Hey! I just joined this forum becauseIhave a question that I was hoping could be answered. I'm a big fan of older Mercedes' (80's & 90's) and I've always wanted one. Now that I'm going to college I need a good reliable car and I've been looking around at diesels, a 1985 300d turbo in particular, because of the great gas mileage and the supposedly amazing reliability. The thing is, I want to make sure that I can afford the upkeep before I make any purchases. My Mom (who partially pays the insurance) sees Mercedes' as an unnecessary status symbol and expects parts and labor to be beyond what is affordable for me. I want to get opinions and figure out if I should keep looking for a mb or just forget about it and get a Camry. Thanks for the advice in advance, I appreciate it!
Mike

 

Welcome to the club and we all hope you stick with looking for the Mercedes. New Mercedes might be a status symbol, but not the 85 300d you are looking at. Here are some reasons to get one of these cars:
1. Easy to work on. The engines on these are simple that any one who knows how to use basic tools can work on for basic maintenance. If the engine is in good condition, the only requirements are changing the fluids and filters. You must be willing to do this yourself or else pay big bucks for the dealer to do it, or pay what others pay at other mechanics.
2. Plenty of parts available! These cars were in production for so long, there are plenty of used parts available at the junk yards! You just have to do the work to find them.
3. Styling and comfort. Enough said.
4. Potential to be cheap transport if you are willing to convert the car to run on vegetable oil. It's good for the environment too!

I'm quite sure others will post lots of other reasons to get an older benz. I have acquired two already one of which I drive everyday to work on used veggie oil and will not plan to go back to gasoline engines anytime soon.

 

I think you are on the right track, Mike.

Remember that cars from the 80's are going to be more difficult to find in excellent condition --you will see that many have beenused for 250K miles or more. A true testament to their engineering and reliability.

If you can afford it getting started I'd say go with a 90's model. Odds are you'll find one that is "less used", and these cars are much more civilized than their 80's predecessors. The seats, climate control systems, stereo systems, sound-proofing, styling (subjective), and just about everything else is much improved over the80's models. If you've been riding around in a contemporary automobile over the past few years it can really be challenging to revert back to an 80's model for your everyday transportation -- cool as it may seem.

In my humble opinion the 1990's was Mercedes-Benz's last great decade. Up until 1999 M-B was still building to Quality. Starting in 2000 I believe they changed their philosophy and began building to Price in order to compete with the Japanese.

So, if you can afford it go for a 1996-1999 E300 diesel or turbodiesel model. If you have less money to spend look at the 1990-1995 diesel models.

Best of luck.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the input. I agreed with the whole idea that early 80's dieselmight be a tough transition, so I just bought a 1989 190e 2.6 that I'm really excited about. I'm definitely going to become an active member on these boards now! Ha ha. Thanks for being so helpful.
mike

 

Tell your mom to kiss it! I bought my 190D right after highschool working at WalMartand that's all my mom gave me was, "well it's going to breakdown and cost a lot and why would you want that and you should buy aHonda or Toyotablah blah blah". If you've done your research like you obviously have then you know mid 80's to early 90's MB's were the pinnacle of reliability. Not only that, but like kewlbeans05
said, they're very easy to work on and parts are plentiful. Congrats on the 2.6, see you around

 

Yeah, well I guess you can't blame her. She was just looking out for my best interest, and once I told her really how affordable they can be, she fell in love. Now she LOVES riding in it.

 

Congrats on your purchase. My 300D turns 30 next year. The car is almost as old as me and I have no plans to get rid of it. Even at my age, but mother thinks I should be driving a Camry too. Enjoy your ride!