Djinn,
You will see from my signature lines that I recently did a heart transplant from Fatmobile 2 to My wife's Josephine and Vice versa.
The Fatmobile 2 had a motor with ~220 000km on the clock. Josephine had ~380 000 km on hers.
There was a very noticable difference in acceleration (which is why my wife wanted the swap).
This difference is MUCH more than the difference in mileage should cause, given similar treatment over the years.
As I do not know Josephine's history, I cannot comment. Fatmobile 2 however was owned (2nd owner of the car) by a MB mechanic, who serviced it for the first 23 years. His comment was that "That motor is a one in a million. Everything came together perfectly at the factory and it just spins out better than any other OM617 I've ever seen."

So there are motors which were good when new, there are motors which were GREAT when new. The treatment they recieve over their lifetime is a greater influence on their performance after 20+ years on the road.

I am now used to the (lack of) power of my car (Fatmobile 3), my wife is happy, LIFE is GOOD.

__________________
Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.