I've owned a few of VW's diesels, 1.6 Turbo from 84, a 2.4 Turbo from 1986 (was in a Volvo) and a 1.9 TDi from 2003. I found them not that hard to work on, injectors and stuff, were all pretty easy. Timing belts on them all, is a sore spot. Durability wise, though they were all pretty good, over 200,000 miles on with no real major issues, proper maintenance though. These are my first M-B diesels, and there are number of things I find more difficult on these, than on VW, mostly to do with oil distribution, I mean those oil cooler lines? and the turbo oil drain? total PITA repairs. The odd thing with the 61X engines, is that they seem to work even if they are horribly abused.

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1983 W123 300TD US spec Turbo engine, with Euro bumpers and manual climate control, and manual transmission.