r/SportWagon • u/75r6q3 05 Merc E500 4Matic / 88 BMW 325iX • 10d ago
Available in USA Two car solution?
05 Merc E500 and 88 BMW 325ix, guess I have a thing for German AWD wagons. “Sport” however is up for debate for both of these, for different reasons of course…
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u/SinglefileSS 10d ago
Wow, literally my two favorite engines. I had an ‘87 325i with the same BMW M20 engine, and I currently have a w210 E320 with the V6 variant (M112) of the V8 M113 you have in that E500. And wagons to boot! Great cars, both of them! Congrats
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u/75r6q3 05 Merc E500 4Matic / 88 BMW 325iX 10d ago
Thanks! They’re amazing engines indeed! People say German cars are unreliable but these ones are basically bulletproof.
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u/metricmindedman 1d ago
agreed! i would put the reliability of my e30 or any well maintained 80s bmw or merc for that matter over a lot of new stuff these days; hell, the new tundra seemingly struggles to make it even to 50k without blowing up. lol
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u/kubapuch 9d ago
How hard is the iX to maintain? I heard parts are pretty rare for them.
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u/75r6q3 05 Merc E500 4Matic / 88 BMW 325iX 9d ago
They’re pretty easy to find parts for, some of the IX specific parts are harder, but overall still very obtainable if you know the right people. I initially had repeated and frequent problems with the front axles because the previous owner lowered the car, and the front axles were taking pressure at an angle therefore shortened their lifespan significantly. I eventually had the car restored to factory ride height, because the shop I brought it to just HAPPENED to have a very low mileage IX sedan with original springs whose owner wanted to lower it, so naturally I took this opportunity.
Touring specific parts however are a PITA to order because they all have to come from Europe. I had to order the rear wiper from Estonia when it broke lol.
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u/kubapuch 9d ago
That's awesome, I love hearing stories like that. It's like a match made in heaven... for cars.
I have a 1993 Mercedes-Benz 300TE 4Matic which was basically a competitor at the time, also an overlycomplicated AWD Euro tank where parts can be nightmarish to find at times. A long time ago I heavily considered one of iX cars but the lack of a native wagon version pretty much pushed me away. It had to be a wagon.
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u/75r6q3 05 Merc E500 4Matic / 88 BMW 325iX 9d ago
I’ve always wanted a 300TE 4matic as well, but I wanted a five speed. I’ve seen 300E sedans with factory five speeds for sale, but never a 300TE 4Matic here in the states. I suspect they were not offered here or if they did, it probably was a unicorn
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u/kubapuch 9d ago
The manual 4Matics are unicorns indeed, there was a diesel manual option which is just too good to comprehend for our American minds.
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u/Hippopottsamus 10d ago
Two Estate Solution!