I don't know about any gluing. I thought only Tata Motors did that. Anyway, on modern cars usually only the bumpers are made of plastic. Certainly none of our cars including my wife's new RAV4 has plastic fenders. And even if they did, so what. At least plastic doesn't rust. The truth is, the newer cars are generally much safer in a collision than the older ones. Most old cars don't even have side airbags and were not designed for serious T-bone accidents. If you don't believe me, look up some crash test results online. Sometimes it just helps to admit the truth. While the newer cars are certainly more complicated and more things can go wrong, and maybe their styling is not as appealing to you which is subjective, they're better in just about every other way.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

You are SO right about them not running forever! My 84 240D only made it a little over 500,000 miles. Piece of junk! Maybe if it would have had a timing belt that I could have replaced every 90,000 miles it would have gone farther.

How odd because that's how far mine went. Are there others? We may need to form a class action suit for an apparent defect.

How come every diesel Jetta I see,their in my rear veiw mirror.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

You better get 500 000 out of a car that costed like 50 000 dollars in the 1980's because you can get that mileage out of a 18 000 dollars Toyota Corolla and that is 18 000 dollars in todays weak dollar.

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1993 Mercedes 300D 2.5

1987 Mercedes 300D 3.0

2000 Volkswagen JETTA TDI diesel 5 speed

2002 Lexus ES300

2006 Lexus GS430

Sorry to bust your bubble, but a 240D was NOT a $50,000 car. Mine was a Euro car with 17,000 miles on it and a year old when I bought it for $17,000. I also paid $17,000, as I recall, for my 77 240D brand new.

Yes, they were expensive to buy initially, but ammortized including operating expenses, my half million mile 240D cost less per mile than any other new or near new car that I ever purchased.

As pointed out by another poster, it is not a fair comparison between a new car and one of 30+ year old technology. The 123 MB was designed in the mid seventies.

The 123 was designed in the late 60s / early 70s. It came out in 1976. Shows how amazing the technology was at the time It's amazing to think the W126 was designed in the mid 70s and came out in 1979!

-J

Every diesel burns oil. Every gasoline car burns oil. The wiper rings do not remove all the oil from the cylinder walls.

Also, remember diesel is a light weight oil.

Larry is correct about Hitler wanting a People's Car hence Volkswagen.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

Back when I was going to Germany on a regular basis, I remember the VW Bugs being referred to as "Hitler's Mice" I forget the German words for that tho....

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

You're just getting emotional and not being logical. Not every 240D will reach 500K miles. 500K miles is A LOT and most people don't drive that much. I've seen plenty of W123 diesels for sale with rebuilt engines, some not even reaching 200K miles on the original engine. Could be a maintenance error, could be something else. I've also seen some newer TDI's with over 200K or 300K miles on them already. All miles are not created equal and there will always be exceptional cars reaching crazy mileage.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

If I don't have to add any oil during a 5-10K mile oil change interval, I'd call it not burning any oil, even if there actually was a tiny amount that got burned.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

For some reason, in this thread there is a lot of "reading into" my words things that I did not say.

I did in no way state that every 240D could make it a half million miles, although with the correct care and operation, most everyone of them could do it. My point was that these cars are CAPABLE of high mileage although the poster was correct in saying that it can't last forever. Is a TDI capable of lasting forever? Probably not.

I am not getting emotional. I am merely responding to posts that are making statements without adequate data to back them up.

No car can last forever. OTOH, any car can last a really long time if enough parts are thrown at it. Given the simplicity of a 240D, I'd guess it's CAPABLE of lasting longer given a fixed budget for repairs and maintenance. However one would be giving up a lot by driving a 240D compared to a TDI IMHO. I've had both and it's a night and day difference, even though the 240D has its charms.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

If I had the money I would, right now, go to my local VW dealership and plop down the money for a brand new Jetta TDI with black paint, tan leather interior with the sunroof and manual transmission.

Mine is black as well, but it's the worst color for a car if you ask me, particularly when it comes to keeping it clean. I already knew this before I bought it, but the price was too good to pass up.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL