Mercedes-Benz W201 (190) E-Book

James Taylor

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 302

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

The W201 was a compact saloon designed to address both concerns about fuel economy generated by the first oil crisis in the 1970s and competition for sales from the BMW 3 Series. Many doubted that Mercedes could deliver a compact car whilst retaining their traditional qualities. But the W201 soon won them over. For here was a car that was a real Mercedes in the tradition of the time - it was just smaller. With around 200 photographs, the book features the reasons behind the need to build a new compact saloon in the 1980s. It covers the styling, engineering and specification changes introduced over the lifetime of the model; gives full technical specifications, including paint and interior trim choices and production tables and vehicle number sequences. The story of Mercedes' long and exciting struggle to win the German Touring Car Championship with the 190 is covered. There is a chapter on the special US variants and, finally, a chapter on buying and owing a 201-series Mercedes.

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Mercedes-Benz W201 (190)

THE COMPLETE STORY

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Mercedes-BenzW201 (190)

THE COMPLETE STORY

JAMES TAYLOR

First published in 2020 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2020

© James Taylor 2020

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 734 7

CONTENTS

 

Introduction and Acknowledgements

 

Timeline

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 2

THE FIRST THREE YEARS, 1982–1985

CHAPTER 3

SECOND STAGE: THE 1986–1988 MODEL 201s

CHAPTER 4

A BUSY TIME: THE 1989–1990 MODEL-YEARS

CHAPTER 5

THE FINAL YEARS

CHAPTER 6

BORN FOR THE USA

CHAPTER 7

GLORY DAYS

CHAPTER 8

CUSTOMIZED AND TUNED

CHAPTER 9

BUYING AND OWNING A MERCEDES W201

 

Appendix I: Overseas Assembly

 

Appendix II: Identification and Numbering

 

Appendix III: Production Figures for the W201

 

Index

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My first experience of a Mercedes 190 was a little unfortunate. After a breakdown in the family car somewhere deep in France, our travel insurers directed us to a small car hire place that proudly offered us the flagship of its fleet – a carburettor 190. Frankly, it was a bit small to accommodate four people plus holiday luggage, but we squeezed ourselves in and headed for the nearest autoroute.

It wasn’t long before I began to realize that, although it was rather small and was the base model, this was a high-quality piece of machinery. I can still remember grinning as the car reeled in the miles, and wondering what the higherspec, more expensive versions must be like. Two years later, I found out by buying a 190E automatic, which turned out to be a superb car, just as I had expected.

Many years and a few books about Mercedes cars later, I am still trying to think of a justification for buying another 190. In the mean time I have squirrelled away every scrap of information that has come my way about the cars, and there it all was when I decided to write this book. I hope it does these fine cars justice, although I’m quite happy to accept that there may be more to say about them one day. Historical information has a way of remaining hidden until chance events push it to the surface.

Lots of people made contributions to this book, although few of them probably realized they were doing so at the time. The Mercedes-Benz UK press office kept me informed about the evolution of the range in the 1980s and 1990s, and their counterparts at MBUSA helped out with some specific queries. Mercedes-Benz Classic provided further information and most of the illustrations. My own camera and Magic Car Pics supplied several others, and yet more came from various internet sources. A significant amount of information came from the Gazette, the excellent magazine of the Mercedes-Benz Club in the UK, and from Mercedes Enthusiast magazine, along with multiple foreign-language sources (and especially German ones) over the years.

James TaylorOxfordshire

TIMELINE

1982, December

Launch of 190 and 190E

1983, September

Launch of 190D; W201 range introduced to USA as 190E 2.3 and 190D 2.2. Five-speed option

1984, September

Introduction of 190E 2.3-16

1985, May

Launch of 190D 2.5

1985, September

First European models with catalytic converter option

1985, November

Half-millionth W201 built

1986, April

190E 2.6 available

1986, spring

190D 2.5 Turbo for USA

1986, September

European KAT (with catalytic converter) and RÜF (pre-prepared for catalytic converter) models introduced. 190E 2.3 available in Europe

1987, September

190D 2.5 Turbo for markets outside USA

1988, spring

Millionth W201 built

1988, September

Major facelift revealed. 190E 2.5-16 introduced

1989, March

190E 2.5-16 Evolution announced

1989, September

Catalytic converters now standard world-wide. Sportline options introduced

1990, March

190E 2.5-16 Evolution II announced

1991, January

190E 1.8 replaces carburettor 190. 190E renamed 190E 2.0

1992, March

First run-out editions announced

1992, October

Final specification changes

1993, August

Final production in Germany

    CHAPTER ONE    

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

The way Mercedes-Benz likes to tell the story, the decision to proceed with a smaller Mercedes saloon was taken at the Geneva motor show in March 1973. This was some months before the first Oil Crisis, which undoubtedly gave the idea a higher priority than it might otherwise have had. It was also some time before the popularity of the Volkswagen Golf demonstrated the possibilities of such a car, but just over a year after the French Renault company had shown the way forward with their new Renault 5 ‘supermini’.

A very early 190, pictured in a typically English setting. Britain would become the 190’s largest European market outside West Germany.

Exactly what the parties to that 1973 decision had in mind is not clear; quite probably, they all had their own different vision of what form a new smaller Mercedes might take. However, by the end of the year, the focus at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart was on a much more immediate problem. In October, the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced an oil embargo, targeted at those nations that were perceived to have supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Among the nations subject to the oil embargo was the USA, which was a major export market for Mercedes cars. By the time the embargo was lifted, in 1974, the price of oil from the OPEC countries had risen by 400 per cent, with a consequent knock-on effect on petrol and diesel prices.

The fall-out from this was far-reaching. As far as Mercedes was concerned, it was clear that cars with high fuel consumption were going to become more difficult to sell – and that really meant most of the models they then had in production. There was no such thing as a small or frugal Mercedes at the time, despite the fact that the company was a world leader in diesel passenger cars, which had much better fuel economy than their petrol equivalents. Without a small model that was economical to run, Mercedes was going to lose sales rapidly to other companies that did have such models in their catalogues. The need for that small model had suddenly become critical to the future of the company.

MERCEDES IN THE 1970s

When the Oil Crisis struck, in 1973–1974, Mercedes had three main car ranges and was universally perceived as a maker of large and prestigious models. It had a world-wide reputation for its research into vehicle safety and for incorporating safety features into its cars, and for building vehicles that were reliable and durable – even if they were also expensive. The taxi driver who saved up to buy a Mercedes saloon did so in the knowledge that it would probably last him for most of his working life and was therefore worth every last Deutschmark of its high initial cost.

The smallest of the Mercedes models in the early 1970s was a medium-sized saloon with engines of between 2.0 litres and 3.0 litres. There were six-cylinder models (known internally as W114 types) and four-cylinder models (W115 types), and equipment levels varied from spartan (which appealed to the taxi driver) to quite luxurious. A prestigious two-door coupé range had been spun off from the basic saloon design.

The medium-sized Mercedes in the first half of the 1970s was the W114/W115 range; it gave way in 1976 to the W123.

The flagship Mercedes saloon was known as the S Class, and was an engineering tour de force that had been introduced in 1972. Larger than the medium-sized models, the W116 models could be had with either the standard wheelbase, which gave generous interior space, or a long wheelbase, which gave lounging room in the rear and was suited to chauffeur-driven duties. Engines ranged from a 2.8-litre six-cylinder up to a 4.5-litre V8 (and from 1975 there would be a 6.9-litre V8 as well). These cars were considered on a par with models from Rolls-Royce, and many knowledgeable people actually considered them to be better.

The flagship Mercedes for most of the 1970s was the W116 S Class.

There was then the SL (R107) sports range of luxurious two-seat roadsters, which shared their engines with the S Class. Closely related was the SLC (C107) range, which was really a long-wheelbase SL with a fixed coupé roof and four seats. The SLC was promoted as the most stylish of the Mercedes models.

The third Mercedes range was the R107 SL sports model; there was a long-wheelbase SLC coupé derivative as well.

These cars, and their predecessors in the 1960s and 1950s, had created a strong public image for Mercedes as a maker of expensive and aspirational vehicles with large-capacity engines. The new G-Wagen off-road vehicle that was introduced in 1979 only served to reinforce that image. As a result, Mercedes would have to organize a major publicity campaign when its new compact saloon was released, in order to convince the buying public that this new type was indeed a true Mercedes. For many people, it would take years to come to terms with the smaller and less expensive model.

THE BRIEF FOR THE W201

The enactment of new regulations relating to the overall fuel consumption of a car maker’s products by the US Congress during 1975 made it even clearer that Mercedes would need a more frugal model in its range. The so-called CAFE rules (about which there is more in Chapter 6) threatened Mercedes with corporate fines if they failed to comply with miles-per-gallon figures that would be not only legally enforced but would also get progressively tighter. As a result, by the autumn of 1976, a formal development project had been established for a new and compact Mercedes saloon. It was known internally as the W201 model.

The overall responsibility for developing the W201 would fall to Werner Breitschwerdt, who was appointed as the new head of Mercedes’ research and development division in 1977. Known for his innovative work (he had been behind the ABS development programme), he was the ideal man to lead the teams working on the new compact Mercedes.

Werner Breitschwerdt was appointed as the new head of Mercedes research and development in 1977.

The brief for the W201 had certain very clear requirements from the start. The new car must not compromise any of the traditional Mercedes qualities. It must incorporate all the established marque characteristics of solid build quality, maximum safety and modern technology. Its comfort and long-distance touring abilities had to be as good as those of the flagship S Class; durability and longevity had to be comparable, as did the ease of maintenance and repair. Critically, its fuel consumption had to be much lower than that of the existing medium-sized Mercedes, and that meant a reduction in both size and weight. The design team would have to find the best compromise between interior space and exterior dimensions.

From quite early on, it became clear that this new model would be a traditional three-box saloon rather than a two-box hatchback design, which at this stage was perceived as much more down-market than Mercedes wanted to be – despite the undoubted success of Volkswagen’s Golf. There were no plans for estate or coupé derivatives – the car was drawn up strictly as a four-door saloon – although, in later years, there would be experiments with derivatives.

While the designers and engineers worked on the shape and structure of the new compact saloon, the sales and marketing teams set about identifying the likely customer base. They decided that Mercedes needed to look at attracting a new group of buyers, rather than trying to persuade their existing customers to downsize – although they accepted that this might happen in some cases. The new model needed to appeal to existing buyers of small BMWs (the 3 Series, then available only in two-door saloon form), small Audi models (the four-door 80 saloon) and the new Saab 900, which was redeveloped in 1978 specifically for the USA. Lower down the scale, it should also tempt owners of hatchbacks such as the Volkswagen Golf to trade up. Their top priority as a target owner group was those aged under 30.

The concept came together for the first time in 1978, and it is interesting to compare the dimensions that were determined for the new compact saloon with those of the then-current medium-sized Mercedes – which by this time was the W123 range that had replaced the W114 and W115 models in 1976. The W201 was to be 305mm (12in) shorter overall than a W123, with a wheelbase that was 130mm (just over 5in) shorter. It was to be 108mm (4.25in) narrower, 88mm (3.46in) less tall, and, by the time production began, it would weigh over 250kg (551lb) less than the entry-level 200 model of the W123 saloon range. The changes in approach that were needed at Mercedes to meet the W201 brief were simply enormous.

Breitschwerdt with an example of the W201 Mercedes, which benefited so much from his clear-thinking approach.

DRIVETRAIN

An important early consideration was whether the small saloon should have the traditional Mercedes rear-wheel drive or should switch to the front-wheel drive that was so much favoured for smaller cars. The company had in fact developed a front-wheel-drive system around a decade and a half earlier for the W118 ‘small’ Mercedes (see below). Although this car never went into production, the development process had shown that the system made better use of interior space and was the best solution for a car that weighed no more than 900kg unladen. However, getting below that 900kg (1,984lb) mark in a car with all the traditional Mercedes qualities was expecting a lot – a 123-series saloon typically weighed somewhere around 1,350kg (2,976lb).

Mercedes did not in fact dismiss front-wheel drive until 1979, and probably some of the early development ‘mules’ had it. A factor in the eventual choice of rear-wheel drive was that the W201 was being designed with a view to component sharing with the next generation of medium-sized Mercedes saloons. Front-wheel-drive components in the smaller car would have been incompatible with the rear-wheel-drive layout that was firmly in the frame for the larger one.

THE EARLIER COMPACT MERCEDES

The W201 was not Mercedes’ first post-war attempt to create a smaller saloon model. In 1953, they had started work on the W122 project, which aimed to deliver a four-door saloon that was 15 to 20 per cent smaller than the latest Ponton saloons and shared some of their visual character. However, the car was cancelled in 1956 when work began on the W111/W112 Fintail saloons that would have a very different visual aspect.

The W122 was designed as a smaller Mercedes saloon at the time of the Pontons, but did not make production.

An alternative W122 design shows a progression towards the newer Fintail styling, especially in the rear pillar treatment.

A second project for a smaller Mercedes was started in 1958. Known as the W118, it was developed under R&D chief Ludwig Kraus as a front-wheel-drive car with a four-cylinder 1.5-litre ‘boxer’ engine. A later development saw the introduction of a 1.7-litre in-line four-cylinder engine that had started life at Mercedes for a military project, and this version became known as the W119. By 1962, however, Mercedes had decided that there was no market for it.

The W118 was to be a compact four-door saloon that would fit below the medium-sized Fintails in the Mercedes range.

The other side of the styling model shows that a two-door version was also envisaged.

Despite its compact size, the W118 had good interior space, thanks to a front-wheel-drive layout.

Daimler-Benz had acquired a majority shareholding in the ailing Auto Union company during 1958, and in 1959 assumed full control. Auto Union were desperately in need of new models. Mercedes seconded Klaus Ludwig as deputy managing director and technical director in 1963, to oversee the creation of these. Ludwig proposed using the 1.7-litre engine from the W119 in the latest Auto Union bodyshell (which then had an antiquated two-stroke engine), and this duly appeared in 1965 as an Audi, using a name last seen on cars in 1939. In the mean time, Daimler-Benz had sold Auto Union to Volkswagen, and so the engine intended for their own medium-sized car actually kick-started the career of a major rival.

STYLING

On the styling side of the Mercedes house, there was another new name at the top. In 1975, Bruno Sacco had taken over from the long-serving Friedrich Geiger as head of styling. Italian by birth, Sacco had been with Mercedes since 1958, and had already embarked on creating a new and modern design language for the marque. This would be seen first in the W126 S Class introduced in 1979, and was characterized by simple, sculpted and unadorned lines that had a classical elegance about them. Sacco believed in what he described as both vertical and horizontal integration for car styling: by vertical integration, he meant that each new model should be clearly related to the one it replaced; horizontal integration meant that all the models in a manufacturer’s range should have a family resemblance. So it was that his design for the W201 picked up some of the themes already seen in the W126 and, later, the W124 medium-sized saloons of 1984 would embody the same characteristics.

In charge of styling for the W201 was Bruno Sacco, pictured here in later years with a scale model of the car.

The earliest designs for the new compact saloon were prepared as scale models in late 1977, as it was important to have some ideas to work on even before the final dimensions were agreed. These showed a focus on aerodynamics, which would of course be important in minimizing fuel consumption at higher speeds. At least one early design integrated the traditional Mercedes grille shape into the front panel, but eventually the front-end design was drawn up to give a close family resemblance to the W126 range – following Sacco’s rules of ‘horizontal integration’ – with flush-fitting light units that incorporated auxiliary driving lamps alongside the headlights. The bumpers and aprons also resembled their W126 counterparts, while the wraparound front and rear indicators had the ribbed lenses that were now a Mercedes trademark and had originally been designed to prevent road dirt building up and obscuring the lights.

This early scale model for the W201 was created in Sacco’s studio in 1977, before the full set of ideas for the new model had come together.

Even though the new model was to be a compact saloon, the lines of the 1977 model deliberately suggested a larger car.

Aerodynamic considerations ensured that the windscreen would be more steeply raked than its W126 equivalent. It was also arranged with a minimum of intrusion from the A pillars, to which it was bonded, and this added to the car’s structural rigidity and did away with the traditional rubber seal that prevented a smooth airflow over the top of the car. Plastic deflector panels on the pillars were designed to duct rainwater up and over the roof and to prevent it from obscuring the side windows, and channels on the roof directed that rainwater towards the back of the car. The rear edge of the bonnet was curved gently upwards to aid clean airflow, and to prevent the wiper arm – there was only one – creating wind noise when in its parked position. The production W201 would have a Cd of 0.33, which was lower than any previous model from Mercedes.

New to Mercedes, the aerodynamic chamfer at the tops of the rear wings was initially controversial.

There was an inescapable logic to Mercedes design. The doors opened by pulling the handle – a natural and intuitive movement – and had a rounded shape to reduce the risk of injury.

The trailing edge of the bonnet curved upwards to improve airflow and conceal the single wiper blade.

The polycarbonate wheel trims were simple and aerodynamic in design, with radial cooling slots for the brakes.

The alternative alloy wheel was also drawn up with a flat, aerodynamic face and radial cooling slots.

Interestingly, the decision was taken not to go for flush glazing of the side windows (which Audi would introduce in 1982 on its third-generation 100 model). Mercedes reasoned that the predicted 1 per cent improvement in aerodynamics would be gained only at the cost of complications in assembly and repair. Even so, they made the side window glass as flush as they reasonably could, and on the W201 it was inset by just 6mm, a dimension that becomes more significant when compared to the 11.5mm inset of the side glass on a W123 saloon.

The most obvious attention to aerodynamics was evident at the rear, but it was only visible from some angles. The lower body was wedge-shaped, with a rising belt line that tapered more steeply upwards than was immediately apparent. The boot line was noticeably higher than on earlier Mercedes models, partly to improve airflow but also to compensate for the fact that the boot was short in comparison with the company’s other saloons. There was an angled section to manage the airflow at the rear of the roof just above the back window, and the tops of the rear wings had a marked chamfer for the same reason. This feature in particular would prove controversial. It was toned down to become more rounded on the W124 medium-sized saloons that followed the W201, which were nonetheless closely similar in shape.

Another element of the W201’s appearance that caused controversy was the design of the wheels. The standard fit was to be a 14-inch steel disc type and Sacco’s team designed a flush-fitting trim that incorporated turbine-like slots to aid brake cooling. The trims were designed to reduce aerodynamic drag, but were manufactured in a dull grey polyamide that looked very dowdy in comparison with the traditional Mercedes chrome trims with painted centres. The alternative was a new 16-hole alloy wheel, which would be made for Mercedes by wheel specialists Fuchs. This, too, was designed to have a flush face.

Less controversial, but equally revealing of the attention to aerodynamic detail that went into the W201, was the arrangement of the door mirrors. In typical Mercedes fashion, only the mirror on the driver’s side was standard; the optional item on the passenger’s side, when fitted, was different in shape. The designers had worked out that a smaller mirror would do all that was required on the passenger’s side and would interfere less with the airflow. Despite the additional complication in terms of production, the W201 would always have ‘lop-sided’ mirrors – and the approach was later carried over to the W124 medium-sized saloons as well. Both mirrors could be adjusted from the inside, and it was again typical of Mercedes thinking that the passenger’s side mirror was electrically adjusted while the one on the driver’s side (which could be more easily reached) had to be adjusted by hand!

Along the flanks of the car, the only decoration was a slim rubber bump strip that, like so many elements in Mercedes designs, served two purposes. Most obviously, it helped to protect the doors against parking knocks, but it also had an impact on the appearance of the car, helping it to look longer and lower than it really was. Like the door mirrors, it was matt black. A similarly coloured plastic insert was used for the rain channels on the roof. This incorporated anchor points that could be used for a roof rack or a ski rack, and it also disguised the joins between the side pressings and the roof panel. The W201 had a ‘monoside’ design, where each body side was a single pressing and each major pressing was joined to the other by the roof and the floorpan.

As was expected on a Mercedes, the bonnet was arranged to lift to a convenient height for minor maintenance in the engine bay, while unhindered access could be achieved by releasing catches on the hinges, allowing it to be opened to 90 degrees from the horizontal. Similar thinking was evident in the design of the boot lid, which opened to a near-vertical position to give maximum access to the boot. A low loading sill was another welcome feature. Following the lead of the W126 S Class, the bumper aprons were made of polyurethane and were designed to spring back into shape after a low-speed impact. The material was self-coloured, and Sacco’s team arranged for it to be available in either grey or beige to suit the paintwork of the car. It must be said that, although the grey always worked well, with some colours the beige did not.

The final shape of the W201 saloons was approved by the Mercedes board on 6 March 1979, several months before the W126 models introduced Bruno Sacco’s new take on Mercedes styling at the Frankfurt motor show. There would of course be some further work for special derivatives – notably the high-performance 190E 2.3-16 – and there would be a facelift five years after the W201 had entered production, but the basic shape remained unchanged for the full ten-year life of the car.

Of course, Stuttgart’s designers and engineers, being as enthusiastic and innovative as those of other companies, were unable to resist the temptation to develop ideas for derivatives that did not enter production. Over the next few years, there would be some design studies for a roadster derivative, but this did not progress far and in fact a compact roadster would not join the Mercedes range until the R170 SLk model was announced in 1996. There would also be some serious thoughts about a two-door cabriolet derivative (seeChapter 5).

MERCEDES PROJECT CODES

Mercedes had a well-established system of project codes by the time it started work on the W201 compact saloons.

New car projects were allocated a code beginning with W, which stood for Wagen (German for ‘car’). This was followed by a three-digit number, apparently chosen largely at random. Nevertheless, runs of numbers were sometimes used for related models. The codes W114 and W115 were allocated respectively to the six-cylinder and four-cylinder variants of a common design, the so-called ‘Strich 8’ (Stroke 8) medium-sized saloons introduced in 1968. The W201’s successor was known as the W202, and that car’s successor was a W203; all the numbers up to and including W206 have been allocated to successive generations of the compact Mercedes saloons.

Engine codes always began with M (for Motor, always petrol-powered) or OM (for Ölmotor, or diesel engine). These also typically had a three-digit identifying number. These numbers might also attract a suffix to indicate a variant (seeAppendix II): so an M102 E 18 would be a 1.8-litre M102 engine with fuel injection (E for Einspritzung or ‘injection’), while an M102 V 20 was a 2.0-litre M102 engine with a carburettor (V for Vergaser, or ‘carburettor’).

STRUCTURE AND SAFETY

Bruno Sacco’s stylists worked closely with the body engineers at Mercedes to ensure that the new design could realistically be manufactured in quantity, met all the company’s traditional safety standards (which were stricter than many mandated by government regulations around the world at the time), and was as light as practicable in order to minimize fuel consumption.

The bodyshell was designed so that there would be no significant intrusion into the passenger compartment in Mercedes’ standard crash test, which involved a 40 per cent overlap front-end collision at 55km/h (34mph). There was no separate chassis, of course, but the chassis-like side members at the front of the car below the engine bay were designed to crumple progressively, and were forked at their rear ends to spread the collision forces. Around the passenger cabin was an inner structure of beams and cross-members arranged to resist the forces of an impact.

At the rear, the bodyshell was again arranged to crumple progressively in the event of an impact. The fuel tank was located behind the rear seat and above the suspension, as far out of harm’s way as possible, and the spare wheel mounted below the boot floor was also intended to help absorb the forces of a rear-end impact.

The boot of the W201 could not be as long from front to rear as on the larger cars, so it was made deep instead.

The Mercedes engineers had to make sure that the W201’s bodyshell was as strong as those of the model’s larger siblings, in order to meet the impact deformation requirements. In order to save weight, they made use of several ultra-modern materials, some of which had rarely been seen in the motor industry at that stage. In areas where strength was less critical, they specified aluminium and polycarbonates, and for 16 per cent of the steel structure they used HSLA (High-Strength, Low-Alloy) steel that allowed thinner and therefore lighter metalwork. With an eye to longevity, they also made use of a significant quantity of galvanized steel in the bodyshell to resist corrosion.

View of the construction of the roof: careful detail design of the structure ensured that the W201 offered crash safety at least equal to that of its larger siblings.

Mercedes had always maintained that there were two elements in safety design: active safety and passive safety. The passive elements were those that minimized injuries in an accident, such as the design of the bodyshell. The active elements were those that were designed to prevent an accident in the first place, and included items such as brakes and steering, which gave the driver maximum control at all times.

Crash tests in pilot-production examples confirmed the safety aspects of the W201 design.

The second crash test was designed to see how the rear of the car behaved under impact. Note that both crash-test cars have the number 82 on the side, which indicates the year of the test (1982).

Active safety was also served by the driver’s ability to see clearly. To that end, the W201 was designed with a new type of windscreen wiper that was a ‘first’ for the company and would later be adopted for the 124-series medium-sized cars. Instead of the traditional pair of wiper arms, Mercedes drew up a single arm for the W201. The idea was not entirely new – the Citroën CX had used just such a design on its introduction in 1974, at least partly for aerodynamic reasons. The single arm pivoted from just below the centre of the windscreen and carried twin blades, one at the pivot end and one at the free end. It all worked very efficiently, but when it was released for production the wiper swept only 75 per cent of the windscreen as compared to the 78 per cent swept by the traditional twin wipers on the 123-series Mercedes. Clearly, further design work was needed. When a revised single-arm system was released in January 1985, it had been made to sweep no less than 86 per cent of the screen area.

SUSPENSION, STEERING AND BRAKES

There was more innovation in the design of the W201’s suspension, which was drawn up both to minimize the space needed and to give this lighter and smaller car a ride quality that would be comparable to that of a W126 S Class. The design adopted was also very effective at reducing the transmission of road noise into the passenger cabin. In addition, it offered good handling, with much better roadholding than, for example, the contemporary BMW 3 Series (one of the target rival models), which was notorious for a sudden transition to tail-out oversteer on wet roads.

Various suspension configurations were tested on the skeleton-like test rig.

Suspension design was in fact one of the first areas on which Stuttgart’s engineers focused; the light weight of the planned compact saloon meant that it would not behave like existing Mercedes and that in turn meant that existing designs might prove inadequate. In order to test a variety of ideas in the shortest possible time, the engineers built a driveable test rig on which the front and rear suspensions could easily be swapped. This was in use by autumn 1978. Mercedes later claimed that a total of seventy-seven different suspension designs had been drawn up, of which twenty-three were actually tested.

The test rig still survives, but now wears W201 wheel trims, which of course it could not have had when it was first used.

The most effective design of front suspension had a single wishbone and a strut, but this was not a conventional Ford-style MacPherson strut layout. Instead, the spring and damper were mounted separately, which had the advantage of reducing the height needed and of leaving more room in the engine compartment. The layout also reduced nose-dive under braking and the damper was able to react better than in a MacPherson strut because it was located closer to the wheel. The Mercedes design used a new gas damper, developed in conjunction with specialists Fichtel und Sachs at Schweinfurt. It was of course supplemented by an anti-roll bar.

Cutaway model showing the layout of the front suspension, with the damper struts and spring located separately.

The model also shows the location of the front anti-roll bar. The brakes were discs on all four wheels.

Eight different rear suspension layouts were tried on that test rig, ranging from a De Dion type through to Mercedes’ beloved (and traditional) swing-axles. In the end, the suspension engineers realized that they needed to come up with a completely new design for the W201. The one they eventually settled on was a multi-link system, which brought advantages of space and weight. A broadly similar system had been tried on one of the C111 experimental cars, but the W201’s system was designed specifically for the car and was quite significantly different.

The differential and the rear suspension were carried on a sub-frame that bolted to the body.

The innovative design adopted for production was a five-link type. Not only was it some 25–30 per cent lighter than the swing-axle rear suspension on the 123-series models, it also gave better ride and handling. Its layout is best understood from an illustration, but it can be explained as having a top wishbone that consisted of two separate links, a bottom wishbone that also consisted of two separate links, and a camber control arm located just below the wheel centre. Careful angling of the links gave excellent control of wheel movement by preventing both excessive camber change and changes of attitude under acceleration or braking. All the links were light in weight, being pressed from steel, and all were joined to a forged-steel upright that carried the wheel hub. The whole of the rear suspension was carried on a light sub-frame that also carried the final drive and was flexibly mounted to the underside of the bodyshell, and an anti-roll bar was made standard.

The layout of the five-link rear suspension gave the compact Mercedes a ride quality that was as good as that of an S Class, with excellent handling as well.