And that PRV (Peugeot Renault Volvo) engine is commonly referred by Volvo fans as a Frog Motor. Commonly referred to as "The Satan Of Volvodom" in the USA in terms of their Gas V6 version which was also a joint venture. The Diesel was OK but slow and hard to get repaired in the USA.

My dad, Henry, started his Mercedes journey back in the early 60s, w/a "Ponton" model. He even had a '65250SL, the little "Pagoda roof" model. He progressed up to a '72 280 SEL 4.5 V-8, last one sold here that was basically set up like a German home market version. I was in it w/him once, we got up to an indicated 140 MPH, & it wasn't done then. He never really found out how fast it WOULD go. He made it home from Richmond, VA, to Rogersville, TN once, trying to beat a snowstorm-375 miles in 4.5 hours.. He beat the storm ! Then came the Gas Crisis of '74, he traded it for a 240D diesel.. That car's top speed was about where the big V-8 shifted into high... But he stayed w/the diesels, the LAST one he had was a '79 300TD, a 5 cylinder turbo Weasel..It was almost as fast as the big V-8 was... Maybe not off the line, but it sure as hell wouldn't embarrass you, either.. It also had the then current "S-Class" body, it LOOKED like a "Drug Dealer" type Mercedes... rather than a dowdy taxi or Polizei car. If you get a Mercedes that has been taken care of, HOPEFULLY by a Mercedes dealer, you'll likely get a car you can have & enjoy for a LONG time. There's a REASON they cost so gotdang much-take care of one, & YOU can get 2,3,400K miles outta one, too ! Be patient, Chilluns, I'll spin youse my tale of Woe about putting half a tank of Weasel Juice in a '76 Cutlass 350 GAS V-8..

I spy one mileage badge on the grille, but with 387k miles you can claim the second.

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/herit...ghmileageaward

Nice to see some MB appreciation here, I own a W163. Had a few issues with it but all in all for having such a dogs**t reputation (muh "Alabama trash can") mine has been pretty solid. 122k miles and counting.

You wanna talk "Horrorshow"-Lemme tellya about my Generous Motors Weasels... Got outa college in '79, w/my newly minted BA in Economics degree...Shit, baby, I was ready to set the world on fire ! My Dad bigdealed me into trading my '76 Olds Cutlass 350 gas car-more about THAT later- for a '79 Cutlass 260 V8 DIESEL... Sposed to get almost 40 MPG on the hiway.. Which I think it actually did, the 2 or 3 times it wasn't in the shop.. If it wasn't the head gaskets, it was the injection pump. If it wasn't the Injection Pump, it was Water in the injection Pump. If it wasn't that, it was the Hydramatic transmission. Generous Motors, in their INFINITE wisdom, put a Chevette tranny in a car that was half again as heavy as the Shit-Vette, & wondered why they weren't lasting..

My dad bought a '79 Cutlass with a 350 V8. Transmission went out at 12,000 miles: yeah, a 200 THM. My dad swore off GM's after that. His last car was a Ford. Yeah, it died of Forditis of the intake manifold. I heard that's quite common on Ford fours and V6's.

Rick-Yeah... I dunno where you grew up, but if it was Nebraska, there was NO REASON for a car to NOT run well there... Flat as a tabletop, no "High altitudes", nothin' like that. But, again, seems like I remember reading GM had "Redesigned" the turbohydramatic for its "downsized" cars, saved a lot of weight, & prolly, if I know GM, left half the damn parts out. MY Th200 in that Gawdawful '79 Cutloose, you'd "Shire down" on it to get around someone in town, & you'd find out it had somehow thrown itself out of gear, & you were just revvin' it to the Moon. Or, it would seem like it had a dozen or so intermediate gears in it, whilst in traffic, & never could find the one it REALLY wanted.. GM nearly went under for shenanigans like this in the mid-80s, if they HAD, it would have been largely deserved, I think. They bowed down to the FALSE God of Cost Accounting, & nearly died for it.. At what point does "Cost Accounting" stop, & REAL value starts being stripped from the product you're trying to produce ?!?

I swore off driving American cars based on this. I really do want to like them, and I keep hearing they're getting better - and it is horrible to see what has become of Detroit - but all I know is since I started driving Japanese, I'm spending about 90% less time in line at NAPA auto parts. No more trying to figure out what sensor is bad or changing this gasket or that seal to stop a leak, and no more difficult to diagnose vacuum leak, or difficult to interpret OBD2 code. Now I just buy things like brake pads, or air filters.

I don't even mind working on cars, in fact I like it well enough - but if I want a make work project, I'd rather it be related to vintage electronics.

Around 1973~4 in a suburb of Philadelphia I had a neighbor who had a 1961 Mercedes-Benz 190D. On a business trip in the very early 1960's he bought it in Germany and a few years later, drove it to Stockholm Sweden.

Had it shipped to the USA 1966~7 along with his new wife and infant son.

<both from Sweden>

4 cylinder, 4 speed on the tree. Drove it acouple of times, slow in 1st.

Died of rust 1976.

Replaced with a '76 P-Something diesel station wagon.

Had a friend in the very early 1980's that had the Oldsmobile sedan and he said "it needs alot of oil changes".

Twin brother had a VW Diesel Jetta, 2000. I road in it once.

We have at work a Ford F-550 2 door TurboDiesel that was "hot-rodded" Chipped, twin turbos, straight thru exhaust. No need for DEF.

Quarter of a tank of diesel fuel and no payload, It was FAST...

Maxhifi - I did get 300k out of an '06 Mustang, but I hear the new ones *suck*.

If GM has gotten better, they're gonna have to prove it to me. And the last few I've been in weren't even close...