Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Last week I looked at a really cool 1992 Mercedes-Benz 250TD that was an European import that I’d love to own to rack up the miles. Today, we have another European-spec W124 estate although this one is still in Europe and has the steering wheel on the other side. This 1990 230TE resides in Northern England and as you might have noticed from the photo, this wagon wasn’t used as the workhorse that most were subjected to.
A little over a month ago I looked at a 1999 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG Estate that, thanks to Canada’s 15-year import law, was ready to be enjoyed by our friends to the north. Today, I have big brother E55 AMG Estate that looks to be literally fresh off the boat from Japan. This 2001 shows 47,000 miles and looks to be missing the most important W210 characteristic: rust. Although much like the W211 AMG Estate, you’ll pay a premium for that extra cargo room.
After Mercedes-Benz blessed us in North America for so many years with the W123 300TD, in both turbo and non-turbo versions, you would think they would do the logical thing and carry that on into the W124 era. Sadly, Mercedes gave us a small taste for one year only in 1987 with the 300TD powered by the OM603 that was a turbocharged inline-6. Little did we know at the time that the 1987 300TD would be the last diesel Mercedes estate that North American would get and probably ever get. We had plenty of options for gas versions, but the oil burners would never return. Thankfully, this seller in California gave us all one more example for us to enjoy and what a treat it is.
This is a 1992 250TD up for bid in California painted in Blackberry Bornite Metallic that was imported from the Netherlands. That color look familiar? It is powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.5 liter inline-5 diesel engine with a 5-speed manual transmission, patterned cloth seats, manual windows and almost zero options. Could there be a more perfect wagon for some?
The majority of the wagons were feature around here are of the Audi variety. For good reason, of course. They look good, they are all-wheel-drive, come in manual transmission and usually they have the potential to be pretty quick. But every once in awhile I pull out a Mercedes-Benz wagon that can run with the four rings. Usually it’s an E55 or E63 AMG Estate that not only looks great, but hauls ass and literally everything else. Although this time around, I have something much more rare and it’s actually on North American soil ready to be snagged up by our Canadian friends.
The W202 C43 AMG Estate is a rare bird. Only 717 of these were built between 1998-2000 and thanks to the rust monster that the W202 usually succumbs to, that number is decreasing faster than you think. Nearly a year ago, I actually checked one of these out in right-hand drive spec that was pretty tidy and what I thought was a reasonable price. But this German-import has it’s flaws and the starting price (with reserve) is pretty reasonable. So is this the one to get?
While Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have all given us superb performance wagons (yes, even in the U.S.!), the German manufacturer with “Wagen” in its name has managed to skirt a really the opportunity to engage 5-door fanatics of ‘Freedom’.
But wait, you say, what about the Passat W8 4Motion Variant 6-speed?
Yeah sure. It was a really cool concept, and with the sport package BBS wheels it even looked really neat. But it wasn’t really a performance wagon. The follow-up 3.6 4Motion Variant actually did offer a bit more sport, but only came in automatic form. The more serious R36 never came here.
However, a few years ago Volkswagen launched an even MORE potent option – the Golf SportWagon R. With a 300 horsepower version of the 2.0 TSFI linked to the 6-speed manual or DSG dual-clutch box and utilizing the same Haldex all-wheel drive as the regular Golf R, the result was no surprise – a slightly bigger Golf R equaled a small performance wagon with few peers. 0-60 could be topped in 4.5 seconds and the quarter was gone in 13.3 seconds with the DSG, it topped out at 155 mph and yet would return 30 mpg on the highway. Eat your cake and have it too, indeed!
Of course, it hasn’t come here. But since it’s a VW and VW enthusiasts are swap-happy….
