Thanks for the info.
I'm new to diesel and benz. Most of my information came from this forum and others.

My very simple test for the transmission (besides driving the car) was to see how fast the gear engaged, this was less than 1 second to reverse and drive. Over all when I drove the car the shifting was smooth.

Regarding the no power problem, The dealer replaced the fuel filters and drove the car from the auction lot to his lot, more than 50 miles. I assumed and please correct me if I'm wrong that the "brakes" issue would be solved if that was an issue to start with.

When the car was a normal driving speed for the city it was OK. The only problem that concerned me was the fact that it will take about 30 seconds to get to 60 MPH.

I hope that this gives more information.
I didn't do the neutral on a level lot push by hand test.

Thanks,
Yossi
PS. the car is in Fremont CA.