83 or 84 300 series diesel
 

I was browsing the internet looking for an answer to my question, and luckily I found this site. My boyfriend and I are looking to buy either an 83 or an 84 300 series diesel (can't remember the year exactly) with only 67K miles. My question is: how many miles per gallon does this car usually get? We're really looking for him to use it to commute to work (over 60 miles each way) and are hoping that this will save us some money. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.....

26-27 mpg highway is a reasonable expectation.

Yep:

If anyone tells you over 30 mpg, then they're driving downhill without the engine on. I have five 83's and 84's and they deliver between 24-28

dp

Who cares what that car gets that you're looking at. If it only has 67K miles, it hasn't even been broken in. If decide not to buy it, let us know ASAP.

300 mpg
 

i agree on the 26 -27 highway. a word of caution, on a car with that low of mileage i would be very skeptical of it being actual. i would insist on continuous records to verify its accuracy, or not pay a premium for it. good luck, benz diesels are the best.

You can't go wrong with a Benz. Check it out like mentioned before, maintenance records ect.

Want to take the economy line a little further ? Learn how to make your own fuel from Waste Vegetable Oil (the wate stuff that the restaurants put in the back drum). It is called biodiesel and the car will love it.

A complete how-to can be found at: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
Some ideas for reactors that you can build:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_processor.html Mine is the "Processor in a Cabinet" one, presently undergoing an upgrade.

Another option is to consider installing a two tank system and running heated Straight Vegetable Oil in it. There are quite a few links about it on the net, but if you want to go that way email me for links.
Quite versatile those MB's.

Ever think of buying a 190D-?? I had one last year and if you are looking for mileage this is the car for you. Mine was a non-turbo 5 speed std. tranny and on a few occassions it hit close to 40 mpg on thhe thruway. Around town I got 30-34 mpg(almost as good as my VW-TDI-around town) The only problem was the quality-definitely not up to par with pre 87 240 and 300 MBs.

Their are a lot of sub 100k old MB's on ebay, you can make one in an afternoon.

Do maintaince records support 67k miles? If their is no paper trail I wouldn't pay extra for the low mileage. Their probably was a 1, 2 or 4 in front of that 67k at some point.

Have someone who knows these cars go over it before you buy.

Is it a W123 (300D) or W126 (300SD)? Different cars, same engine though.

where are you located? with the miles he puts on, running on straight vegetable oil would save a lot of $$ in the long run. it's money up front to make it so you can run on the stuff, but your fuel is potentially *free*. i got my kit here: www.biofuels.ca good support, very knowledgable.
in any case, good luck!

300d
 

see my 83 240d with stick, 300d non turbo and 3.08 rear end for sale under "240/300 d and 240d both sticks" this combination does 30 mph going75 mph on highway, for sale,

tom w

Ever think of buying a 190D-?? I had one last year and if you are looking for mileage this is the car for you. Mine was a non-turbo 5 speed std. tranny and on a few occassions it hit close to 40 mpg on thhe thruway. Around town I got 30-34 mpg(almost as good as my VW-TDI-around town) The only problem was the quality-definitely not up to par with pre 87 240 and 300 MBs.

follow-up
 

Thanks for all your responses. The 26 - 27 mpg is a little better than what his 99 vw gets. We're buying this car off of a friend. He worked on a farm with this family and the owner's wife had owned this car and hardly ever drove it. It's been sitting for a little while, so we expect to do a little maintenance, but it's only $2000 and he's giving us a deal because he's a good friend. I think it's worth it, but I just wanted to be sure that this will make a good commuter car. Thanks again!

300CD mileage
 

Four years ago I bought my '84 300CD on Ebay from an Erie Penn. dealer & drove it to central Florida. Took it easy because I didn't know the condition of all the fluids. Car had over 270,000 miles on it at the time & needed some valve work. Got 31-33 mpg at 60-65 mph. These cars need an extra gear at highway speed. I would imagine high 20's over 75 mph. Paul. :)

i got more information
 

actually...i saw it today and it turns out it's an 80 300d, perfect interior, clean under the hood, and only a little rust. a good deal at $2000?

The 1980 will not have the turbo engine, unless it has been replaced. The original engine is a 5cyl, 3 liter, normally aspirated and when paired with an automatic transmission is somewhat slower than the turbo version. You need to factor this into the whole deal, as the mileage will be different from what has been quoted so far.