At a social event, I met an elderly couple driving a 1998 E300 turbodiesel. In the course of talking with them, they mentioned that they were considering putting it up for sale soon. Uh-Oh!

The car is a true original purchaser / one-owner unmolested car with 130,000 miles. Believe it or not, it has been MBZ dealer-only maintained it's entire life, and it still has all factory original paint. It has some stone chips & road rash on the front, and a couple of tiny door dings - otherwise the paint is truly excellent because it was garage-kept it's entire life. . It originates from a desert / dry climate area, so hopefully rust and spring perch failure won't crop up as an issue in the future.

I've been thinking about getting an '05 or '06 CDI, and have been casually looking for the past few months. But now this w210 has cropped up. Ugh! What to do?

I'm curious to know your opinions, especially those of you that have owned both a w210 turbodiesel and a w211 CDI. I know the CDI will get better mileage and has more power, but... jeez, this car is a rare find.

I'm also curious to know what you guys think the current market is for a car like this. We didn't discuss price, but we exchanged phone numbers.

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think!

__________________
Current rolling stock:
2001 E55 183,000+ Newest member of the fleet.
2002 E320 83,000 - The "cream-puff"!
1992 500E 217,000+
1995 E300D 412,000+
1998 E300D 155,000+
2001 E320 227,000+
2001 E320 Wagon, 177,000+

Prior MBZ’s:
1952 220 Cab A
1966 300SE
1971 280SE
1973 350SLC (euro)
1980 450SLC
1980 450SLC (#2)
1978 450SLC 5.0
1984 300D ~243,000 & fondly remembered
1993 500E - sorely missed.
1975 VW Scirocco w/ slightly de-tuned Super-Vee engine - Sold after 30+ years.