I just sold my 82 240D stick in excellent condition with 119,000 miles for $3,400. You can ask whatever you want. If you want to sell it, that is different. As far as cars that have actually sold, I saw a 48,000 mile tan standard trans in showroom condition,with all records, one owner sell for $7,600 recently. If it was not flawless as it was, that would have been high. Funny thing is, the wide range of the term "Excellent condition"
My opinion of Excellent condition, sure is different from some others opinion.

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1979 240D Caledonia Green/cream gone
1982 240D stick Ivory/Palimino
1999 E300D White/grey

I agree with pretty much all stated above. A really nice 240d with a good motor which has been freshened or is low miles and a nearly rustfree body, I think is 4 to 5000. A really really spotless sparkling low mileage car would be worth 7500 or more. It has to be really really good though.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

7500 and 130k it would have to be mint. I do love a 240d stick (esp with a sunroof), $5k is about where I would top out at.

A 240d with a stick is not as slow as you would expect. I have never felt like I was going to get runover in one. It is the perfect car IMO.

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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

my gut says there is rust UNDER the fender skirts, the floorboard, and in the trunk. also the CHROME eyebrows will be present, and the car will have both front and rear windshield seal leaks, with rust below...
I'm going to say the battery tray has damage, and the fender, if not the firewall below it is bad.
also, I'll bet there is rust in BOTH hinge pockets.

but it'll have a crack free dash, and a/c that "just needs a charge"

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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!

This should be fun....looking at the car tomorrow. First thing I asked the guy: "I noticed the price changed the first day it was listed. Why was that?" (First it was 7500, then it went to 5000). He said, "I made a typo...meant to put a 5."

Then I asked, "Anything not working?" He said, "Believe it or not, the odometer stopped working two months ago." Expensive to repair, mechanic can verify mileage, blah, blah, blah.

"Anything else not work? What about the AC?" Uh, the AC needs a charge.

"What about cruise control?" Uh, not sure about that.

And said there's some paint bubbling.

So, should be an adventure!

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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

hahaha, I saw that ad too, looks like a very decent car in a beautiful color

so in other words, it has broken AC, non working cruise control, some rust, and a broken odometer so the actual mileage is unknown. sounds like a 2-3 grand car to me

You might be back up here for the dollar 240! After you left, it also drained out a 3rd of the fuel tank onto my floor, better ad a fuel leak to that list

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

ah hahhaa

vstech has this one nailed

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

If nothing else, this will give me an opportunity to sharpen my evaluative and negotiating skills!

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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

"Some paint bubbling?"

I think his next 'typo' is going to be from $5000 to $2500.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

So, if my working assumptions are as follows:

Broken odo (allegedly stopped recently at 130k), non-working AC, non-working cruise, and minor paint bubbling

What could I realistically (and eventually....it's still early in the sale) expect to drive the price down to?

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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

Hard to say for sure until you see the car. Some variables:

1. Does he have records?
2. How long has he owned it?
3. Does he sound like he has a clue about a Mercedes diesel?
4. Is it a well-kept car that just has some inevitable age warts? Or is it just another multi-owner, run of the mill used car?
5. Like I said before: look carefully at the condition of the wood, the trim, the door seals, the seat pads/springs, gauge needles (yellow or orange?), carpet wear, etc. These are clues to whether it's had good care and better than average upkeep, or just been used.
6. Under the hood: is stuff still reasonably shiny (fittings, screw/bolt heads, etc.) or is it all heavily oxidized?
7. MUCH depends on what/where those "paint bubbles" are. Bubbles on a w123 can be like the tip of an iceberg.... Any bubbles = not a good sign.
8. You said it had been in RI "most" of its life. Where else was it?

If it's rusty it could be worth as little as $1000. If overall tidy but with some warts... maybe $2500? Someone closer to your area can say better than I.

From what I hear so far, it would take a LOT of convincing for me to say it's anything near a $3500 car.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Harry Pellow, the (late) master Porsche 356 mechanic, used to jokingly reduce the whole pre-purchase inspection process to one thing: was the clock working? His point was that the kind of owner that would take a Porsche 356 into the dealer to get it fixed would also do all of the stuff you'd hope a previous owner would. And one who would neglect the clock would also neglect the other stuff. The broken speedo is a bad sign.

Problem with sellers like this is that they need the market to discipline them for a few months until they realize their grandpa's car is really only worth 1500 or 2500. His initial flexibility is a good sign though-he's fishing and doesn't necessarily have a bottom line yet.

"How much excellent condition manual 240D worth?"

Lets say the $7000, 240D really is rust FREE, low miles, well kept with records and truly in excellent condition, which would I rather have, a new ricer for three times the price or the 7K, 240D with, say, 130K on the clock? I'll take the MB. Of course its going to hurt to pay that much for the 240 but in true value wouldn't the MB be the better deal? I have a low millage 240D like I described above which I,ve owned for more than 10 years and it still drives like a new car. I wouldn't trade it for any new ricer. A good body is everything and as the MB gets older any person with the skills to program a DVR can take care of most things that need fixing. Probably not so with the "disposable"ricer

I'd try and get it allot cheaper tho

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Yeah, gotta know where the bubbling is to know if it's serious... above the lower trim? under a window? on a pillar? on a fender? below the trunk?
be prepared to pull the inner fender liner, and look at all the pretty rust in there, open the hood fully *(likely the seller has no idea it opens all the way, so instruct them how to release the latches...)
a/c ? HA
cruise?
but most important is WHERE is the rust! and HOW MUCH!
find ALL the rust. be scrutinizing! pull the liner out of the trunk and look at the METAL under all three sections.
get in the trunk, and look under the window for "bubbling"
check the sunroof area if it has one. use a good flashlight and check the front drain area for rust.
TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES!!!

__________________
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!

[I]

In my world people purchased diesels to drive lots of miles generally. Combine this with decent usage the upholstery stands up better than average.

Then we have car dealers that almost always ran the miles back to maximise resale when these cars changed hands and had real value.

Taken in with the odometer gears lack of reliability and it is a real crap shoot. A low milage car taken reasonably good care of over the years kind of has an aurora about it I cannot describe but it is present.

Then I omitted the grey market cars that had to have the kilometer speedometer head changed over to the miles per hour head. Most these cars just got new heads indicating O total miles. So overall to have true low miles one heck of a lot of paperwork has to be there and it must be concurant.

For example I cannot see any reason the original oil change booklet should not still be in the dash yet since low miles are claimed it will not be there usually.

All the above are typical. In a non southern car the seats should still look and feel like new until at least 200k. That material is durable or perhaps even more durable than any I have seen in any other brand of car.

All the above does not mean you should not purchase it. Just make sure you only pay a fair price for what it really is. Watch out for recent re paints as well.

In any condition it also should be up on a car hoist and really checked out before purchase. Some are no longer more than parts cars.

Unless it has that certain aroura about it that I mentioned. These cars are very rare though yet a small number of them still remain. It is an appearance like the car is still sitting on the showroom floor as it was new basically. Steering wheel wear or the lack of it even is present then. Factory tags remain under the hood etc.

He may not even know what he is selling as 240ds with a manual transmission do not have cruise control unless installed aftermarket usually. I do guess an individual could transfer one complete factory system over from an automatic transmission car. I have not seen this done myself yet. Low end car flipper comes to mind or worse.