Sdl
 

Well, I succumbed to the advice of Sixto and took a chance on a 1986 300 SDL, sight unseen, after looking at a good set of photos. Not on e-bay, but from a used car dealer in Fla. It has my favorite color combination and has 103K on the clock. So, I rolled the dice with it.

Went down to Ft. Lauderdale to pick it up and the exterior is as good as the photos show. It has been repainted, but, it is quite a good job.

Of course, mechanically it is not as good as one would have hoped.

No radio, and the following is immediately required:
Motor mounts
Tie rods
Brake pads
Caliper(s)
Wheel balancing.
New driver seat springs

I took it up through Atlanta and onto my indy in Raleigh without incident. Dropped $750 at the indy to do all of the above, except the calipers and seat springs, and additionally change the rear axle fluid, check the injection timing and chain stretch, and have him go over the car thoroughly. He was fairly impressed with it and thinks that the 103K might be legit. Carfax has an entry of 52K four years ago, so it could have been just clocked before I bought it.

The most amazing thing about it is the fuel economy. I took it a total of 1611 miles and put in 48.51 gallons on three fuel stops. This equates to 33.20 which I am quite sure is impossible. After the first fill, I checked the odomoter against the road markers for 230 miles up I-75 in Georgia. Apparently, the odometer is reading about 7% high. So, the 33.20 must be reduced by 7%. This equates to 30.88. This number seems just unbelievable considering the SD gets about 26 right about now.

The car is very smooth on the highway and likes to run at 75mph with ease. Considerable difference from the SD. I am just starting to go through it and get to know the 603. So far, so good.

A photo:

Having trouble getting the file size down:

Here is another photo:

Nice looking car! Depending on your photo software, some have the option of saving jpg's at a lower quality setting. Depending on the % of the setting, you can bring down the file size with little affect on the actual photo quality.

I am using Corel photo house and I can reduce the size of the image or reduce the resolution of the image, or both. Both of the previous photos have the resolution reduced and they are not as crisp as when I started with the original photo,

That's a great looking car! I absolutely love the color. Is it an aftermarket color, or an original color (just repainted)?

Best I can tell, it is a repaint of the original color. It's probably an 8.5 or so. If you look down the body lines, you can see where they did not fill in the door dents. Cannot see it in the paint, because they sanded them smooth, but, could not take the additional effort to fill the dings. Unfortuanate.

mileage
 

dont trust the road markers too much... I think German engineers are more likely to get it right than road workers... I've had close to 30mpg in my sdl as well. Shocked me the first time- drove from Pittsburgh to Atlanta without stopping for fuel! Not quite as good in-town, but still better than any gasser. Also, the car is as long as a Ford Expedition and probably gets three times the mileage.

Congrats on the purchase! You'll love it!
k

Best I've got was 32 mpg in both SD and SDL. During that summer of '02, I also got a steady 30 mpg between fillups. Now, in the summer, I usually see 27-29 mpg. Worst I've gotten is 22 mpg in both.

I got 31 mpg hwy, driving my car from Jersey to Miami.

In town, I have gotten only 19mpg, but I think that figure will improve with recent injector swap and ignition timing set.

Great cars though.