Test drove nice car last night.

[dieseldude]

Genteel posters, your opinions please (boy that's a dangerous request with this bunch!). I promise it's not about which oil you use

I test drove a '93 300D 2.5 turbo last night with 83kmi on the odo and I am considering buying. It ran quite well: some distinct clatter on cold start-up (I'm assuming this is normal since these motors weren't direct injection), and after warming it up around town, it pulled quite easily up to 90mph on the freeway (as fast I would go in the dark with mixed-rain snow coming down). The car tracked straight and felt pretty tossable. The car's interior was about the cleanest W124 I have seen: glossy, unscratched wood, perfect seats (though they were Tex, so of course), new 8-hole alloys, and no musty smells even though it had been sitting outside in the rain for some time. Diamond black on black interior.

I was smitten with the car (except for the chrome fender flares - yuck), until after heading home, my brother-in-law who went with me, mentions he noticed a sticker in the glove-box reading "Airbag replaced 3/96". Now, under the bright lights of a gas station, the body looked very straight to my inexperienced eye (no ill-fitting panels or gaps, very nice looking paint all around), but it would had to have been in a fairly serious accident to have the 'airbag replaced' no?
I'm going to check the VIN for a salvage title, but is it true that the car could have sustained enough damage to deploy the airbag, but not total the vehicle? At what speed of collision do they typically deploy? My gut reaction is to stay away even if no salvage title is discovered, but I don't want to pass up such a nice example if it is indeed, such a car.


Thanks much in advance,
- Ryan