘flexy.’ And yes, both cars gave the impression they were carved from a solid block of, let’s say, great engineering (except for the biodegradable engine wiring harness) 🙂 .