I feel that both are great cars.
I have a silver 84 SD 171K that I paid 6K for, and have put maybe 2.5K in a year or so, fixing the air, doing front suspension (caster joints) and tires.

The two cars are different in personality. The 300E will handle more nimbly, is faster, should consume a bit more (premium unleaded) fuel. The SD is roomier, smoother riding, more tank like handling. It's slower than the 300E, which for me means fewer speeding tickets.

In a 300E I'd check the speedo and would be accelerating from 70-75 mph and would want to go faster just because the car will top out at 137 mph or so, compared to 102 mph on the SD.

In my SD I check the speedo between 55 and 65, and tend to follow traffic rather than race everyone.

If diesel fuel is a lot more or less than premium unleaded in your area, this might influence your decision. There's a county in Georgia along I-95 where diesel was a full 25 cents cheaper than unleaded regular, and 50 cents cheaper than premium...depends on where you live I guess.

At 133K miles the 300E should have had a timing chain by now. If not, figure on doing that soon on the 300E; the SD may have another 45K of life left on the chain before it needs replacement. The SD will need a valve adjustment every 15K miles.

Really, if both are in comparable condition, it should boil down to which one you like to drive best. Happy shopping,

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Robert W. Roe
1984 300SD 171K mi