Do you like to wrench?
Unless you have a very reasonable MB independent mechanic that does great work for a great price, or unless you've got the $ to spend, be prepared to work on this car.
From an engineering standpoint, they are fairly mechanic friendly and parts are still available (which is impressive).
There is the saying "there is no such thing as a cheap mercedes." You usually end up paying more in repairs on a cheap mercedes than paying more up front with everything working and sorted out.
For me on this vintage - rust is a deal killer. No reason not to buy one out of the south without rust - they are available. Also with this vintage (and being a diesel), higher mileage (200K) is not a deal killer. Higher mileage is fine as long as the previous owner was not moronic in his/her maintenance of the vehicle.
At 200K you'll probably have worn out suspension bits (front end rebuild). Big ticket item that you would rather have fixed by the previous owner or working is the climate control because it can be tedious and expensive to get right.
You'll have to have the car checked out for all the normal wear items: brakes, belts, flex disks (dive shaft item), mounts (trans, diff, motor), lines (trans cooler, oil cooler), and hoses.
Also, expect to change all fluids and filters when you get the car: diff fluid, radiator, power steering (and filter), oil and filter, trans and filter, and wiper fluid (ok, the last one was a joke). Also expect to do a valve adjustment shortly after you get it. I'd also swap the glow plugs not knowing the age.
After all that you still probably will have some other little gremlins to chase down (maybe a window lift, vacuum leak preventing doors locking, sunroof, various oil leaks - maybe turbo oil drain, pan gasket, etc).
Ok... all that probably sounds like a lot. If you like to wrench, 80% if very doable by you with some reasearch on this forum and a decent set of tools, time, and a little skill.
So with the above list (which is not comprehensive), you can see why paying a bit more might be worth while. That being said, with the dollars saved up front, there is great personal reward and satisfaction bringing one of these classics back to mechanically proud condition.
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~shell
As of 2/2010:
2001 CLK55 0o\=*=/o0
13.6 @ 106mph
10K mi
1984 300SD
260K mi and going and going...
97 S600
46K miles
1991 Sentra SE-R (extremely dorked with)
www.se-r.net
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