K-car!?! How insulting...
What makes it worse is that I have *exactly* the same car as the one shown in the picture that prompted the comment...
I can't say that I disagree though - I think the front view of the early-model 190s is their least attractive angle. Plus, the lighting from these headlamps is not very good anyway... I would like to get a set of European headlamps (or even the later 1987-1993 North American ones), but I can't find a reasonably-priced source for them.
Overall, I'm really happy with the car (I've had it for about 6 months). The reasons I chose it were:
1) It's a very, very uncommon vehicle - I live in a city with 1 million people and I've never seen another 190D. I only see 190Es maybe twice a month. I hate the thought of having the same car as everyone else.
2) It's simple and easy to work on.
3) It's small but still a nice car. There's a surprising amount of interior room (as long as you're the red guy in the front!), good features, small turning radius, great handling.
4) Economy! So far, I have been getting 37-40mpg on the highway, and 33-35mpg in the city. The worst ever has been 32mpg, when it was -5 to -10°F for a week.
5) Longevity - I've heard of many of these cars with over 350,000 miles on them! Quite impressive...
I was initially worried about cold-weather starting (everyone said "oh, it's a diesel, I guess you have to plug it in all winter"), but we put in Mobil 1 synthetic oil, and the car has started fine down to -8°F (-22°C) without having to use the block heater (it hasn't been colder than that yet this winter).
I'm also pleased with the overall quality of the car - there are no major squeaks or rattles, nothing is falling apart, everything is tight and fits together well, and the interior generally looks like new (but it's 20 years old!). The cracked dash is my only complaint.
It isn't the quickest car ever (the 0-60 time is almost
triple that of my other car!) but with the 5-speed, it's definitely adequate for everyday driving.
