I can feel your pain, an E300 is such a great car to lose. The new Passat is nice, but prices for the CDIs are seriously dropping...I saw one for $29,000 last week, and they're much more powerful and a lot nicer than the Passat. I wouldn't be afraid with CDI technology, it's been around since 2000 (I think) and has been pretty well-proven. Not so sure about the Bluetec, however.

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd