I need suggestions for a car for my daughter, a young professional 18mo out of engineering school, that will replace the odd assortment of rapidly aging Mercedes I've been putting her into lately.

Originally, I'd planned to restore the Euro 240D I have and give it to her as a grad gift but, changes in my life are making that, as well as, maintaining my other Benzos more and more impractical. So that I can get some of these projects off of my plate, I plan to front her the down pmt or $2k on a newer vehicle...basically the approximate value of the 240.

I know positively ZIP about newer cars...a '91 Komatsu D20 is the newest thing I own. What does the Oracle (Forum) suggest?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Its hard to argue against a toyota corrolla.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too...or a Camry.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Corolla: $14k
Civic: $14K

.............not having to go fix daughter's ride at any given moment: PRICELESS

Bingo.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I've always been a fan of the Mazda Protege. It has been the darling of Consumer Reports for years, and often gets overlooked by consumers who are obsessed with the Corollas and Civics of the world.

I believe the Protege is now badged as the Mazda 3.

Zoom zoom.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

A friend at work just traded his POS Audi A6 in for a brand new Corolla, and hasn't looked back. Leather interior and all. Not quite the generic 4-wheels and a box that they used to be. Not to mention the 30mpg it gets.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

I'd go for a Civic or an Accord rather than a Toyota or Camry. The interiors are much better quality, and they drive much safer. The corolla and camry are wallowing pigs where the Hondas are more taut. The Honda Fit is a good car with good gas mileage and is very practical too thanks to it being a hatchback. If you look at an interior of a new Camry you can see the interior quality has totally disappeared. The plastics look like Toyota bought some New Old Stock from 90's GM and there are huge gaps everywhere.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

civic?

sounds decent

I second the Accord thing.

MY son has a 2000 Acord 4cyl that I maintain for him. Choose a nice one with just over 100k miles on it and "refresh" it with a timing belt, balancer belt, tensioners and water pump and you are good to go - worry free - for another 100k miles. I just did the "refresh" on his. Unless you are pretty comfortable at engine wrenching I would suggest you choose a good indie for this project. I would expect the "refresh" to cost between 500 and 800 for an indie to do it. I think the dealer charges 1k.

Check out the 1998-2002 series. They are good cars yet simple enough to work on.

KBB shows them valued between 5k and 8k these days.

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02 S500
92 500SL
92 400E (Sold)
87 300E (Sold)
83 300D Turbo (Sold)
75 300D (Sold)
74 240D (Sold after 20 years)

I have a 2000 Accord DX and it's a bullet proof car. With hand crank windows, manual locks, manual seats theres not much to go wrong.

However Honda did have issues with the automatic transmissions of that generation but mines got 110K and is fine. I believe they extended warranty of the tranny to 100K.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I just checked on the extended tranny warranty last week. It was only to 90k miles. His has been fine.

It is an LX with power windows, power locks and cloth seats. I think the EX model has the leather interrior...

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02 S500
92 500SL
92 400E (Sold)
87 300E (Sold)
83 300D Turbo (Sold)
75 300D (Sold)
74 240D (Sold after 20 years)

If she wants something that's "cute" and not boring get her a Scion TC.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

For fun and reliability I would recommend a Triumph GT6+; Volvo 164; Rover 3500; Plymouth Volare with the slant six, Cosworth Vega; Austin America, or an AMC Hornet.

Oh jeeze, I forgot what decade we are in. Must be the Dewars typing. Sorry Randy.

Cheers

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Anders

1995 E300
2015 VW TDI Sportwagen 15K
1977 240D (197K)
2002 Subaru Legacy L Wagon (115k) (Wife's)
Gone but not forgotten:
2005 Buick LeSabre
1998 C230
1984 300D
1983 240D
1981 300SD
1974 240D
1974 Fiat 124 Spider
1968 Triumph TR250

The new Civic's seem to be very popular with girls around here.

Pretty much anything new with a warranty, its really hard to go wrong in that price range these days.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200