PLease give me car advice.
 

Next year I will be a college student, aka a poor person, and I am wondering what a good diesel car would be. I want something classy like a mercedes though, but any opinions would be appreciated. My commute will be about 20 minutes. THanks.

I'm confused. What about the cars in your signature? :confused: :confused:

I'm sorry I should have included info on that. Right now the 81 300SD is mine. THe other two are my parents. I am giving up the SD becuase it is too ****ty, I am looking for something maybe 10 years newer with a nice interior and a classy exterior. I am curious of your recommendations.

erfaniman,

For absolute reliability and easiest to maintain and repair and good fuel mileage, a 220D, 240D or 300D with manual transmission will be your best bet.

They all can all be run on WVO in warm weather for the lowest fuel cost.

Many good ones are still available, check Ebay.

P E H

THanks for the advice. ALthough i will keep those in mind, I have about a 15k budget. I am sacrificing the college experience of living in a dorm seeking to own a newer car.

Personally, I would spend about 1/2 of your budget on a well maintained, reasonably low milage car and put the other 1/2 in the cookie jar to keep it well maintained and reliable. The "newer" cars you are talking about are still 10-15 years old and will cost money to maintain.

Hmm, interesting. How are the W124's? I really really really want a W210 though.

AKA poor?
You will be going from cheaper easier do-it-yourself to give Hans a pile of money to fix your next problem. I'm not sure many of the newer MB's look too much more classy then a Hyundai (how do you spell that anyway)
Good luck with school. My oldest daughter is struggling......

That's true. But a black 210 is a dream car of mine. I would love to roll up to campus with that. But yeah, college is a beast. My older sister is doing mediocre

You want to give up the social part of college life to buy a used MB? Bad move and you will regret it.

Fancy car+living at home= uncool. :cool:

Keep your old SD, go live in the dorm and have a great time. Good luck with your studies.

When you say you would, "love to roll up to campus with that," I hope your idea of college is not to impress people. You will be wasting your money on college and a pretty car will probably get keyed in the student parking lot. With only a 20 minute commute why don't you keep the Benz you have and get a Schwinn to go to school. Just some friendly advice from an old ba$tard. Take it or leave it and no malice is intended by me.

Sounds like a lifestyle decision to me. The 210s do look nice (in a new car kind of way), and some would consider the 124 "aesthetically challenged," but there's more to life than having a nice car. My only advice is not to spend all your money on a newer car unless you can afford to maintain it properly.

I would heed some of the above advice. That $15,000 will be fruitfully spent on books, dates, and social exploits. The w210 you imagine driving up in is not a classy car, in many's opinion, and the girl of your dreams is/shouldn't be looking for a guy who's driving a tiring 10 year old Benz.

I mean, education and girls (an aspect of education) is what college is about, right? The w210 will just be an expensive PITA.

I rode in a w210 E500 over the labor day weekend for the first time and it felt like my dad's 2000 Honda Accord, except that it had a nice quiet V8 (with what, a 6 speed auto or something?) instead of an annoying sounding I4 and 4 speed auto. Not necessarily a bad thing but Im just saying it didn't have much character. I didnt drive it though so I cant fully comment. If you want a classy classic diesel go with a fintail or something, and as a plus you wont be spending no 15K on that either.

You can buy a nice older Jetta or Passat TDI for a little over $6,000, much better mpg than any Benz, and still have money to maintain it for the rest of your ownership, and have lots of money left over for beer, and fast women...