Every now and then I present pieces of information that relate to Mercedes-Benz history that is somewhat significant, but mostly just stuff that might be useful for one specific moment in what might be years worth of time. One of those pieces of information has to do with the 1993 300E. Conventional thinking would lead you to believe that this car came with the 3.0 inline-6 that Mercedes has been putting in these cars and other models for years. Not the case for the 1993 300E. This car, badged the 300E, could be bought with either a M104 2.8 liter inline-6 or a M104 3.2 liter inline-6. Why they offered two different engines just for this year, I don’t know. In 1994, the model changed to the E320 and all of those cars got the 3.2 liter while the 2.8 liter moved to the then-new W202 C280. How can you tell if a car is a 2.8 or 3.2? Well, if memorizing VINs isn’t your thing, the trunk should have a 2.8 badge on the opposite side of 300E badge. Of course, some people removed those badges for a cleaner look or just didn’t want people to know you didn’t spring the extra cash for the 3.2. Another tell is that that all 3.2 liter cars have headlight wipers but only some 2.8 liter cars had them too. You can conclude that if a car is missing the headlight wipers it is a 2.8 liter so at least that is one sure fire way. Today, I actually have a 1993 300E with the 2.8 liter and immediately you wouldn’t you know as it doesn’t have the 2.8 badge. Luckily, this car’s tell is missing those headlight wipers so we can conclude it is in fact a 2.8 liter example. Isn’t all this useless information wonderful?
