what's with him saying it cant really handle freeway driving very well?
I have a 1978 300CD with a ton of miles and it will still easily handle freeway speeds as long as you arent pushing it past 75 or so. It will do its claimed 93 mph top speed, but this tends to bring the temp up after a few minutes.

Anyway, yeah it was cool to see my exact year and model of car profiled on the video, just wish they'd have found a cleaner example and didnt talk so deprecatingly about its lack of power.

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2007 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins Turbo Diesel 4x4
1994 GMC S-15 pickup 4.3 5MT
1985 300 SD
1978 300 CD
1962 220-S Fintail - awaiting restoration

Once the car is that old, many factors are in play. Mileage is relative to maintenance when it comes to how any car will perform.

Two other things come to mind immediately: One, if the kickdown switch isn't working, a NA diesel isn't much fun on the highway (assuming you aren't shifting manually). Two, many of these cars end up with the throttle linkages badly out of adjustment, or even assembled wrong, due to wrenching errors over the years.

The first NA 617 I ever drove when shopping for my first Mercedes diesel was pitiful. My later 240d with one low-compression cylinder had much more power.

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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