Touring Stars: 1986-87 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16

Oh lord, won't you buy me one of these bad boys...

The original BMW M3 was and is a landmark car in the history of sport sedan-dom. However, one can’t mention this track star without mentioning its arch rival; the cobra to its mongoose; the fire to its water; the Ashley Judd to its Sarah Palin. I speak, of course, of the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16.

As the world’s oldest automaker prepared to launch its new entry-level 190-series of sedans (codenamed W201), it also wanted to create a performance version for rallying to replace the discontinued 450 SLC 5.0. It was decided that the sports version would be powered by a DOHC 16-valve version of the standard car’s SOHC 8-valve 2.3L inline-four. The company tasked famed British(!) performance engine-building firm Cosworth with designing and manufacturing the new cylinder head (something conspicuously absent from the sales literature), which was then shipped to Germany to be mated with the rest of the engine, which also featured lightweight pistons and new piston rings. In wet-noodle American specification, the Anglo-Teutonic powerplant was rated at 167hp and 162 lb./ft of torque, versus 185hp and 167 lb./ft for the rest of the world. The 190E 2.3-16 was available with either the same Getrag 5-speed manual transmission – with a racing-style “dogleg” shift quadrant – as the M3, or a 4-speed automatic. Other unique touches included the tasteful body kit which decreased drag and lift, a limited-slip differential, revised suspension tuning (with a self-leveling system in back), a larger 18.5 gallon fuel tank, an oil cooler, a quicker steering ratio with a smaller steering wheel, sport seating for four (there was no rear center seatbelt), and three auxiliary gauges on the center console.

All of that provided the basis for a fine rally car, except there was one problem: the Audi Quattro. Ingolstadt’s motorsports moonshot basically blew rally car conventional wisdom – namely, the notion that the weight and balance penalties created by an all-wheel-drive system would exceed any benefits from the increased traction – to kingdom come, and sent everyone else back to the drawing board. So, not wanting to scrap the project, Mercedes-Benz drafted the car for road racing. It set numerous speed and distance records in its class. It prepared a full field of them for a group of Formula 1 stars past and present to drive in a race to inaugurate the new Nürburgring grand prix circuit in 1984; the event was won by some little-known rookie from Brazil named Ayrton Senna. Finally, the car’s touring car racing career in Germany and elsewhere began in earnest, eventually gaining a bigger engine, bigger wings, and a bigger list of techno wizardry.

So considering how rare these things are in North America (roughly 2,000 sent here in two years) and how pricey it was when new (over thirty-five-thousand of your Regan era dollars), these puppies must be worth their weight in gold, right? In a word, nein. Cars in average condition with a couple minor issues can be had for around $3,000, while almost-too-nice-to-drive examples can fetch well over $10,000. Areas to check when shopping for a 2.3-16 include the timing chain and the shifter-bushing for the 5-speed. So remember: if you want a Mercedes-Benz with serious racing pedigree, but you can’t swing the $250,000+ needed for a 300SL gullwing, there is an alternative.