Now, for just about every petrol head, or perhaps even everyone, one of the biggest and most memorable moments in one’s life is their first car. That is, unless you care so little about cars that you’ve managed some way to avoid suicide from being verbally and physically harassed by your classmates from riding your childhood bicycle with tassels for your entirety.
Either way, the car that was took up the challenge to being my first major key to freedom was a clean, well-maintained 1994 Mercedes-Benz W124 E320 Coupe with a low 76,469 miles on it. As far back as I remember, the first car I ever fell in love with was the black 1980s Mercedes-Benz W126 420SEL driven by the Triads in Lethal Weapon 4. Let’s not forget folks, I was seven years old when I saw that movie. Since then through the ownership of my E320 Coupe, my love for the Stuttgart brand grew to an obsession. And I’ll explain why.
The longest road trip I have ever driven on my own was a lofty nine-hour road trip from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia to visit one of my best friends from high school—roughly 470 miles. And I was not worried one bit as I was in my third year of owning my Mercedes. By then, I new my car inside and out—I knew of its place and importance in automotive history as well as its particular highlights. So while I was practically already married to my first car, getting inside of it to carry out the longest road trip ever yet for me was no different than driving to Starbucks for a cup of Joe.
I woke up bright and early on a Wednesday during the spring of 2010 to make sure I was ready, packed and set for the long journey to Virginia. Clothes? Check. Munchies? Check. One-dollar tallboy Arizona teas? Radar detector? Can’t leave with out it.
At around 12 noon, full of breakfast, I tugged the long, heavy door to step inside the black Benz and embark on the trip. With every entrance into the E320, I couldn’t help but appreciate the fastidious build quality. The opening and closing of the coupe doors resembled that of a tank so much, that it was an event in itself…a petrolhead’s odd, but rather guilty pleasure. Now this isn’t one that comes from arousal, but rather through appreciation. If my memory serves me right, the E320 had around 140,000 miles on it and yet the interior looked as if it had yet to be broken in. Everything had the solidity of a brick house.
Inserting the skeleton-like laser-cut key into the tumbler, firing up the 3.2-Liter M104 straight-six only brought a slight shutter to the car as the engine’s presence disappeared at a high idle just above 1k RPM for a cold start. Even with the at the time mileage accumulation of roughly 140,000 miles, the car was still as refined as its Germanic build quality proudly boasted. After the car shortly settled to a nearly hybrid-quiet 600 RPM idle,
The first part of the journey began when I gunned the E320’s straight six to its 6400 redline to merge with high-speed flow of traffic on I-95. Regarded by many Benz enthusiasts as the best six-cylinder ever produced by the brand, the E320’s M104 offered 217hp and 229 lb-ft of torque. It was during a time when Mercedes built their cars to the “cost-no-object” ideology set forth by the company decades ago—something that permeates throughout the entire car. But the engine is also thoroughly modern featuring tech that even basic cars these days usevariable valve lift, electronic fuel injection, four-valves per cylinder. Some time before the road trip, the same friend I set off to visit in Virginia rode shotgun with me to test the E320’s 0-60 time. Low and behold, we clocked 60 in at 8.29 seconds, just a hundredth of a second off of the official factory time of 8.3 seconds
Though with that flat torque curve, the E320 felt far faster than its numbers suggested. A true testimony to the precision engineering that paid off by keeping the car still very fresh in its operation. Ok, so onwards. First waypoint on the trip: Baltimore.
Now, it was on long road trips that I learned to appreciate the E320 and even reflect on its history and pedigree for a bit to appreciate the brand even more. As I sat there and glanced at the exterior temperature gauge, which read an accurate 76 degrees, I set the cruise control at a comfortable 79 mph,
sat back and cruised. It was moments on the highway that Mercedes-Benz’s history of anal retentive engineering paid off to make some of the most sublime highway cruisers ever made, the E320 being no different. The W124 went down in the book of superlatives in ways that explain the way the Benz just ate up miles. For instance, the W124 E-Class had the lowest drag coefficient of any car at its time at just 0.28 Cd. That of course also translated into fuel economy—30 mpg popped up very frequently for highway driving.The miles rolled by as I cruised my way down to Baltimore. About two hours into the trip, I couldn’t help but reach for my bag of potato chips that sat on the seat next to me in a plastic Shop-Rite bag. I shifted my hands around to pop the bag open, the Benz tracked straight and true on the rather worn-down surface of the NJ Turnpike section of I-95. I reached in to grab a handful and the inevitable chip slid right out of my grip and into the slot just between the seat and the center console. Damnit! Being a bit of a clean freak, I always dread a dirty car…especially when you discover that lost potato chip or French fry that is so stale that flies refused to eat it. I reached over to see if I can snatch it up and to my relief, I remembered that Mercedes put inserts between those very slots to keep pocketed items from getting caught in the most untouchable spots inside a vehicle. There, another moment for me to appreciate the Benz, purely from their attention to detail.
In fact, everything in the car was designed not only to a “cost-no-object” build quality standard, but to form following function. The shift gate was shaped to avoid confusion when choosing gears by feel. The body was designed specifically to be aerodynamic. The taillights and the side indicators have ripples in them to prevent the build up of dirt that could inhibit their luminescence. Headlight wipers were standard to perform the same function. The passenger side rear-view is squared for better short-distance visibility where as the driver-side is rectangular for better long-distance visibility (coming from a country where you will be penalized for not staying right unless passing). Wait, hang on, Baltimore? Already? Before I knew it
I remember purposely making the route slightly longer because part of the experience of long road trips is to see what other parts of the world were like. But before I left the interstate to see what kind of entertaining back roads the mid-Atlantic can offer, I pulled for a quick rest stop just outside of Baltimore. While I stretched my legs out, I observed the black Benz from the outside. Size wise, the E320 Coupe is not much different than your modern day late-E46 BMW 3-Series coupe.
As for the shape, I have always thought that the E320 Coupe made much better use of the W124’s proportions. While the sedan looks fairly edgy and stodgy at several angles (Porsche-tuned 500E aside with the flared wheel arches), there was no angle at which the Coupe looked miles better as its proportions are complemented by the sleeker profile of two-less doors. Sure, the Coupe may have looked aged next to your current BMW 6er or Mercedes CLK with its two-tone under cladding. But the E320 Coupe still embraced the elegance and classiness that came with the hood-mounted Three-Pointed Star as it ages gracefully in the era of the Bangle-butt. But one of the most unique exterior features of the E320 Coupe was the ability to open all four-windows without the presence of a b-pillar. Ok, break time over. Onwards into West Virginia.
Legs stretched and ready to go, I was willing to put the E320 to the test with some good back local back roads. Now you’re probably thinking: there are far more better cars suited for that sort of job. But a Mercedes-Benz? The E320 was very much a driver’s car, but one that differed in many ways to what others would call the performance drivers’ cars, Mercedes-Benz’s direct rival: BMW. For instance the lack of cup holders, driving position, and exterior visibility proves that the E320 was designed primarily also for driver orientation and nothing other than the sole practice of driving. But that’s not all.
At the first swooping corner I found, the big five-spoke wheel yielded the Benz’s recirculating ball-type steering system’s characteristics. Although on the slower side with 3.0 turns lock-to-lock, it was accurate and adequate for point and shoot steering. It was also well weighted and had linear and natural progression as well as plenty of feedback. Although the steering may have not offered the same amount of road feel as a BMW or Honda tiller, enthusiasts wouldn’t be upset having this car as a daily duty.
five-way multilink rear suspension (only employed by Ferrari and professional race cars at the time) from the earlier developed W201 190E, father to the current C-Class, the suspension was very ahead of its time as many mainstream automobiles haven’t utilized these suspension designs until the late 1990s and even still don’t utilize such designs entirely.
The Benz also had a near-50/50 weight distribution, 53/47 front and rear to be exact. The results were very balanced and neutral handling characteristics with understeer and oversteer both kept in check, making for very confident turn-in with the rear following nicely. Only if you purposely plowed the car heavily into a corner will you result in understeer (but that’s basically the story with anything on wheels). Otherwise, the car was pretty nimble for its cumbersome weight of 3,550lbs.
No comments:
Post a Comment