The Mercedes-Benz 190E, dubbed the ‘Baby Benz’, brought the prestigious marque within each reach to more car buyers. It also came with nearly all the safety features of its bigger brothers, and surprising good build quality.
Created to challenge the BMW M3 and the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, Mercedes produced a more spirited version of its popular entry level car by fitting it with a new 2.3-litre 16-valve straight four. The new DOHC engine developed 185bhp, thanks mainly to the fact that it was designed and built by British race engineering experts Cosworth. Very rare today, this sports sedan can cost anywhere between RM35,000 to RM55,000 for the 2.3 and a little more for the 2.5 Cosworth.
While Mercedes did not achieve the race track success, buyers who took his this baby Benz were rewarded with a truly spirited luxury car, featuring unmatched build quality and sporty touches such as individual rear leather bucket seats.
The Evolution II 190E was modified by tuning house AMG, who were able to get the 2.5 litre engine to develop 235bhp at 7200 rpm and in race car form its performance figure jumped to a staggering 373bhp @ 9500 rpm. Unfortunately, AMG built just 500 of these super sedans to meet the minimum requirement of racing regulations. We have seen 2 original units in Malaysia and some ‘modded’ versions using a base 190E (pictured above).
