I have driven over a million miles in various MB's and the manual everything 240D is MOST DEFINITELY my favorite. They are agile, economical, comfortable, reliable and EASY TO WORK ON. I'm personally not really a fan of the big body cars. They are they antithesis of the manual 240D, being bulky, expen$ive, large, reliable and difficult to work on. The area where the big car wins out is added comfort, but the small car is adequate in this area IMHO. I say that being one that has done NUMEROUS VERY long trips in these cars.

Just make a list of what's wrong with this car, prioritize the list and then work through the list. It will most likely CONTINUE to grow on you.