After driving Chevy's with the good old 350 turbohydramatic I found them to to be able to take incredible abuse. I think the automatic is a marvel of engineering and after spending countless hours with a clutch and a mixer stick I just love an automatic but, I just would like others opinion on just how good are the MB autos especially the early '80's?

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Mark
82 300SD 100k
91 Caprice SS
92 Jetta TD

How are early-80's MB tranny's? Like a fine precision watch...

I see people complain about MB tranny's, especially on the 123. However, this car is so rock-solid, that when one accrues upwards of 200K, the tranny is naturally going to begin to fail. One should not curse the transmission merely because the engine is still chugging out the miles!

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Matt
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Grey/black '84 300D, 197K

I agree with my fellow Gopher, Zoonhollis, however, any automatic transmission is an expensive, inevitable repair.

A manual transmission gets a clutch every few thousand miles and keeps going. My 240D has 533,000 miles on the transmission, and has NEVER been apart.

Like anything else, the convenience(?) has a price. I not only enjoy driving a stick, but I like the rock solid reliability of a stick that's afforded to those who know how to drive one properly to make it last.

The MB automatic in the 123 cars shifted a little funny, but is a precision piece of machinery as Zoonhollis pointed out. The AT in your Chevy truck would probably cost somewhere between 25% To 50% as much to rebuild as an MB automatic. Of course, if you had that truck in Germany, the numbers may be reversed.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

The transmission in my 86 300E is great for the most part. It shifts seamlessly if you dont push it too hard. The only problems I have are, I hate how its starts out in 2nd gear, its alittle slow to engage into gear and its very reluctant to downshift. But all in all the transmission in my car still much better than the transmissions in many newer american or japanese cars.

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Adam,
1986 300E
1997 Acura Integra GS-R