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The W124 Mercedes 500E was the world's most perfect sedan | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 05

Jun 01, 2021
Once upon a time, the entire

world

conspired to create the

perfect

sedan

. It was designed by an Italian obsessed with safety. It was designed by Germans in love with fuel economy. It had a Le Mans-winning V-8, curiously because the Japanese had just finally "arrived" in the United States... and it was so fat it couldn't fit on its own production line. Therefore, it had to be built by hand by rivals from all over the city. It was the Mercedes-Benz 500E. And it is the

most

perfect

sedan

in the

world

. In the mid-1970s, Mercedes had twice installed an inordinately large V-8 in its S-Class.
the w124 mercedes 500e was the world s most perfect sedan revelations with jason cammisa ep 05
The first was 6.3 liters of "shut up, hippie!" The second was a 6.9-liter middle finger issued right in the middle of a fuel crisis. And yet, despite these childish acts of defiance, Mercedes' image remained old and boring. Ironically, that same fuel crisis sent Mercedes into an existential tailspin and resulted in twins! The subcompact W201 and compact W124 sedans rescued Mercedes from the past and catapulted it to define the future of the automobile. Thanks to looming fuel economy regulations in the United States, Mercedes put all its engineering power behind its compact twins, which would also use a new family of fuel-efficient four-, five-, and six-cylinder engines.
the w124 mercedes 500e was the world s most perfect sedan revelations with jason cammisa ep 05

More Interesting Facts About,

the w124 mercedes 500e was the world s most perfect sedan revelations with jason cammisa ep 05...

And then Mercedes found an Italian to make them look like the future. Bruno Sacco's design was revolutionary, although it may not seem that way now, because every sedan since then has been modeled after these cars: integrated bumpers, recessed headlights, rear lights in the body with a trunk opening that sinks underneath of them. It also had a tall, wedge-shaped trunk lid to improve aerodynamics. And something else: its rear part was tapered like a teardrop. It may look like a vertical square box to the eye, but not to the air: with a drag coefficient as low as 0.26, the W124 is one of the

most

aerodynamically efficient sedans of all time.
the w124 mercedes 500e was the world s most perfect sedan revelations with jason cammisa ep 05
This was designed in the 1970s! These cars looked like spaceships when they debuted because everything else on the road looked like that! The thing about Bruno Sacco is that he had just arrived from Mercedes' security department. So while his stated goal was to create a design that would remain relevant for three decades, his real goal was at the confluence of design, efficiency and safety. That's why Sacco cars included innovations like the fascinating single articulated wiper. He covered a record 86 percent of the windshield, but his arm remained parallel to the airflow at all times so the blade wouldn't lift off the glass on the Autobahn.
the w124 mercedes 500e was the world s most perfect sedan revelations with jason cammisa ep 05
And ribbed taillights designed to continue transmitting light when covered in snow or mud. And rear headrests that lower with the push of a button so you don't back pass your neighbor's child (by accident). In the late 1980s, Mercedes was enjoying great success, with yuppies everywhere fawning over its expensive vehicles. Overdesigned status symbols. But with the new decade came a new crisis and it was called Lexus. Lexus surprised the world with a flagship that was, in almost every way, better than the Mercedes S-Class... and cost half as much! Even less than the six-cylinder 300E! Fagot! A quarter of Mercedes-Benz sales in the United States were gone overnight!
A desperate plea came from Mercedes North America: "Hey Germans! Put a V8 in that thing or we'll never be able to sell another one!" Good idea, but remember that this was a vehicle in fuel crisis: it was designed for small, thin four-, five- and six-cylinder engines. And Mercedes' obsession with safety meant the frame rails were placed near the center of the engine bay to protect you in an offset crash. Way ahead of its time, but a big, wide V-8 would never fit. And with Mercedes engineers so busy trying to figure out how to beat Lexus with the upcoming S-Class, they simply didn't have time to mess with the old 124.
But do you know who did? Porsche! Three things to remember: Porsche and Mercedes are based in Stuttgart: they are within walking distance of each other. See? Second, Porsche was in deep trouble: sales in the United States fell by almost 90 percent! They were desperate for money and work. And thirdly, Porsche has an engineering consulting service. So Mercedes reached out and hired Porsche to install the new Mercedes V-8 in the 124. Porsche Engineering would be responsible for widening the front frame rails to make room; reinforce the firewall and structure to cope with the additional power; further separating the front seats so that the exhaust passes through the new, wider transmission tunnel; and then do the side impact test.
Meanwhile, the new V-8, codenamed M119, had just made its production car debut in the 500SL... and immediately won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 1989 Sauber C9 used a 925-horsepower twin-turbo version of that engine, and took first, second, and fifth place in that race! Mercedes tested the engines after the endurance race and found that they not only made more power after the race than before, but showed negligible wear. You can't make this stuff up. Anyway, the M119 came in two different sizes, and Mercedes realized that by putting shorter connecting rods on it, the 5.0-liter could be made to have the same external dimensions as the 4.2-liter...
Which meant that the Porsche engineering could be used for two models:   The first would be the 400E, designed for the American market to compete against another car   with 400 in its name: yes, the Lexus LS400. The second model was aimed directly at Munich, with the 5-liter engine to banish the sports sedan that had been giving Mercedes Autobahn Agita for years: the BMW M5. This all-aluminum, short-stroke, big bore V-8 is a masterpiece. The block is decades old, but the heads were brand new with 4 valves per cylinder, 4 camshafts, and variable valve timing. It produced supercar power, but there was a problem.
A big, fat problem. To complement all that power, Mercedes gave the 500E suspension, wheels and brake components from the heavier, wider SL (R129). To accommodate all that, the 500E has 2.2 inches of delicious, finger-licking good fender flares. And now he was so fat that he couldn't fit on his own production line at the Mercedes plant! Once again Porsche to the rescue! The factory that had been building the 959 supercar was empty, so Mercedes paid Porsche again, this time to build the 500E. Mercedes would send a white-bodied 300E, which Porsche would then modify to fit the V-8. He sent the reinforced body to Mercedes for painting.
If it were a narrow-body 400E, it would continue on the Mercedes production line. If it were a 500E, it would be trucked to another Porsche plant along with a big box of parts. Porsche would then assemble it all into a car and send it back to Mercedes for final inspection and delivery. This absurd process took 18 days and is one of the reasons this was so expensive. In 1992, it cost $89,000! That was 35% more than a BMW M5 and, in today's terms, that's almost Bentley money. For a compact! The incredibly attractive Audi RS2 estate was built in the same factory.
Which meant that for a short time Mercedes and Audi could be seen leaving the same Porsche factory together. But while the RS2 was genuinely a Porsche-Audi collaboration, the 500E...wasn't! Everyone wants to believe the 500E was a Porsche sports sedan, but the only Porsche part is the battery cover, which has a sticker from a supplier saying Porsche bought it from them. See, Porsche did the engineering to bolt parts from one Mercedes model to another Mercedes model. Porsche did not use any of its own parts and, as far as I can tell, was not involved in tuning any of them.
But here's the thing: Mercedes didn't need any help. Almost every magazine article declared the 500E to be the best car in the world. "Automobile" said it three times in one article. Car and Driver literally had no complaints other than the price. I agree. This is a car from when Mercedes engineers outranked Mercedes accountants. And that means the price of a Mercedes would be based on what it cost to design it and then produce it, not the other way around. That's why they say (and they really used to mean it) that a Mercedes-Benz is designed like no other car in the world.
Because it was. Its recirculating ball steering is more talkative than that of any modern car, including Porsche and Ferrari. The engine is an acoustic masterpiece, with torque and acceleration. The structure seems as rigid as anything else today. The interior is... perfect. Okay, it's not perfect. It starts in second gear unless you start it, and then the traction control hates burnouts, but both things can be fixed. So, effectively, what we have here is the world's best compact sedan, upgraded with four Recaro bucket seats, flared fenders, and a Le Mans-winning V-8 under the hood. But there are no Le Mans speeds because the 500E was electronically limited to 156 mph per the gentlemen's agreement between BMW and Mercedes.
I've heard people say around the world that this car will do 178 mph if you just remove the limiter. No. Hardware changes would be needed to get the 500E to go faster than 156 mph, and that's because Mercedes chose a final drive ratio such that the engine is at its 6,000 rpm redline when the car is at its top speed. 156mph. To go faster, you would need higher gears. But choosing the short gear ratio decimated fuel economy (ironic, given that the 124 was originally designed to save fuel), but it means Mercedes never sacrificed acceleration in the name of MPG. And so, despite just four gears and a slush box, the 500E hit 60 mph in five and a half seconds, covered the quarter mile at 101 mph, and left the E34 BMW M5 for dead—and not just online! straight!
The Mercedes also outperformed the M-Car in braking and cornering. The 500E (and the E500, as it was called in its final year) has received far more enthusiastic attention than any of the big-engine Benzes that preceded it, and I don't think that's because it was touched upon. from Porsche, so was the 400E, and you don't care about that car! No, I think it's for three reasons: Number one: This is not a full-size luxury car. It's a compact car: it's the size of the current Honda Civic. Two: the 6.3 and 6.9 were basically comfortable luxury sedans with a jet pack strapped to the back.
This was a comprehensive rethinking of a luxury car with intergalactic power, which had handling to match. And three: the 500E is a W124, and the 124 has a well-earned reputation for being perhaps the best-designed, best-proportioned and most durable sedan of all time. They say "it takes a village," and in the case of the 500E, it took the brainpower of Mercedes, Italian design, American fuel economy standards, Japanese competition, and then Porsche engineering. So it took more than just a village: it took half the world, including two car companies that were in the same village. But all those forces came together to create what was certainly then, and probably still is today, the most perfect sedan in the world.
Okay, then you'll keep the Ferrari framed at all times. Okay, yeah, okay, action, I'm not some rich YouTuber asking you to like and subscribe. Hey, keep the Ferrari away. I'm an automotive journalist asking you to like and subscribe. that's because that's how youtube works, if you don't click those buttons youtube doesn't know that you liked what you just watched and won't show you anything else, and if you don't like what you just watched, join to the club, and by that I mean the Hagerty Drivers Club, which gives you access to this award-winning magazine as well as discounts on cool stuff, and if you still don't like what you've seen, just leave.
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