2 questions about Diesel in U.S.A.

[bgadow]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

I just might be interested.....I'm quickly realizing that owning a '97 Miata in Buffalo means that you can take it out and enjoy it almost never.....so there's a 50/50 chance that's getting sold. I have a whole bunch of genuine Mazda tune up stuff coming for it, and it's only got 109K on the clock. Down side is that it's an auto.

I'm a neophyte when it comes to Mercedes, but I'm a quick study. I looked at an '83 W126 locally....looked decent from the photos, but although it ran, it ended up being a basket case.

I'm not sure that I've seen an 80's Mercedes diesel with less than about 160k, and that was 20+ years ago! Most were between 250-350k. Lower body rust was common. Vacuum powered central locks, when bored I would sit there with the key in the door and see how many cycles I could get before the vac ran out! The engine cut-off is vacuum powered as well. If you have a leak, well, the engine won't shut off even if you turn off the key, pull it out and walk away. You have to use the manual shut-off on top of the engine. They have a unique smell inside which I'm told is due to the horsehair stuffing in the seats (likely combined with the diesel exhaust smell). The wood trim on the dash and console always cracks. The turbo lag can be pretty wild, though it varies. On some cars acceleration can be downright dangerous until it kicks in, at which point it feels a little like a jet taking off (a little!) I've driven a non-turbo Benz, a total slug. With their oversized steering wheel and that diesel under the hood, I liked to imagine I was driving a bus