Quote:
Originally Posted by hardflex
I used to own a 72 280sel which was the longer back seat version. At the time they were very highly regarded vs all competition. Bodies were solid.
I had the six, they offered a 4.5 V8 which I used to covet at the time. They both had mechanical fuel injection and were a bit thirsty, about 13 to 15 mpg if i remember. But they were comfortable and had much more road feel than the American cars of the day.
Back then Mercedes had a great reputation.
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The w108-bodied 280SE 4.5 could not get 15 mpg if you pushed it off a cliff. 12 mpg coming/going/leaving/staying/you get the picture. I've owned both the 6-cyl. and 4.5 V-8 versions, both in top mechanical condition and they are really well-built cars but ancient technology even when they were new, much less 40 years later. It would take some adjustment for someone jumping from a modern car into one of those. That said, they are very cheap to buy in 4-door version, (compared to coupes and converts), so there is no reason to buy one in less than primo condition.