Hi everyone,
I'll be moving out to Southern California soon, and I'm going to need a car. This is going to be a low budget student car that will be my main mode of transportation, but also can be a little ratty.

Being a born-and-raised Northeaster, I am very intrigued by all of the vintage offerings in SoCal that have otherwise been unrealistic to own due to the Northeast's rust.

I've been finding myself gravitating towards these old Mercedes diesels. There seem to be plenty of them on Craigslist, ranging from around $1000-6000.

I especially like the W115 240D's (based on nothing more than size/looks).

So... I'm trying to get a realistic understanding of what I should expect out of a car like this. A part of me wants to listen to the people that say "these are like Mercedes truck diesel engines designed to go a million miles (and do!), and the rest is built with MB's tank-like engineering... And with no rust problems, this is the quintessence of reliability!", while my rational side says "are you NUTS!? MB's already have questionable reliability, and you want to throw in old age and a stinky Diesel engine into the mix!?"

What do you guys think?

And what would be my best bet for reliability and low cost of ownership? Any models to outright avoid?


Thanks!

 

The 240D is very reliable and they're not expensive. The main drawback is their lack of power; you'd be cleaning bugs off the rear window! You might also find the 240D difficult to drive on those southern California freeways. Keeping up with traffic can be a challenge with so little power.

However, for about the same money you can score a 300D Turbo with a lot more power. For daily use, turbocharged diesels are the best choice because they can actually keep up with freeway traffic. For various reasons, you'd be well advised to look at the 1982-85 and 1990-93 model years. The earlier cars are relatively common in California although they're increasingly in demand as people have begun to realize that deisels are efficient and relatively green, especially with the advent of ultra-low sulfur fuel and the growing availability of biodiesel.

Good luck, Mike

 

Avoid a Car that has a Trap Oxidizer on it; the Mercedes version of a Catalytic Converter as they become plugged over the years.
Also if you can find a Federal Car instead of a car made to be sold in CA as the Air Filters for the CA Cars are around $45.