That sound you hear is my broken record..
 

I actually have an anecdote which I've mentioned in threads about rough idle in 300Es a couple of times. I tried running regular for a tank to see its effect on idle in my car. My tech said MB sent out a service bulletin that said the original injectors don't operate that well with current fuel formulations (they've been redesigned), that regular burns hotter and therefor isn't as dependent on spray pattern for complete burn and that knock wasn't going to be a problem. Sure enough, I tried it and voila, smooth idle, easier starting and no appreciable loss of either power or fuel mileage. Someone on the other thread was baffled about the mileage. I was too. I don't know the physics well enough to explain it (JCE?).

I burn the mid half the time and premium the other half. Occasional Techron on long freeway trips as well. Like John, the only thing that affects my mileage is length of trips and average speed. The longer the trip at speed, the better the mileage, which means driving to Georgia should be pretty cheap.

Once I by accident filled my tank up with 89, and was worried at first, however then once I started driving , I noticed the car runs better. It thought this was a coincidence or something strange, however now you have proved my feeling.

Look in the Shop Swap. There is a gooood 300E for $8,000.

for your budget...300E.. my '87 lasted 250,000 miles and probably had many more miles to go. It was just time for valve job and paint work....plus I had the itch for a 400E.

A very well kept and maintained 89 - 92 300E can be found in the range you are looking.

if you can stretch a bit, i highly recommend the '92 400e. your search will take a lot longer for a good one since so few were made compared to the 300e's.



good luck

Hey,
I bought my 86 300e with 62,300 miles from ebay! Can you believe that? It was about 1 hour from my house. The bid was up on a friday, so on wednesday, my wife and I drove to see it, drive it and then had time to go over our finances. Come friday, I knew it was still available and that no one was going to snatch it out from under me without a fight. I was prepared to bid up to $10,000. I got it for $8,600. I must admit, I put another 4 grand into it since then replacing seals and things that aren't supposed to sit. Now I have 91k on the clock and couldn't be happier with the car. No one can believe it's 15 years old! I get an average of 23 mpg. What a pleasure to drive.