Beschreibung
1989 Mercedes 190E 2. 5-16v often referred to as a Cosworth. Non catalytic convertor version which is 204HP.
146k miles
MOT June 2018
No road tax included as per new rules
Can be insured on a classic car insurance policy for as little as £200 with an agreed value.
Brief specification:
Almandine Red
5 speed manual Getrag dogleg gearbox
ABS brakes
Automatic locking differential (ASD)
Electric windows
Electric tilt & slide sunroof
Full black leather interior
Heated front seats
Rear headrests
Outside air temperature gauge
Illuminating vanity mirrors
Voltage and oil temp gauge
Lap timer
Extras/ upgrades
16" EVO1 or R129 SL wheels 225/ 45/ 16 Dunlop 9000 sport tyres
Upgraded metal rear anti-roll drop links from a W124
EBC Yellowstuff pads all around
HEL braided brake pipes
Yellowspeed racing club performance monotube suspension which includes separate adjustment for rebound dampening and compression, also featuring external canisters for better heat dissipation. Adjustable pillowball camber plates. This suspension is £1, 450 new on its own. There are 33 different settings on both rebound dampening and compression, at the softest setting the car is fairly comfortable and can be lived with on a day to day basis.
Upgraded metal thermostat housing
Magnecor ignition leads with lifetime warranty
Metal ball Ferrari Dino/ 355 dogleg pattern gearknob
Focal 100 CA1 speakers
Stainless steel exhaust with subtle single downturned pipe, deleted middle box 1 of 2
Adjustable rear camber arms
EVO1 splitter
Short shift kit
Comes with spare key, some old tax discs, vehicle manual and plenty of receipts.
I bought the car late 2012, at the time I was studying and decided to concentrate on my studies rather than messing around with cars. I bought the car with around 141, 000 miles.
I did a few upgrades at the time but decided that I need to stop spending time on cars. I parked the car up after a few months of driving and it was mostly left like that for around 2 years. It was parked up between early 2013 and mid 2015, as you can see the receipts will back this up.
Brief history in the period the car has been with me.
2012
-Full service, air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, spark plugs replaced along with oil change (141, 000 miles)
-Accelerator cable replaced (by previous owner)
-Stainless steel exhaust fitted
-Magnecor ignition leads
-YellowSpeed Racing Club Performance suspension fitted
2013
-HEL braided brake lines
-New Pagid Discs all around
-AP DOT 5. 1 brake fluid
-EBC yellowstuff pads all around
-Hydraulic fluid replaced
- Oil Change
2014
-Adjustable rear camber arms
-Replacement Magnecor ignition lead
2015
-Throttle body butterfly replaced
-Distributer cap and rotor arm replaced
-Coolant temperature sensor
-Fan switch
-Air temperature sensor
-Wiper motor lubricated
-Sunroof lubricated
-New injectors
-Upgraded anti roll bar links
-New rear lower arm bushes
-Diff oil changed – 143, 000 miles
-Oil Change - Mobil 1
2016
-New fuel filter
-1 of 2 exhaust middle boxes removed
-Alternator rebuilt
-Valve clearances measured and adjusted – 143, 229 miles
-Waterpump replaced (along with fresh MB coolant and gaskets) – 143, 452 miles
-New thermostat and upgraded metal thermostat housing
-Heater matrix and all relevant seals replaced
-Gearbox oil changed – 144, 911 miles
-Propshaft bearing support, vibration damper and propshaft coupling replaced.
- Oil Change - Mobil 1
2017
-New Battery
-Chain tensioner replaced
-New OVP relay and radiator hose
-Fuel pressure accumulator replaced
2018
-Oil & oil filter change, power steering fluid flushed and new filter
A lot of the above has been preventative maintenance, the car will reflect this in person. Don’t mistake this for your average Mercedes 190E 2. 5-16v which has been neglected, this car has been enjoyed and maintained properly with whatever it has needed, as well a few upgrades along the way. Any little clips/ screws/ clamps etc. have been renewed with original parts from Mercedes.
This car is an absolute joy to drive, it has always been a second car which is why it has been driven so little recently, most of the mileage has been late 2015 onwards. It has generally only been driven on weekends, and is kept in a dry brick garage. The oil has been changed every few thousand miles.
Exterior
The bodywork is nice and clean, free of scratches/ dents etc. The front end of the car has been painted recently.
This car has no rust in the usual places, for prevention all four arches have been undersealed in an OEM like coating.
No real changes to the exterior apart from the 16” EVO1 wheels which are very much an OEM style upgrade and the EVO1 front splitter. The wheels have some of the usual marks, kerbed lips and some corrosion, these were my spare wheels so never bothered to tidy these up. The headlight wipers have been removed to make the front end look smoother, but will be included with the car if you wish to refit. Lastly I bought a brand new set of boot badges, but I quite liked the look of the car without the 2. 5-16v and 190E badges, these again will be included in the sale.
Interior
The interior is pretty much all black with the seats in good condition, the drivers seat doesn't have excessive wear but does have a very small tear (about the size of a 5p coin, low down on the right hand side bolster), everything works including the lap timer which often doesn’t due to the display bleeding. All other dials/ gauges work as they should. The seats were done by Recaro and they did an awesome job on the rear seats too, as they are very comfy!
The black door cards are in good condition apart from a small nick to the drivers side rear door card.
The front speakers have been upgraded to Focal 100 CA1 speakers and these work well with the Becker Indianapolis head unit I’ve been using, unfortunately the head unit won’t be included in the sale.
The rear parcel shelf has been retrimmed, this means it no longer has any rear speakers but again a pair of OEM blaupunkt speakers will be included in the sale.
Suspension/ Wheels/ Tyres/ Brakes
This 190E handles superb on the uprated suspension so is a lot of fun on twisty roads, the OEM discs with EBC yellowstuff pads are very effective. The rear tyres were new in 2015 so have covered very little mileage and you can still see the little rubber bits on the edge that new tyres have. The fronts have around 4-5mm with some camber wear, which I have now swapped around to ensure they wear evenly. I’ve been running few degrees of negative camber, but this can be adjusted very easily with the pillowball camber adjustable top mounts.
The car is smooth on the move as you would expect of any Mercedes, there are no knocks etc.
The original suspension is included in the sale, in case you wanted to reinstate this. (from what I remember this was in working order, only reason this was replaced was for the better adjustability and possible track use.)
Engine/ Drivetrain
The engine pulls smoothly all the way through the rev range, the dogleg pattern manual gearbox is smooth with the usual characteristic of being a little notchy which many of the car reviewers mentioned when the car was released.
The gearbox oil has been changed at 144, 911, the car has always been run with Shell V-power and the diff oil was changed at around 143, 000.
The previous owner mentioned the head was rebuilt at some point, but I have nothing to back this up. There are no nasty noises from the engine/ timing chain.
As mentioned the oil has been changed more frequently than it has ever needed to be, especially for how much it has been driven.
I checked and adjusted valve clearances in January 2016 at 143, 229 as they were starting to get a little noisy (some of the inlet side ones were loose). This is quite normal for this engine as the head does not have self-adjusting tappets it instead has shims which need to be swapped out to maintain the correct valve clearances. It is part of normal maintenance, valve clearances are to be looked at every 12k miles. It sounds and runs perfect.
I have a few spare parts which can be included at a price.
Here you have a very good useable example retro/ classic car that will make you smile every time you get in it (it certainly has for me!), only reason for sale is to concentrate on my W108 project which requires the space that this is currently occupying. I know I will regret selling this but unfortunately there are so many other cars out there that I’d like to experience!
More pictures here: - details above
