Tomorrow I pick up a great condition 1991 300D with only 78,000 miles on it. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited.

Got to wondering, though, what are the potential downsides to low mileage vehicles? Various seals come to mind as a possibility. I assume that the lady who owns it took lots of short trips....only 4300 miles a year.

Anything come to mind?

Thanks!

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I would just be wary of the seals, and maybe some of the most commonly neglected fluids, such as brake fluid, coolant, differential fluid, and transmission fluid.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I've bought lots of old low mileage vehicles in my life. I've heard many times that rubber parts will generally be a problem. Never actually had such a problem with about 6 such vehicles I have owned.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

From what I have seen, most everything suffers from sitting around just as much as if it's had the $hit driven out of it. The effects are a little different, but the deterioration is on the same level. There is a good median though, if the car has been driven regularly with only like 5k per year, that's perfect.

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My Primary Driver - '85 300CD - 4-speed conversion, 2.47 rear, lowered, euro headlights, rebuilding (not restoring so much)

Wife's - '08 Saab Sportcombi Aero

Riding a '03 Yamaha Warrior

I'd think that the springs might be pancaked due to lack of use. I've seen it b4 on other stuff I aquired.

I thought you were buying it for 4800 to resale it? What will you do with 1992 300D then?????

Rust could still be an issue if it wasn't garaged. Obviously for a good chunk of the time it was sitting around doing nothing, hopefully not in the rain or snow. Seems counter-intuitive to look for rust in a car that has low miles, but happens more than most people think.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

If it were entirely up to me, I'd keep all three (1991 300D, 1992 300D, 1986 300SDL). But my wife has made it pretty clear we can only keep two. My current thinking is to keep both 300D's and sell the SDL.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I do not see the point of keeping two 2.5 turbo that are identical.

They both need to serve as daily drivers: one for me, the other for daughter followed by son.

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

thats really not that low in the mile category. Unless it was driven a lot and parked for like 12 years.

A friend of mine just scored a low mile delorean... as in less than 750 miles on it since ...ohhhh 1981. The engine has to be rebuilt since the seals are shot and the fuel injection system is toast.

Letting cars sit for really long periods of time can really kill them worse than using them

The lower the mileage the better - reason is, the lower the miles means that there was less chance for someone to screw it up.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

I don't follow. It stands to reason that all of these cars have been sitting on all 4 wheels the majority of their life. I would imagine that the springs would all sag regardless of if the car was driven or sitting.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I would think that the flex of the car bouncing up and down while driving would create a fatigue and therefore a sag, while a car sitting still for long periods of time will still have some fatigue, but not as dramatic as from the stress of being driven.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

Well I had more problems on older cars with low mileage than cars with higher mileage the same year.