Was your first car a diesel?
 

The reason I ask is that my son who is just learning how to drive does not like driving my diesel. He prefers the zippy-ness of my wife's Honda Civic.
He does not like to floor the accelator to get it going.

Oh, well....

My first car was a 1970 Austin-America....

Tell your son that MY son has been driving my 92 300D for close to a year now and finally is able to appreciate that it's a REALLY COOL CAR. Lots of kids at school said, when he first started showing up with it, "Whoa, dude, you're driving a BENZ?" Your son will never get any comments if he drives your wife's Civic.

The first car I bought was my 1979 300D. The day after I bought it, I commuted to work for the first time. I thought I made a huge mistake. It seemed way under powered. But 2 days later I absolutely loved it. It takes a couple days to figure out the torque curve, how to get the autobox to shift just right by regulating the accelerator.

I can see why your son wouldn't like it. IF he's switching between the two and not getting used to the mercedes. Have him drive it alone for a week or so, and he'll get used to it. A word to the wise though. If he does start regularly driving the 300D, the next time he uses your wives car remind him not to floor the accelerator as it become a habit. There amore than a few members here that have gotten into something and instinctively floored it and almost ended up in a hedge or something.

My first car is the '84 (I'm 16)! I haven't driven it yet, though...

I like the zippiness of our Corolla, but I also like driving our Sienna for the "big car" feel -- in that one, I am always accelerating and turning slowly and ponderously. It's fun :)

Tell him if he gets hit in the Benz, he will likely walk away....

...of course, our Sienna can also burn rubber with the best of them, if need be. I have spun the tires a couple of times without meaning to (and I don't drive aggressively).

My first car was a 1969 Austin America

My second car was a 1978 Peugeot 504 Diesel Sedan....very reliable car and a solid 30mpg....

My wife loves her 1995 E300 for this very reason. She used to pull up to work and get worried that someone would think her VW Passat Wagon would make her look like the "weird mom type". Now she's made it a point to tell me that people compliment her car all the time.

I'd say tell your son to get over it. I will totally give a diesel (hopefully a slow one) to my son for his first car. They teach good confident driving habits (you have to be aware of how much power you have to merge) and they require a more relaxed driving style (no zipping in and out).

I really think that most diesels require just a bit more finesse and appreciation to drive and own. Gassers are just disposable cars in my eyes now.

EDIT: my first car was a 1994 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight LSS (non-supercharged) and my wife had a 2005 Kia Rio (which I ended up totaling and allowed me to buy my first Benz!)

Pontiac Fiero! Still have it too.

I didn't get a diesel until I went to college.

Harder to seriously injure yourself in a car that tends not to get away from you when first starting out. A lot of differances between young people factor in as well.

The only certainty is that driving is better than walking everywhere. Some of the cars I drive are really a little too much for a new driver. A 240d around town is a great starter car in my opinion. If dad is paying the freight he has the choice in my mind.

Once you go Benz, you never go back! ;) tell him that one

I learned to drive in our 2003 Sprinter passenger van and I drive my mom's 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis sometimes. Sprinter brakes better and rides better and handles better than the Mercury, higher mpg, and has more comfortable seats imo. The Mercury has more power (not much, its the 4.6) and weighs less so it obviously accelerates better but the steering is loose and is rather scary to drive because of that and its poor handling (just replaced the shocks so it is a bit better than it was). I'm hoping that my dad's 240D gets fixed up so I can drive it. I know it'll be slower than the others but I usually drive pretty laid back most if the time anyway.

I took my driving test in a genuine 1957 Chevrolet Black Widow....Olds differential, six-lug wheels with Olds brakes, and mechanically fuel injected 283 (283 horse) with a 3 speed column, built only for NASCAR racing.....

the first car I bought was a 72 toyota celica st I had to fill the oil every 30 miles, and check the gas, because the gas tank rusted out the fuel level sender...
I was given a vw beetle for graduating HS... loved that car until Hurricane Hugo dropped a barn on it...
my driver's test was in my big brother's 74 nova with a near race level engine and a 4 speed... I can't believe I passed the test... SOOOOO many problems on that drive!

My 240D IS my first car :)

I can see where a new young driver would not feel comfortable in heavy city traffic driving a "slow off the line" car, but like others said it doesn't take long to get in the "groove" and be able to zip around like the other cars, well except for if it's a 240 auto maybe.

You guys must all be pretty young, my first car was a 1964 Plymouth Barracuda that I bought for $125 around 1974. After the pushbutton tranny went out I sold it for $50. It's prolly worth a bit more now if it still exists.

Zippy-ness went out the window 2 weeks after I graduated high school when my best friend passed away behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Part of the reason my dad handed the SD down to me. Before that I drove the Toyota Tercel in my sig... I still drive and love the Tercel, but lest face it, its a tin can. Then again they tell me new cars are safer.

First car was a used blue 1983 VW Jetta non Turbo Diesel Mk1. Bought in 1992. I took it to college back in 1993 and it died with a blown head gasket in 1994 in Kansas near Lawrence. At the time I was in college with a new wife and baby working close to full time and taking 20 credit hour semesters. (I thought I was superman in those days!) I had it towed to my wife at the time's employer who had a storage cave warehouse down by the Missouri River. I tried to replace the head gasket but could not get it to start. Due to lack of money and lack of time I gave it away to an auto-broker just to get it towed away. I have regretted every day doing that. I found close match to it recently here but wife says no more cars till I do something with all these Mercedes lol.

Originally Posted by rs899
My first car was a 1969 Austin America
.

Doktor Bert

You grew up faster than I...
My second car was a 68 MGB. I came close to buying a nice 504 much later- wish I had.

my first car was a Ford Tempo, with those awesome spongy foam covered wheels.

Had one of those too, same year. Nice car, but no where near the W123.

First car was a 1950 Chevy panel truck. Bought it for $50.

Still in high school so yes it's my first car

And might I say, the ladies like the Benz a lot (ask for rides just for the car, but I pretend it's for me :cool: )

Some people ask how much it costs, I simply reply "35" and their mouth drops because they think it costs 35,000 when it was really 3500 haha (don't want to tell them they're so cheap that so the idiots at my school don't buy them and wreck them, that would be a shame)

Driving a N/A diesel as a first car can be... Entertaining to say the least but I've grown used to it (but my father says: "it's the perfect car for everybody; for both the present and future, safe, built to last with maintenance, looks good, good mpg, can run on whatever burns when oil runs out and it's impossible to do any real form of speeding"

My first diesel was a 1984 Chevy Chevette 4 door with an Isuzu 4 cylinder. Bought it brand spankin' new in 1984. Drove it 200,000 miles and only changed the oil. It was not my first car. My first car, however, was a Plymouth Fury III for $50 bucks. Drove it about 6 months before it collasped. I got my stereo out of it and my battery and off to the yard but that was 1982 and those good old days are gone forever.

How do you like the 4-speed in the SD? Did you guys install it -- if you did, how did you have to modify it?

The vehicles I have owned are:

1995 Geo Prizm:
Great car. Had about 80K and no problems other than some peeling paint on the hood from sitting under a pine tree too long. Perfect old lady - drive to church on Sunday car. Only 10 years old when I bought it for $1700. Tin can, though. Low speed front end crash and it was totaled. Could still be driving it today if I didn't crash it.

1996 Chrysler Cirrus:
The car was not taken care of in its lifetime and by the time I traded it in, it was running on like 4 out of 6 cylinders. It smoked worse than my 300SD any day. I had this car for less than a year.

2003 Nissan Sentra:
Bought it three years old with something like 35K on it. Purchased from the dealer for about $13,000 out the door with financing. Nice little car, peppy off the line, mine was loaded with tons of non-factory options. I believe the car was owned by the wife of someone related to the Boston Red Sox. Gave it to my mom when her car "died." Went up north to visit her and fixed her old car by cleaning the contacts on the coolant fan relay. None of the 3 mechanics and dealer could find out why the car was over heating. They suggested a head gasket. She has two cars now.

1991 F250 7.3IDI:
Great truck. Very reliable. I have done lots of PM on it and many many upgrades. It is a joy to work on and very simple. The Banks Sidewinder really brings out some hidden power behind that 7.3 engine. If I need to tow yo' momma's single wide, this is the truck I use. LOL

1983 300SD:
My current baby aside from the F250. I have been driving this car daily for a year now and I have not been stranded or felt uncomfortable driving it anywhere I need to go. The car is still going through a restoration process. When I bought the car for $850, it needed every typical 30 year old MB maintenance issue addressed and then some. Most major mechanical issues have been resolved. The car was in absolute pizz poor condition inside and out. The reason I bought the car is because battery was almost dead and it still started. Imagine a car with a battery so weak it can barely turn the engine over and the car starts. That tells me good compression for a Diesel. So far, I have made a great choice with this car. It may have looked like crap but it ran well. That's what I was looking for since I didn't have a small car anymore.

in the past week, i've outrun 2 econoboxes in the stoplight drags-for-lane-choice. the turbo and a few injection pump adjustments go a long way for acceleration. people always assume my land_yacht will be slow.

if he can learn the timing on the turbo lag, he can anticipate situations and floor it beforehand for the windup and lunge. :shrug:

i was done with gasoline after catching on fire while trying to start a old v8. FIRE BAD!

Here in the US, yes. Second diesel was an '81 300TD, but we sold it in 2005 in favor of a '90 300TE, which my mom still drives (285k miles!).

My first car overseas was an '89 Mitsubishi Lancer (here known as Mirage or Colt), poverty model. Last I heard, it was still running in one of the provinces in the Philippines, after my dad sold it in 2004.

I love the 4 speed! Wanted it for a long time before I finally got it all togehter. It was quite the project. I documented it in this thread.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/276987-installing-new-engine-manual-transmission-my-sd.html

Sorry some of the pictures are broken, I recently found them on a back up, I need to get them hosted.

Ha someone tried to give me an Austin 1100 (more or less the same car to those who don't know) as a first car but even at a tender age of 17 I realised that I couldn't tackle that much rust!

First car: '73 Chrysler Newport. With the 400 2-barrel engine it was faster than my 300D in a straight line, but not by much. Handling and braking were much much worse. I crashed it more than once in the course of teaching myself to drive after the state of Georgia somehow decided to grant me a driving license.

The first diesel I had regular contact with was an '80 Ford LNT 8000 cement truck that I wrenched on a lot and got to drive a little. It had the Cat 3208 NA backed with an Eaton Fuller 13 spd. Not fast, but that was okay for a young sailor just learning to use air brakes.

The first diesel I owned was the 300D that I bought in 2005. Still driving it daily.

When I got my first car Diesel had not been invented yet.

It had stone wheels too.

And the bottom was open for better traction with my feet.:P

Actually my first car was a 54 Cadillac....which was plastic and had a fifth wheel and little nuts holding on the wheels and a wrench so I could change from a flat tire to a good one. (A toy car given by my beloved aunt)

My first real car was th 1960 Simca..... a little french four door with sweet spot on handling, ride and good brakes and a fragile POS engine and transmission.....paid $200 for it when it was five years old.....kindof like Kias used to be before they got all grown up and people started considering them real cars.

Mine wasn't the least bit rusty ( only 3 years old at the time) but came with that unique 4 speed autotragic transmission that shared a common ( 8 qt) sump with the engine. I soon realized that the transmission was going to be a disaster and went to find manual car (MGB) that I could beat on. IIRC , I actually made money on the flip for the first and only time in my life.

There really weren't ANY diesels available to high school kids in the US in the early 70s before the first of the oil troubles in '73.

we ought to list the first cars we can remember in our families... for me it's a LOOOOOOONG list...

the first diesel I had in my family was likely a tractor... I grew up on farms... although I really don't remember any tractors as a kid... first diesel car was in 79 or 80 we got a 79 Caprice Classic wagon with the WONDERFUL GM 5.7L head blower... we got that to tow a 38' Prowler camper for traveling the US cause we missed it so much after living in IRAN!!!

My first was almost a Diesel in 1981...
 

My dad got a 1979 Olds Delta 88 Royale with the same awful 5.7L for his company car.

In those days my dad got new company cars every 2 years. I turned 16 in 1981 so my dad was going to buy it from the company and let me drive it.

Of course the engine self destructed before I got my license. It was repaired under warranty, but after that my dad did not want me driving the car since he was worried about the reliability. Even his company did not want it back, so my dad sold it to someone. I wonder how long that new engine lasted...

I still have memories of having to plug in the block heater in the Chicago winters, even in the garage it would drop to nearly zero ambient when it was -30 outside with the wind blowing.

They had two normal-sized batteries in parallel to provide the extra oomph to start the engine. Delco Freedom with the green eye indicator.

I ended up with a 1976 Ford Maverick. :eek: total rust bucket. Luckily my late grandfather owned a body and fender shop in Chicago, his helper was still running the place when I was in high school after he had passed on, so I was able to fix it up.

Dad walked me through my first engine build at 10 years old; it was a 1959 Honda 305cc twin.

My first two cars I built as learning projects; the Austin-America, with its 4 speed automatic, that ran on SAE 30 engine oil, and the Peugeot 504 Diesel. Dad insisted I learn on obscure cars, which is where I gained Ferarri/Lamborghini/Borgward/Iso Grifo experience early.

My high school car was a hand built 1969 Dodge Charger RT/SE. I owned it from 1980 to 1989. This was my first paint job and the car I learned to do body work on.

I traded it in 1989 for a 1967 Hemi Coronet R/T

Not my first car but it was the car I took my drivers test in when I turned 16 :D

The car I took my driving test in....

I really don't know why they wanted engines and transmissions to share oil - especially an automatic.

Same here!!! I think about that some times. My dad owned the Toyota Tercel (5 speed) and a F350 (5 speed) and his company truck ( I wasn't allowed to drive) and the SD. So when I took my test it was in the SD because it was the only car with an automatic.

Ironically I love the SD now that its a stick.

I love the fact that my car has been in my family since I've been in the family. I remember being a little kid thinking that grandmas car was so fancy. When my dad had the car I was always doing extra work around the house to get to use the car to take girls out and what not. Now its how I get to work :cool:

My first car personally was my '82 SD. Still have it, nearly 10 years now. :D Its probably going to be retired and parted this summer though, its getting pretty rough for my standards...(rust, sigh.)

First car I ever rode in was my dad's '86 VW golf. It gave itself to save me and him in '92 when we were rear ended on the way to bring me to kindergarten one day.

I came home from the hospital in a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air with a 283, dual fours and a 3 speed column, all from the factory....

My first car was an Austin Healey Sprite Mk3. I think the car had 46 hp in a 1098 cc engine. I kept it to the floor. I would pass other cars on interstate entrance and exit ramps. Sometimes on the inside and sometimes on the outside. Felt good. Somehow I have survived 45 years since those days.

Your son needs a ride in my diesel. It's a rocket compared to my first car, a 1970 Ford Maverick powered by a 200" six with 115 screaming horsepower.

My E300 will do 0-60 in the high 7's and pulls like a freight train at highway speeds.

Tell him to watch this fun and informational video....:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFhaRefTRUM

My first car was a 1981 300D N/A. It was passed to me from my mother after her owning it for 22 years. She received an 06 CDi E320.

On the special occasion that I get to drive the CDI, I do something illegal everytime. I am not specifically trying to do something dumb, it just happens. That car is so much different than mine. Its 10x as fast, has 10x more bells and whistles, and I try to be much “cooler” when I drive it. I get distracted with the touch screen sometimes.

In my 300D, I can drive it as FAST AS I WANT and you know what, i’ve already reached my destination before I hit 70 mph. The radio is a single DIN, I can change the song w/o looking. I can see soooo much better when looking over my shoulder in the W123 as opposed to the W211. I believe that the W123 is the smartest decision for a new driver.

Just for reference, three sets of my friend’s parents bought 5 W123’s total for their kids based on the experiences that we have had in our family. None of those kids have speeding tickets, including myself after 5 years of driving.

How's this for a winner?
 

1970 Datsun 510 wagon. Rusted out front quarter panels replaced but never painted. When it was on it's last leg, I called a junk yard and they said $50. When I limped in and started taking off the plates, the manager ran out and said "No, No. I can't give you $50 for that!" He did take $25...:D

Sad story, always wanted a 510 wagon :(

It was actually a fun car to drive. But I lived up north, and it was only $600 and something when I bought it. Body in rough shape to begin with.:eek: