I test drove a 240d today, what an interesting experience. I had never driven anything but 617 powered cars. I must say, its slow, for sure, but not as slow as I thought it would be...it can really wind up through the gears to get the job done!
I'd say the 0-60 test I did took about 28-30 seconds or so....but its so loud/interesting while its going on that you don't really realize it!
The car had numerous issues, non-working oil pressure gauge, speedo/odo was dead...idle knob broken (so it was idling too low and rough), interior had some issues, exhaust needs some work.....vacuum issues with the trans. It was a strong runner though. I was actually impressed. A 4spd would be WAY better though. I'll agree fully on that.
The guy wanted $2495 for it. Ha. ha. ha. We said go lower, he said the lowest he'd take was $2000. He's crazy. We offered $1000 and he said that was too low....so we walked. A more reasonable price would have been like 700-800 or so. Maybe we'll go back in a month or two when its still sitting there.
We bought our essentially-issue free 300D for 1500 last year....much nicer car. Also since the odo/speedo didn't work, who knows how many miles it had on it. It was dead at 169k.
So...onward to another car tomorrow....we found a very nice 300TE wagon at another little dealer....who also wants $1995 for it. We're going to test it tomorrow morning....if its nice we'll try to haggle but we're willing to pay asking price if its as nice as it looks. This will be the first MB gasser I've driven!
I'm guessing it will be a LOT faster than the 240.