Benz_man600,

There was something wrong with your father's diesel. Perhaps it had some bad injectors. W126s aren't really that slow and keep up with reasonable traffic. Of course it won't beat Mustangs and Camaros, and if you try and floor it, you'll get smoke black. Other than that, the W126's exhaust is clean. Modern diesels have clean exhaust under normal driving.

The greatness of the W126 lays in its size. What you have a good size car that can haul people around comfortably. The trunk is nice and large. The body is well built and strong. The styling is classic.

For do-it-yourselfers, the engine is simple: it runs without computers or much emission controls to mess around with. Also the rear-wheel drive gives the do-it-yourselfer lots of access to the engine.

Combine the engine with the body and you'll have a good car with plenty of room and descent mpg.

I must admit that not everyone should be driving a diesel. First of all, you have to understand the technology behind the engine to appreciate it. You'll understand why diesels act the way they do. Secondly, you have to adjust your driving style to maximize the power from the engine.

The next time you drive the road, observe some 300SDs. The 300SD does make noise at idle, but it was normal diesel noise. Watch it take off. If the guy doesn't floor it, you wouldn't know it was diesel. You wouldn't even notice it was slow.