300E vs 300D
 

Hola - I recently bought my first (well, second if you count the 420 SEL I bought then sold the same day) MZB. It's an 87 300E and I got it for a steal of a deal ($2000) with 160K on the clock. The car is in good condition. But what I really wanted was a 300D same year or so. I don’t drive a lot, maybe 10 miles a day if I'm lucky, maybe a bit on the weekends if the weather is good. But I really love the Diesel Engine! Now that I have my 300E, I see someone close by selling there 300D for a good price. Do you think it would be worth it for me to buy the 300D and sell the 300E (for profit)? The 300D has over 200,000 miles on it. Is that a lot for the Diesel Engine? Thanks for your input.

Mateo

87 300E
97 Land Rover Discovery SE7

What is the 300E like for condition? $2000 sounds good, but like mine it should need thousands of dollars of repairs unless you were really lucky. If you're lucky, then good for you.
I've read a lot that 10 miles a day in a diesel is not good for it. They carbon up a lot because they will hardly warm up in 10 miles. It's bad enough on the gas engines. Of course, your warm summer weather will help your engine.
I'm with you on the idea of the diesel engine, however. If you can sell your 300E for a profit then why not go for the diesel? 200K is not a lot of miles if the car was pretty well maintained. Keep it maintained and drive it a lot. Maybe drive the long way home and put more than 10 miles on a day.

You might be happier with the 300E -- short (10 mile) driving in the winter in Provo is going to be hard on the starter and charging system. The 300E will be much easier to start, all things considered.

The diesel will carbon up in low speed driving, too.

Both conditions will be cured by my graduate school trick -- drive the car at least 30 miles every weekend on the highway, even if it is to nowhere special, just to the next interchange and back. This keeps the lubricants dry, since they will warm up and drive off any condensation, gets the engine warm, and will burn off the carbon that collects in the diesel.

Make SURE the diesel is in good shape enginewise before you buy it, they are VERY expensive to fix if they have major problems. The 300E isn't cheap, either, but is less likely to have serious problems you aren't familiar with!

Peter

If it were me, I would make this decision based strictly on condition. I would want the one that's in the best condition.

My $0.02,