I've owned Mercedes Diesels for total of 8+ years, and have nothing but praise for them. Words like bulletproof, indestructable, reliable, low maintanance come to mind. Just change oil and filter and off you go. I recall that major service interval on those was 35k miles. Fantastic cars and engines.

Yes, or the fact American car companies have to pilfer off foreign car companies to get reasonably well-engineered modern machinery for the everyman on the road. :rolleyes:

My favorite M-B diesel is the 300 E from the early 80s. Was the 300 E's engine and drivetrain ever put into a Mercedes truck or van?

I've owned 82 W123 5cyl 3.0 TD(round head lights), and 87 W124 6cyl 3.0 TD (rectangular head lights). Both great cars, later one could spin wheels even on dry surface given a bit more gas, would cruise 85-90 all day long and had tons of torque. I believe that engine, or even smaller ones, were used in many commercial or HD MB vehicles. G300 comes to mind, with different gearbox though. First gen. of Dodge Sprinters came with 5cyl 2.7 or 2.9 TD engine. I think it's 6cyl now, but not sure. Those engines produce TONS of torque, and that's what IMHO trucks/vans need. Can't tell you how many times I wish I just had 5-6cyl TD instead of V8 in my F150. I remember comparing torque numbers of european 220 CDI (4cyl 2.2l), when they just came out in europe to E320 (6cyl 3.2l) and they were either close or little diesel was ahead...:confused:. Anyways...ethanol, hybrids...I say whatever.

Speaking of Mercedes tech and Chrysler, not long ago, there was a new diesel Jeep Commander beside me at a traffic light. It had the vague diesel rattle, and when the light turned green, a strong turbo whistle. I assume the Commander had the same engine as the Mercedes 3.0 V6 diesel, which is in their SUVs and crossovers. Anyway, it was very cool, because personally, I think the Commanders are nice looking vehicles.

As to a 300 E, there's an independent M-B service with a slew of them in their parking lot. Hmmm...I wonder if any are for sale. A nice turbodiesel 300 would be quite fun, IMO.

That was my first German car: a 1985 MB 300D.

It was a heavy beast, and built like a tank.

I remember always trying to time to turbo spool-up on that thing. I'd have to floor it out of every intersection just to move slowly, and when the turbo finally kicked in (one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand) I'd have to take my foot off the accelerator to prevent it from building too much speed.

IIRC, it weighed something like 6,000 lbs. Oh, and "crumple zones" had not been invented yet. It transfers all of the energy in an impact strait to your body. I once met a lady with one who was rear-ended. The car just required a new rubber bumper strip (a few hundred dollars), but she broke both of her legs.

I agree, IMHO, TD is the best match for SUV/Truck/Van...I'd love to have one myself, but not much of them around, there should be lot more of them here though in 2009. You'd have to investigate more on Commander...if I remember correctly there even was a Wrangler Diesel version lately, but I think engine was not from MB.

Sold mine to a friend, 7yrs later still running strong...not a rattle, not a squeak. And something has to be said about MB Tex interior, very durable and still looks new.

Not sure about crample zones, I saw an old footage of MB crash testing, and I was under impression that crumple zones were introduced on W123, as I saw that car in the tests (mid/late 70's). Anyways, you are right that it's built like a tank, and I don't mind being in one if somebody decides to run me over.