The stress is off and I have a new 04 Toyota Corolla albeit my wife and kid have first dibs on it.
For the first time if I dont have a repair finished I can sleep all night and even wait until the weekend.
WHAT ARE YOUR SITUATIONS?

My personal experience was for a while I was running three cars, one with 170K; another at close to 400K and another at 230?K as my sole transportation.
Invariably one was in repair, another running great and another running conditionally. Other times, one was running conditionally and two were in repair.
On rarer days, three were running great.
I had a monster commute which occupied one car. That left whatever else was running for my kid and wife.
That made a hobby into a job. I was a motorpool mechanic not someone doing this for fun.
Invariably repairs got rushed and got made at funny times, like 1 am on a weeknite after I came home and took a nap. Mistakes didnt show up on a casual testdrive--they showed up on the Turnpike at 5 am on the way to work. Missing Tools showed up in funny places like the engine compartment
The killer was the last several months. My wife took the 91 Volvo into Manhattan and the catalytic got plugged. I had to spirit the car out of town at 2 am before it got impounded.

I will have to say this; the W123 300D is an indestructible, tough and forgiving car that is still my favorite and the one I put all my time into despite having a showcar 87 300D. Its saved me in incredible situations and still doesnt lose a drop of oil and runs smoothly despite mistakes I've made.

Everywhere I go is in my trusty '82 300SD. Its my only car to use personally....my dad switches around between the van and his '83. I have been driving mine over a year as a daily driver (all over the place) and it has never once let me down, not even in the worst of winter when I had to drive up my street (a hill) in amost 18" of snow.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Look at my signature. I'm a true believer. Only been stranded once in 5yrs and that was the Jetta. Bad starter, wife couldn't get it started so I "rescued" her, rolled and bump started it and all was well. The only gasoline powered stuff I own is lawn equipment and model boats. It takes a lot of attention to preventive maintenence to keep 3 vehicles, 2 of which have over 200K, running perfectly. Its not difficult or particularly time consuming but I do make sure issues are addressed long before they become problems. RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

I would like to post a picture of my 300D 85 W123.
I am starting to restore it vice just maintain it and drive it.
I am very proud of how I didnt give up on the engine after I accidentally plugged the breather hose and ran it to 1 quart of oil after a rushed 11pm repair. After that it sounded like it had a carcked exhaust manifold.
Everyone told me the car was toast.
I stuck a new Ip on it last month and have been tuning and tweaking and have optimized my timing after adjsuting it five times and even have been adjusting and even rotating my injectors every few days and have done the Lubro Moly thing.
TODAY I got my reward when a dealer mechanic said it sounded like a NEW ENGINE

I drive my 300D about 4 days a week now that I own it. The other few days I drive my other other vehicles. Pair of trucks and a car.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

i drive mine every day.to and from school,work,and anywhere else

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

My mom had an '83 300TD(maroon/palomino tex) since '87. Sold it in '97. Not once EVER did she have anything stick her on the road. AC never failed either. Car was basically perfect all the time. She put on about 80K miles in 10 years. My God, what we took for granted. I couldn't understand why everyone was so impressed that my parents drove Mercedes. Their reaction looked similar to as if I were a multi-millionaire and themselves impressed with my wealth of assets. Those were the days.

My 300D is my main transportation - granted it is a 124 so about 10 years newer than most posting here. I did drive it 500 miles per week during the summer, but it is more like 250 miles/week now. So far it is very reliable.

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John Gillespie
1988 560sec - 192k miles
2006 CLK500 - 40K miles
1995 E300 - 202k miles

Mine is a hobby. I love diesels. Daily driver: Volvo 740 / Toyota Tundra V8 (Smooooth engine BUT thirsty).

Whatever I drive, its got to be rear wheel drive - summer fall winter spring.

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1981 300SD 118K
2000 Toyata Tundra 64K

I drive and depend on my old smudgepot because it frees up my time for hobbies.

Advantages:
No one wants to steal it.
It gets good fuel economy and runs well enough to keep bugs from smashing themselves against the REAR windshield
Easy to repair and parts are reasonably inexpensive.
Damn near invisible to the "revenue generators".
DEPENDABLE !! Once I got everything working the only thing I have to deal with is normal maintenance.

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You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

daily car, i want either a miata or a 914 for a hobby car. however being in school doesn't allow me to have that yet.

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198? 300D ???K - Future DD
1989 300TE 285K - traded in '12
1984 300SD 186K - Sold in 08
1978 300SD 330K - Died in 05

I run about half-Jeep and half-300D, on a daily commute of 22 miles one-way. I've been driving the Jeep all week while the 300D is being looked at by my guru Once the last of the front-end issues are taken care of -- shocks and tie rods! -- the 300D will be the daily driver, and the Jeep used only when needed to haul stuff or lost of people.

I used to be closer to half-motorcycle, half-Jeep, but the 300D has supplanted the motorcycle as the fun thing to drive for now

I run 98% with the 300SD then 2% on mama's red bullet van.

Hey Webwench...just think....maybe very soon it'll be 33% Jeep 33% 300D and 33% 300SD!

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1998 W202 C230 - The money pit of late.
1984 W126 300SD (356,800 miles) Gone to the wrenchapart
1984 W123 300D Gone to the wrenchapart
1972 W108 280SE 3.5 (sold but not forgotten)
1986 Buick Grand National 3.8l Turbo (86k miles)
1966 Glassic Model 'A' Replica http://www.glassicannex.org

http://banners.wunderground.com/weat...Round_Rock.gif

Both the SD and the wifes D are daily drivers. We both commute about 35 miles a day and as long as I keep up with the maintenance and service we NEVER have any problems. I have been driving diesels for about 12 years now and the only on the road problem I ever had was when I stupidly took off on a 250 mile trip with the SD the day I bought it. Realized after I got down off the mountain that the thing would not pull a hill or maintain highway speed. The car brought me home without problem even if I was down to about 5mph in the emergency lane of the interstate going back up the mountain. Turned out to be plugged primary fuel filter. My mistake for not checking and servicing a new{old} auto. Great automobiles!

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83 300SD- 223,000 miles {mine}
85 300D- 187,000, {wifes}
82 300D- 374,000, {parts car now, my first diesel}
74 Triumph Spitfire {constant PIA}
72 Jeep Commando {snow ride}

It's the 300D. Bought it 8 years ago with 42000 miles on it and now I have over 180000 miles more. Looking for a second one before the inventory is depleted

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"Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss":

1979 300D 234.000 Miles "Brownie"
daily driver,
1979 6.9 Sundays to the Tavern
and car shows "Big Brownie"