I have one and absolutely love it. I bought it two years ago with 150K miles and have 170K so far. This is my first MBZ so I don't have much to compare it with other than a bunch of Japanese imports and my wife's VW Passat V-6 4motion. I think I was fortunate in that it has had a new wire harness, blower, HVAC controller, head gasket installed (I bought the car before I found this forum). Aside from difficulty starting below 15F (there is a TSB on the HFI-SFM module causing an over-rich condition), it has been trouble-free. I am foregoing the replacement module ($$$) for now by depressing the accelerator at startup when the temp is really low. You may want to check if the previous owner has had the updated Bosch module (dated 8/94 I think) installed.

Acceleration is adequate to good, a tad slow off the line (compared to the VW and probably due to the weight difference) but with nice, steady power as it gets up to speed. A earlier post was right about your driving style dictating whether or not the performance is adequate. I perfer not to race away at stoplights and let those go who have an absolute need to get one car ahead. So it fits my driving style perfectly. Handles/rides terrific at moderate to highway speeds. Gas mileage is about 20 mpg with a 60/40 mix of highway/city driving. Smoke silver paint is crazing so I gathering information on this site to best address it.

Steve