Question: How much would you spend on a daily driver?
Or, in other words, at what price point / vehicle condition would you go from the thinking of, "This will be my daily driver" or, "This is a weekend cruiser / collection car"?

For instance, I bought my 1987 300TD for $2000, but I rebuilt the rear suspension, entire cooling system, and a few other expensive things probably totaling to $4k-$6k worth of parts & labor.

A while ago someone was selling a beautiful black 87' 300TD for $10k on craigslist/ebay. I thought that would be an excellent vehicle as a daily driver and that's when it got me thinking. Another for instance, I love this 1992 500E, but for $42,000 I don't know if I could justify driving it daily!

This is a question that is subjective, everybody is going to have their own answer; It should be fun to hear every bodies answer though so let's see.

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'87 300TD Estate (Panzer Wagon, Sold)
'95 E320 Estate (Sabertooth, Sold)
'94 E500 (Stark 1, For Sale)
'04 VW GTI (Rhino, Sold)
'12 VW GTI Autobahn (Shadow)

My daughters 82 cost $2k and I put about $1500 more in it since purchasing.
She drives the bejeezus out of everyday back and forth to school and everywhere else. About 10k a year for a HS student!
She seems to be the "designated driver" for her carless or out of gas money friends.
This car sees a lot of gravel roads and I have concerns for its long term rust life as they salt the heck out of our winter roads.
The car ain't pretty but she gets a lot of dependable use out of the old girl.
It will never be a show or collector car so I try to keep expenses low and the car on the road.

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily

I bought my 93 300D as a daily driver for $6K. So far I have spent about $700 in parts (2 tires included) doing pm type stuff. Probably another $500 or $600 and it will be up to date.

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1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

@fruitcakesa - Some really good points there; I have some rust on my panzer wagon and although it saddens me a little I don't mind it because I know it's not a collector. =) I remember when I got my license I drove my VW everywhere and then some; I still drive just to drive and I am 99% of the time the designated driver for my less responsible friends. ;')

Would you spend $10k on a used Mercedes diesel in great condition (but not show condition) for a daily driver? Sounds like you wouldn't, that is 5x more than you spent on your daughters daily driver!

I am waiting for some people to join the discussion that drive $40-$90k cars as daily drivers. =P

@Oldwolf - You are satisfied then with a sub $10k daily driver? Would $10k+ for a daily be worth it to you?

My DD (2 of them averaged together) was $1050 and I have about $400 in reparis at this point. But I put 60-100 miles per day on the car. I can not see bearing out an expensive car for commuting. One of them I would like to fix up really nice. but that will be a while in comming.

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

i bought mine, a daily driver, for $4,700 plus shipping. i felt okay with that because of the low miles, color combination, and the fact that it needed NO work, and really hasn't in the year i've had it. i've been able to spend my money on cosmetic stuff. some people here might think i'm crazy, but i'm learning to become mechnically inclined as i go, and wouldn't have been able to tackle a project car. a $1,000 car that needed a ton of work wouldn't have been right for me because i still don't know what i'm doing with even the little things.

a $42,000 is NOT a daily driver! at least not to someone with my budget and income. and, if i was going to spend that kind of money, i'd get something that AMG got their hands on first. actually, i know that if i had that kind of money, i'd be on the phone right now with POS who, i think, is selling his black on black 500SL AMG!

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1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

@Squabble - If you don't mind me asking, how much was shipping and for how many miles (distance)? I would consider a Texas/Cali car with no rust as a daily but always wondered about cost of shipping vs. flying out and driving it back. P.S. I love how headlights can take 10 years off the age of older MBs. =D

P.S. Your not crazy, I am learning as I go too! X__X

That's a question you have to answer for yourself. In general I would recommend buying something that you can easily write a check for (never, every borrow money for a depreciating asset). If I was talking to my kids, I would recommend something that costs no more than about 20% of their annual income (i.e., a $10k used car on a $50k income). I know that's a very conservative recommendation, but they can drive nicer cars when they can actually afford them. I don't know anyone who's accumulated wealth by buying toys they couldn't afford.

When I was younger and dumber I bought cars, bikes, vacations, toys, etc. that I couldn't really afford; it isn't worth the stress. Just my $0.02.

Oh yeah! I love this W124 diesel. I kind of thought the $6K was a lot but now that I think about it might have been a fair deal for this car. But I have done all the maintenance myself. If I had to pay for labor costs I might not be as enthusiastic. Overall I have found this model MB to be joy to work on. Most of the work has been minor to my way of thinking. Fan clutch, brake pads and hoses, drag link, all fluids, vac hoses, stuff like that. The interior was very clean, engine compartment wasn’t as clean as I like so I spent some time removing leaves, pine straw, etc. I’ve spent a lot of hours on it, not too much money in parts I don’t think.

What I have left to do are, tie rods, instrument cluster rebuild, cruise control and head light doors (my wife thinks the doors are OK).

Plus I am averaging 34 mpg and I commute 72 miles per day in it. Taxes and insurance are low too.

Here are some pics the dealer had:

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1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

ive never paid more then 800$ for any of the 13 benzes ive owned in the last 3 years, afterwards i would put up to $1500 or less in them to make them perfect for me

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1962 220S
1966 200 Diesel
1981 300TD Wagon
1984 500SL
1989 560SEC Euro

You must be a tough negotiator... unless you only buy non-runners

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1987 Mercedes 300SDL; SOLD
1985 Mercedes 300D; SOLD
2006 Honda Pilot - wife's ride; 122K;
1995 Toyota Land Cruiser - 3X locked; 182K

I paid 1k for my 89 300e. about 2k in deferred maintenance. Best car I ever had..

( and I did own a 36k daily driver..)

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

I would not spend that much on any Benz on principle {I am very frugal]
We did pay $17k for the used Jetta TDI that is wifeys DD, but thats a whole nother thing.

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily

@blackestate - I hear ya! Good deals! =)

@Craig - Interesting how you mention 10% of yearly income so $10k when most of the people replying have barely spent $5k (half). Yes it is a subjective thing as everybody has different ideas, hence the thread! =D

@Oldwolf - Beautiful car, I agree under $10k seems fine to me. I remember buying VW's for under $2k but I am not mechanically inclined as much as you or Necrosavant so they were a PITA to keep running (CIS-E).

@lorainfurniture - That's what I'm talking about! I think if I owned a $36k car it would sit in a garage.

@fruitcakesa - Interesting. Funny you should mention about the Jetta, my girlfriend won't even drive my 300TD because she thinks it's slow (thankfully I have a OM603 with no ALDA and it's not slow) but then again she is paying $330/month on a brand new car. I'd rather put that into a savings account and into a daily driver or another car to be garaged for a lovely sprint/fall day!

I am sure our income makes a difference too; I was trying to justify buying a 2009 or 2010 Jetta TDI Sportwagon but I realized that $20-$30k is rediculous and if I put $10k on another mint 1987 300TD I would be golden. There are some owners out there who have spared no expense on their W123, W124, etc. Mercedes cars that are getting rid of them while they are still in their prime. =)

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'87 300TD Estate (Panzer Wagon, Sold)
'95 E320 Estate (Sabertooth, Sold)
'94 E500 (Stark 1, For Sale)
'04 VW GTI (Rhino, Sold)
'12 VW GTI Autobahn (Shadow)

No offence, but you do not want to put those kind of resources into a driver unless you have a solid mid-6 figure income or significant other resources available. Buy your $1M house before you buy your $90k car.