Hello all -

I'm a long time enthusiast and perhaps soon the first time buyer of a used Mercedes diesel... I plan on using this car as my daily driver, so I'm looking for two things: reliability/longevity and decent fuel economy (around 30mpg or more). Also, my budget is around $5K - $6K....

I've heard good things about 300D, 300TD and 300SD between 1981 - 1985 so that's been my search criteria thus far.

I've recently driven a 1983 300TD, 173K, 2nd owner - nicely kept up but now knowing much about the character of these cars I have some questions to help me evaluate what's normal and what's not:

1) The car I drove seemed very sluggish off the start but as it warmed up and the turbo came alive the engine seemed strong. It felt like it was starting from a 3rd gear initially though...

2) The transmission shifted hard (from 2nd to 3rd) as I accelerated... There were no 'clunks' heard or felt, but there was a very pronounced 'pull' as the gears shifted and adjusted - this was in 'D'-drive. It seems that shifting down to a '3' setting produced a softer shift in all gears, though the gear change was still quite noticeable - it almost appeared to slip a little as it shifted each time (more noticable in lower gears than in higher, especially when accellerating hard)...

Anyway - are these signs rather normal on these models or are they indication of problems to come? Are these models and years generally reliable vehicles? What should I be careful about when evaluating these models?!

James