I'll be the contrarian. To me the operative word was when you said you had less than $4,000 to spend. I have owned 3 - 300E's. 2 were purchased at around 100K miles and the third, a '93 Sportline with 250K miles is sitting in my driveway. I bought it for $3500. It has $36K worth of dealer repair receipts. The first of the other two was a '90 model. I put about 75K on it before trading. Here are a few of the repairs.

Alternator, radiator, rotors, A/C compressor $1,400, waterpump, center and rear muffler and many more.

Traded for a '92 Sportline with 113K miles and $7,000 dollars of documented repairs in the last 12 months. This car now has 225K miles. Again, Radiator, A/C compressor etc $1500.00, airpump $500, waterpump, ball joints, struts and shocks, center and rear muffler, differential bushings, strut mounts, alternator, $2500.00 breakdown out of state ( EHA, OVP Relay, Plug wires, Dist cap and rotor, etc etc.), flex disk. This is my daily driver. I confidently drive it out of state on business. Unfortunately, the rebuilt A/C compressor just went out. That repair will be another $1200.00.

The nice thing about these cars is that when you fix them they run like new.

I would not recommend a 300E if you are on a tight budget. You have to be ready for some hits. One thing to be aware of is the predictability of the repairs. It may be better to find one with 150k miles that has documented repairs. Not an easy task.

A Toyota might be a safer move.

Steve