I should have put in the original post that I would be taking my daughter to school 4 of 5 days. Kind of negates the motorbike or bicycle. I would ride in summer, when she is at home with her mother.
I kind of like the idea of an inexpensive (not cheap) MB diesel that I can drive on vacations and weekends and use my Nissan hardbody for daily commuting.

Exactly. Preserve the Benz for pleasure use and let the Japanese appliance take the abuse.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.