Cool Car of the Day - 1993 Mercedes-Benz 300D 2.5 Turbo

"TXCarGuy" (driversjournal) 01/11/2017 at 20:55 • Filed to: None

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This car caught my attention from a mile away, mostly because I love 80's and 90's Mercedes (my first car was a 1986 190E 2.3), but for a few other reasons as well. It is a 1993 Mercedes 300D 2.5 Turbo, and of course that means its a diesel. These are arguably one of the best and most reliable old diesel cars you can buy. They can easily be converted to run biodiesel or on vegetable oil, get well over 30MPG on the highway and have classic old Benz build and ride quality. This particular car caught my attention for two reasons. First was the odometer - 349k and change. If its gone that long it should be good to go, right? The other was the condition, which was abnormally good for a car of this age and mileage. Other than a few very minor things, it looked like a car with half the miles and 15 years newer. I couldn’t resist and bought it for a grand. Cleaned it up, drove it around for a few days to get a feel for it, considered keeping it for a few moments then threw it on craigslist for $1500 and it sold in two hours.

Tazio, Count Fouroff > TXCarGuy 01/12/2017 at 03:37

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:)

iirc it had the longest cruising range of any car sold in USA at the time (750 miles)...sound about right?

bhtooefr > TXCarGuy 01/12/2017 at 06:18

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Fun fact: I think this was the first time Mercedes-Benz claimed more displacement in the model number (300D) than there actually was.

Mind you, they’d been having cars with a lower model number than the engine displacement would lead one to expect for a long time - the first one (in the era where it did correspond) was 1938, with the W142/IV Typ 320... which had a 3.4 liter straight-6. (They started using displacement, FWIW, circa 1929.)

TXCarGuy > bhtooefr 01/12/2017 at 06:33

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Thats awesome, and it never occurred to be. Added to knowledge bank.

TXCarGuy > Tazio, Count Fouroff 01/12/2017 at 06:35

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I remember the number being something crazy like that, but I didn’t have the car long enough to find out. I filled it up when I bought it and did burn through about 200 miles or so and gas gauge was still over 3/4.