Originally Posted by bustedbenz

I understand what you're saying. I really do. But I don't think I'll *ever* regard a Bluetec as a good long-term move. Anything that will electronically refuse to let me start it unless I refill their silly little emissions fluid tank... just doesn't sound "reliable" to me. I want a car that will start when I have to flee my home for whatever the next natural disaster is (I'm dramatizing here because I believe in being *READY* for the worst case even though I don't live in constant fear of it) even if I haven't changed its little urea fluid tank on time.

That's why the 3 I own are all 80's models. They may be older and slower, but I know that as long as there's current available from the battery and fuel/fluids in the thing, they're PROBABLY going to start every time I turn the key, or else be fixable without a computer problem when they do go down. It's all preferences. So I guess I'm just saying two things, 1) that I'm among those who are "into" the older stuff for those reasons, and 2) Even if CDI is the next best long-term gamble, I'm not ready to give Bluetec *with* urea injection that much credit yet. I understand from a previous thread debate that not ALL Blue-tec labeled Benzes actually use urea systems, so in my post, the comments about Bluetec assume that urea IS used.