i drive my mercedes like i stole it, but...i only paid $800 for mine over 5 years ago and i've seen nicer examples in the scrapyard. i made this purchase as an experiment to run wvo and expected to kill the car in a matter of months from all the naysaying i had read on interwebz. my car still is not at stage zero, and i've had a bad cylinder #1 since i bought the car. and yet, she runs like a raped ape, starts in freezing weather, and i've beaten many a econobox in a race-for-lane situation to the surprise of both drivers. how 'bout y'all?

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1982 300sd from craigslist $800 greased on one tank with NO CONVERSION in the Hot Texas Sun. (currently dead & awaiting engine damage investigation and/or longblock swap)
new daily: '03 vw 5speed jetta tdi wagon. bagged&chipped

i drive it slow, enjoy the ride. i read too many stories on here about people that try to drive these things like they're corvettes, driving it 90mph on the freeway, then a week later they post about blowing an oil cooler hose and the motor is gone...

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1981 NA 300D 310k miles

In the City or on the Freeway if there is other Traffic around Me I drive slightly slower than that Traffic.
(Driving like that I have never had a speeding Ticket; but many times have seen the Cops grab someone ahead of Me. I was warned once about Speeding but there was no other Traffice for Me to pace Myself with.)

If Traffic is light on the Freeway I will be driving 70-75 mph. If traffic is medium that speed goes down to 55-70 mph.

I the City the Traffic Signals are mostly not timed and it does not do much good to drive it like you stole it. I My area there is also a lot of Kids around and downtown there is also alot fo Pedestrians; so, again not a lot of benefit to speed.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

It's got 125hp.

Why would you drive it in any manner that fails to respect the horsepower available unless you have no care of the longevity?

The vehicle accelerates perfectly adequately at 2000 rpm and is driven at 62 mph and it achieves 30 mpg. It gets to the destination within 5 minutes of every idiot who must beat the local econobox for the traffic lane to save 15 seconds of his journey.

I do a blend of drive like I stole it and normal. I am by no means "gentle" to it, and even in its decrepit rusty state (the 300SD) it refuses to break. I've put 114k on it since I bought it 10 years ago. Engine has never had any issues at all, replaced the tranny at 281k when it lost reverse and self destructed. I've flown down the highway at 90-100 many times with no issues. If something blows from driving fast (like an oil cooler line) then it was already going to fail soon anyways. I am meticulous about maintenance and thus have never had any of my fleet break down on me.

It is much more fun to drive the 420 like I stole it than the 300SD.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Because it's more fun that way.

Ayrton Senna is my hero.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.