Well, Ive decided to be a little bit more serious about my Mercedes diesel shopping, partially due to a VW that I cant smog at the moment that registrationi was due on yesterday. Mostly due to the fact that I want an economical cruiser- a quiet daily drive that I can drive long distance, get good fuel mileage and be environmentally sound. I plan to do the environmentally sound by doing the SVO/WVO thing, as a stock diesel Merc is probably not that great for the environment.

In addition to your comments on what type of vehicle I have decided on, any other first time buyer comments are welcome. As a VW man, I am used to getting in there myself and doing my own work (including an engine swap, but that has turned out to be a bit over-zeleous) with the occasional help of a local VW guy and frequent help from the Robert Bentley repair manual. Is there a similar manual for Mercedes?

What do you guys think of this ************** guy on ebay? He has a lot of manuals, which I guess he wrote himself, frequenly packaged with repair parts. Any experiences? His stuff seems somewhat pricey at times...

Any other comments?

I have a message posted in the classifieds section for "wanted to buy" here:
WTB: Cheap diesel in central California