I am still on a quest to find a nice 300SDL to bring into the family. The last one I went to go look at was sold a few days before I got there. This one I found on Auto Trader and is roughly 133 miles from where I live:

• Used 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300SDL Turbo Diesel

It has the power rear seat option which is nifty and the buyer and I have been talking via e-mail and he says he has all records, better yet here are some snippets from the conversations I have been having with him

Quote:

Yes the car has been well maintained both before I acquired it and of course after. The timing chain has been checked and is fine. Belts have been maintained. It has a new radiator and water pump since I have had it and of course tires and brakes. The brake fluid gets drained and refilled every two years and as stated before the AC has been upgraded and works well. The stalk for the directional blinkers has been replaced. The cruise control works. The clock was fixed a few years ago and recently stopped working. The fuel distribution system was rebuilt. I drive it long distances so maintain it such that if i wanted to it could go cross country any time. There are no leaks, only the water from the AC comes down. When the transmission was replaced last year, the rear engine seal was also replaced and the torque converter was rebuilt. The windows and seats all work.

I believe he said the front passenger side seat has a tear in it that has been taped; the reason why he did not have a photo of the front was because Auto Trader only allows for 9 photos and he wanted to show the ample leg room in the back.

Personally I don't like the wheels, but I love the headlights but here is my problem... Even if the car has been well maintained and he has had proper work done to it, the car still has 275,xxx miles on it; the one in PA I was going to look at where the guy wanted $5,500 had only 135,xxx miles and was also well kept (theoretically).

My dilemma:

I keep seeing car's like this on Craigslist:

• 87 Mercedes 300SDL Diesel - $2500 (Downtown)
• Mercedes 300SDL - $6800 (Titusville)

... and I am wondering if this 300SDL on Auto Trader is really worth $6800?
This is why I need your help!
What do you think?

__________________
'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)

lol same wheels as I have on my SDL. Seems a little bit overpriced for the mileage, regardless of condition. My SDL had a ton of money poured into it by the last owner and sure the paint is not that great and I dont have the reclining rear seat. I still managed to get a really great example of an SDL

and I do think this is the SDL Chad was drooling over last week.


chrome wheel arches scare me

ive personally seen the one thats for in titusville.. its owned by Hip001 on the forum and its super clean.. plus its a rare color

@Don - Maybe I have to see the wheels in person to get a better idea, but they do look really easy to clean (love that). It sounds like your SDL is closer to the condition of the guy selling his 87 Mercedes 300SDL Diesel - $2500 (Downtown) (roughly) in the sense that, yeah it wasn't perfect, but it is a good example of a SDL.

Maybe Chad can hop in here and give me his input! I am going to have to contact Hop001, I was about to anyway, and see if he can give me a little more info on his lovely vehicle. For some reason I am not a fan of green, granted this is blue-green, but VW's Forest green and any car that has had that color or British Racing Green... it just does nothing for me.

You're going to face the following dilemma: do I pay more and get a car in a better shape or do I purchase a car that needs work for less money and put time and money into it to make into what I want.... it's a struggle to strike the right balance - only you will know the answer to that question.

I was looking hard about a month ago and I finally found it - the car I finally purchased was in another state so that made it even harder for me as long distance car shopping is pretty difficult. From my recent experience I could tell you that you are going to have to make trade offs that you can live with: either get a car that's already been sorted and doesn't need much for which you're going to have to spend more money. Or, buy a car that has plenty of 'deferred maintenance' items (which you can use as bargaining chips), but the car has 'good bones' and has not been run into the ground and you should expect to pay less for it. THen it will be up to YOU, the new owner to make it run and look the way you want it, and you need to have $$$ in your budget beyond the purchase price to sort out the issues that car will have - as they all usually have something you'll need to upgrade. Choosing the second option you should be reasonably sure that the car has strong attributes that make it worth buying (i.e. strong engine and transmission).

Perhaps the toughest thing is to put emotions aside (believe me I know how hard that can be) and look long and hard beyond the cosmetics which can be both alluring and/or distracting and figure out if this car is what you can handle in your budget consisting of time and money.

Best of luck - take your time,
James

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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

Did he just compare my SDL to that piece of crap on craigslist?...

Yes Don... Go get him...

__________________
All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

@James- Good feedback!!!! That is the struggle! The two cars are about the same price (one in Baltimore and one in Florida) with the exception of the mileage and rebuilt transmission on the former. Emotional attachment took me a while to 'get over' but I am finally over it. Personally if I am going to be paying 6k for a car of this age I would expect it not to need any work.

@Don - Noooo! Please don't be offended!! LOL okay so it was a bad analogy!

@amosfella - Hey... We're all here to help each other out. =P

I am going to pop this thread back to the top to see if I can get some other opinions and incite. =)

I'm think I'm going to go look at the 87 300SDL in Houston for $2,500 . I have spoken with the owner and it appears to be a good deal.

Not sure there's much more to add at this point - go look at the car, take it for the test drive, compare it to other SDL's you might have driven. While driving, ask some simple open-ended questions of the owner and just listen intensely to what he has to say - you're looking for inconsistencies in his story. It pays to listen more than you talk on the drive.

Focus on how the car feels while you're driving. Check out the major components, listen to the noises, check how the car handles, how it brakes, how it accelerates, how the transmission shifts (including Reverse). Take some turns in the parking lot and come to an aggressive stop at some point (safely). In other words evaluate the car while leaving the emotions at home.

Try to 'measure the temperature' of the seller - see if you can figure out his motivation for selling - is he desperate or does he have lots of other vehicles that he can use. Other offers, etc. Figure out if he's done his homework on the cars like his available in the area - see if he knows the market like you do.

Take your time evaluating and analyzing - be picky and don't be in a hurry.

Good luck -

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

Make sure you don't assume anything about the HVAC. Test it all is my (hard learned) advice.

__________________
1986 300 SDL - rolling parts car and test bed.
1987 300 SDL - semi daily driver.
1977 U1000 Unimog
2007 Ram 2500 6.7l

...that includes the sun-roof as I understand it's costly to repair (up in 1000's) - if that's something you care about, may not.

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

yeah..never use it...

@HoustonM3 - Good luck! Seems like a beaut.

I would be nice to have a working sunroof, I used mine on my 300TD until it broke recently; at least I was able to get it shut easily enough.

I just fixed my cluster issues I had today, replaced a really long relay under the hood and replaced the glass on my driver side head light. I feel accomplished today but it would be nice to have a daily driver without the issues. =)

Side Note: Replaced the shell of my instrument panel with one from an older W124 with the better prisms and updated the bulbs to the sylvania 3watt's and they are great now!

Sounds great - you may want to put your car(s) in your signature... especially is the list is about to grow... hehe

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