Here's the deal.

When I bought my very first Benz (W123) in Aug 2006 I was interested in a veggie conversion. Well as time has passed I have lost interest in converting it but as it has happened, I have become pretty attached to the car from a stand point of the quality construction of it as well as general ease of working on it myself. I haven't even mentioned how I've come to enjoy hearing that unique diesel sound as it is idleing and the expectation that, if taken care of - which I tend to be a fanatic of sorts - it will last many more miles! It's also fun to see people looking at it as I drive by as well.

It has been my choice to own vehicles that are paid for (or a very short term note) and are of known endurance, i.e. - the W123 diesel or Honda Accord and so on. I drive my work van all week and seldom get in the Benz until the weekends and then only if the roads are dry. My other car, 1992 Accord, is the one my wife uses to putter around town in doing errands and such. It is a very nice little car (rust free!) with 183K on the clock. Now, at 54 I am getting a bit tired of getting in and out of it as it sits very low, so I've been thinking about getting something bigger and much more comfortable to replace it with. AND...I would like to update my car(s) several years as well.

Now comes the decisive moves. Here is a car I'm looking at http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200280501646&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem= and would consider IF, IF, IF I somehow could know that I wasn't buying into an endless money pit! I've read many posts about the 140 platform and all the problems they have had on many of them but somehow I'm thinking "...this one's not one of them!" YEAH, RIGHT! Thinking like that can get one into deep doo-doo...

I have been considering keeping the Accord and selling my W123 and buying something like this to use as our "road car" that would only see about 5K miles annually. Am I NUTS or what?! Help me out here guys, talk me out of/or into it! I know this is the diesel forum and I'm sort of asking you to talk me into a gasser, allbeit a fine MB machine! Down side to this deal for me is the W123 prices don't seem to be very good in this part of the country.

My indy mech says wow, that's a tough choice to make since those are one of the best production cars to ride down the road in BUT they can eat your bank account if things start going wrong. There are just sooo many bells and whistles that may/will go bad. The guy that has this one tells me it has had two PO's and that it is "exceptionally clean, inside and out" and "well cared for".

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Dale