Advice on an old Diesel Purchase

[pj67coll]

Greetings folks. My name is Peter Collingwood. Emigrated to the USA from South Africa in 2000.

I owned three Mercedes in succession back in SA. You can see pics of them on my site.

http://members.cox.net/pjcoll1/cars.html

Since emigrating to the USA fate has intervened in all my attempts to acquire another and I'm starting to get desperate now that I've been cold Turkey for nearly four years.

My financial situation is such that I have to consider an older car and because of their longevity (and emissions issues with older gasoline cars in Phoenix generally) I'm considering a diesel. My previous Mercedes were all gas cars but while I'm aware diesel's are sluggish in comparison I think I can live with that.

I hope I can tap into the collective wisdom of owners of old diesels on this list. Though I like the Fintails I have my doubts about a 190D or 200D being viable daily drivers in todays traffic so I'm considering the 220D and 240D 114 series.

While I know these cars will all be relatively slow what I'd like to know is wether they are suitable for commuting in modern traffic or wether I should not consider anything earlier than a 123 240 or 300D?

I've seen a few 220D auto's for sale here in Phoenix but never a 220D manual. Did such a car exist? I suspect it would be slightly peppier in town than the auto version.

Any thougths or ideas would be much appreciated.

- Peter