Just for fun, I started looking at Yahoo Autos and checking specs on the new cars. I decided I'd try to see what's available with RWD, a manual transmission, and similar or better fuel economy than the '83 300D I currently drive. Results were disappointing.

If someone pistol whipped me and forced me to buy a new car this week, I'd probably end up with a 6-cylinder/6-speed Mustang. According to EPA ratings, it gets 19 city/31 hiway. The city mileage is a bit less then what I get with the 300, and the highway mileage is about the same. Of course it's less roomy, but it manages to deliver 305 horsepower in spite of the good fuel economy. And I think it looks nice. I priced one and it came to a hair under $23k MSRP for one optioned the way I like (stripped).

The only other somewhat appealing cars I found were the C300 sport sedan and the Mazda Miata. Both are rated to get a little worse fuel economy than my 300. I was previously unaware that you could still get a stick in the C-class. The C300 comes with the advantage of being a four door, but I don't know that I'd want to pay an extra ten grand over the cost of the Mustang. It does seem to be a nice car though. The Miata, of course, is a different animal entirely and wouldn't be practical for all the things I do with my 123. It would be a killer weekend fun car though.

That much being said, I'd have to have my net worth up into at least seven figures before I would really consider buying new and taking that instant depreciation hit. I'm not anywhere near there yet, so it looks like I'll be keeping the old 300 for quite a while.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.