becare on what years however. Im telling its hard to beat a Toyota, lexus or honda. They are very reliable, parts are reasonable, good gas mileage. If you want something that rides like a mercedes go with like a lexus ES300.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

Yes. Whichever you want, however the floor shift just involved cutting a hole in the floor for the existing shifter of the donor transmission, while a column shift would involve a lot of fabrication.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

Perfect complement would be a fast motorcycle

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I've been on a 190D as a runabout kick lately (ask me in 6 months and I'll be onto something else ). I looked at a nice 2.5 that was in an indy lot a couple towns over, other than the fact that they wanted too much for it and it was an auto, it was a nice little car. Little being the operative word. With the seat where I needed it to be (I'm 6'3") there was maybe enough room to slide my hand between the front seat back and the rear seat bottom. Not a big deal for most people but with 4 kids I need something that I could at least fit all of them in a pinch. I haven't given up the thought completely but...

Yikes that's next year!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Pretty neat old car, but manual steering and drum brakes might not make it the best choice for a daily driver. Also, parts may be harder to find in a hurry than with one of the more popular, and (of course) more expensive, classics like a 55 Chevy or '65 Mustang. And northeast winters will eat up a vintage car.
Maybe a more recent, reliable vehicle that you may not be that crazy about (like a Camry or Escort) would make a better choice as a winter beater.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Anything with the GM 3800. Examples are: LeSabre, Bonneville, Park Avenue.... Late 90's are plentiful and cheap and much cheaper to fix than Japanese cars. Fuel mileage is high 20's to low 30's highway and low 20's in town.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".

I'd love a motorcycle as my complement, but mes parents are not so keen. Said they wouldn't pay for college if I got one . But of course, by the time I'll be able to buy another car, I may be able to buy a motorcycle, and that's definitely priority. I think I probably have at least 50,000 miles before I start running into big problems with my 240, so a spare isn't exactly necessary now. I've been looking into the diesel W126, W124 and W201. I know the W124 is nice and quiet, the W126 I hear is too and I don't know about the W201. I don't think I should bother with gasoline, I really like the efficiency and alt. fuel stuff with the diesels. Also, around here, MBs are definitely affordable, so I'll probably be getting one of those, unless something else pops up that really strikes my fancy. I like what PawoSD has going on.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition