Just wanted to share my experience with the Benz on my latest trip. I drove from Phoenix to Palm Springs and back this past weekend. I traveled the whole time at 65mph with the cruise set. On the way there, the cruise kept slightly surging which was really annoying. Not sure if it was the buffeting wind or just that the linkages were stiff, but it didn't do it on the way back.
It only used a little bit of oil there and back, like maybe from half way on the stick to a quarter of the way down from the low mark, each way. Some things I want to upgrade or fix for next time; I need to fix the ACC vacuum pods and the A/C system, as it was getting hot, even in February. Also, I need to beef up the seat springs a bit, maybe with the M.S. kit. They aren't dead flat, but they do need some attention. Also, I'd like to get the 2.88 diff at some point to lower the RPMs. I made it to Palm Springs on half a tank, which is awesome. I ran into a guy at a truck stop off of the I-10 checking the fluids on his '85 300D, which was pretty neat. Oh, weirdly, I thought I was going to have a really big issue when I went to re-fuel, because the fuel door was locked! It has never done that and it didn't matter if the door locks were up or down. I found the release in the trunk though and got it open.