They're worth looking at, but I would take it for a test drive and subject it to the biggest hill, the steepest on-ramp, the worst acceleration spot you would ever take it on, and see if it is strong enough for you-here, a 240D would get you run over. A 300D, for all its quirks(climate control, vacuum locks, etc.)is a much, much faster car(without a large mileage penalty-I get 25-28 MPG in mixed city/hiway driving). If you live at any kind of elevation, a non-turbo also loses substantial power.

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1982 300DT 190K (Diesel Purge + synthetic oil=smoothness at last!!!)
2004 Ford E-350 6.0 L PSD 227K
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW HO Cummins 4X4 48RE 42K (brute force tow vehicle)
2005 Scion xB wife's rolling pop can
1993 GMC Sierra C3500 6.2 142K