Is There Something Inherently Slow About the '85s?

[rs899]

I test drove an '85 300CD for my good buddy, who is out of state at the moment, but is looking for one of these. It had issues, one of which was that it was dog slow off the line compared with our 83 300D. Hell, it was slower than my 240D stick (maybe even the auto). I know they had a different torque converter and tranny than the earlier ones, but I don't recall any performance complaints. It wasn't starting in first- I shifted manually to be sure.

Any ideas ?- other than the clogged pressure line off the intake.

Rick