Hi!

I'm looking at buying a 1986 190D sedan. It's a european model, recently imported from Germany.

I need some pre-purchase advice...

It's a 2.0L diesel (vs the US 2.2L model). It has 243000km (around 152000 mi) on it, and it's got a 4-speed manual transmission. It's got some different features than most north american models I've looked at, including manual windows, cloth interior, manual dual-zone climate control with no A/C, and a manual sunroof. Overall, a very basic car.

It's metallic light blue. Condition is fairly good but not perfect; there's some rust around the jacking points and some rust starting in the wheel wells (most of it is not yet visible, but it will be within the next year). In general, the underside of the car has noticeable surface rust in many places. The blue plaid fabric interior is perfect except that the dash is cracked.

The engine looks OK, but the cooling fan never turned on (maybe a problem, maybe not?). There was a general oily residue in several places, but no obvious major leaks.

The seller is asking $6900 US, and isn't very flexible (my best attempts at bargaining got him down to $6500).

My concerns with the car are:
1) The price seems high for a basic car (no A/C, no leather, no pwr windows, no power sunroof, no climate control, steel wheels) that will be rusty in a year or two.
2) The ability to find parts / get repairs done (due to the fact that it's a euro model).
3) Winter starting - the seller claims that the 190 diesels are substantially better than the older 240D / 300D models, and will start at 20 below without a block heater

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Here are some photos:

Side view
Front
4spd manual transmission
Instrument cluster
Back right view
Heater controls
Engine #1
Engine #2
Engine #3
Interior
Back Seat
Dash
Hood open