Lots more room to work under the hood without the turbo - at least on the one side. Manifolds gasket?? Piece of cake.

I loved my '79 wagon! The '83 Euro is, and probably always will be, my favorite ride. I want to be buried in it.

Jay

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On the road, currently:
'83 300D (German spec.) 168k mi. - - Wolfgang (tucked snugly away for the winter!)
'87 300D 375k mi. - finally went over to "The Dark Side"
'87 300TD 225k mi.
Cannondale 66cm CAAD5 w/Campy/Jamis Aurora
Hujsak Custom Fixie/Landshark Track Shark Custom/Ahearne Custom 29'er

I don't think this has been mentioned yet - but the cost of rebuilding a OM617a (turbo) engine is more than a OM617 (non turbo). I know most people don't think of a worse case scenario but there you go!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

My first diesel was a 52hp 1.6l golf. That was the slowest car I have ever driven. But even then I thought it was quick enough to drive around town. I drove it to work everyday on the highway at 55mph... why? because it got too loud at anything faster and my highway trip was only 4 miles.

I would assume that a 240D requires a lot of pedal to the floor accelerating. I have not driven a N/A MB but I rarely need to "floor" my TD or SD to get it to do what I want. You do have to "floor" it to get it to kick down though... after that you can ease off the go pedal... or shift manually, which I will not do.

All om617 MB's are slow. You will get over it

You will wonder why virtually all new American made cars come with 200+ hp. Why not dial the power back and raise the mpg's? You can do just fine with 100hp.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

Easy answer--Speed is 'Sexy'....
--Slow never sells cars....

Here, the average power o/p is prolly 100-150BHP for your average eurocrap-box...

But its Power to Weight ratio that counts.

Those nasty plastic and crap new Euro-cars here weigh nothing and go like a bat otta hell...While still giving reasonable 50+ MPG....

My 'Town-car' an Aixam 500SL has the HUGE power O/P of, 11.5 BHP, from a Kubota Z-482-E, Diesel Lawn-Mower engine
--A Tiny car, although slightly longer than a 'Smart' by around 3" looks smaller as its lower. Great for round town, park the thing anywhere.

All Plastic and ally frame weighs less than 400Kg and keeps up with town traffic fine. I would however, never take it on the Motorway!
(I did once, Never again!)

Top speed of 55 IF Your'e Lucky!, But 100 MPG on a good run....
The Aixam would prolly out accelerate a 240D to 20mph....

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http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...0TDnoplate.jpg

Alastair AKA H.C.II South Wales, U.K. based member

W123, 1985 300TD Wagon, 256K,
-Most recent M.B. purchase, Cost-a-plenty, Gulps BioDiesel extravagantly, and I love it like an old dog.

W114, 1975 280E Custard Yellow,
-Great above decks needs chassis welding--Really will do it this year....

are the 300d without turbo all automatic? A manuel version would be nice if it is available. I'll take my 240d over my 300d turbo any day. Just like the way it drives, sure it could use some more power, but as others have said you get used to it.

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1977 240D turbo

You've GOT an Aixam? wow.
you have GOT to post some pics of that car. and the engine etc...
coool!
which one do you have? and what type of license do you have for it? "quad motorcycle?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aixam

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

For some bizzare reason the 240 with basically the same chassis as the
300d seems to be far more nimble. Also provides a driving experience of getting everything it has to give fairly often. Well worth the time to keep the drive train in optimal condition. It is a shame the five speed standard was not installed on them all.

All factory turbo engines in the 617 engines cars came with the automatic. There is a rational to this apparently.

There is a world of difference in weight in a om616 and om617, particularly turbo.

In finland they swear on the reliability of the 200d with the skinniest tires possible for heavy snow driving.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Interesting. That would explain why both my remaining '82 240Ds have power windows. But only one has a sunroof. However, it's the twist-n-pull type. IMHO, with no motors, cranks or cables to mess up it's the best one to have, but probably wasn't availible on the US-market 300Ds.

Last year, I met a guy at the Virginia Beach Pick-N-Pull that had what seemed to be a Euro 5-speed 300D. Turns ot the car had originally been a 4-speed, manual-everything 240D and his mechanic had found a Euro 5-speed 300D parts-car to donate the transplant when the 240D engine wore out.
Probably a transplant job is be more than the original poster plans on.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Thanks again for all of the responses.

I'm looking at an 85 300CD that has about 250,000 miles.

I was wondering how long the automatic transmissions last in these cars? I'm worried about buying it and having it fail soon after.

Aside from the transmission, is there anything else I should be concerned about with that high of mileage?

Thanks!

Are there service records with this car? If there's no record of their replacement in the last ten years or so, consider replacing some rubber parts, such as brake hoses and motor-mounts. And consider replacing the vacuum-pump lever, or the whole vacuum-pump, before it fails and drops bits into the timing chain. Also consider that some coupe-specific parts, like window regulators, are getting hard to find.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Yet again the 85 has a lower rear axel ratio so it is a plus. I also believe the automatic is a little better in that year.

Two hundred and fifty thousand miles is not too much if it is both accurate and the car has been maintained in a reasonable fashion. Try to pay a price that reflects your concerns. A decent coupe is always pretty easy to resell as well.

Not a problem in the om61x line.

__________________
http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Not while panZZers still got some stuff