COnside the fact your average 5th generation Civic Hatchback with 150,000 - 200,000 miles is going for $3,000 and up.

I paid $3,200 for my '79 300SD with 112,000 miles on it. Whats the better deal?


Or Does anyone really NOT know the answer to that.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

nope. i sometimes feel guilty that i let my friends drive new cars.

i lead by example and choose not to preach depreciation lectures.

__________________
Jennifer
90 350sdl

pontons and finbacks have a "nonthreatening" image. I often say that Mercedes-Benzes can be divided into "smart people's cars" and "rich people's cars"...most of the people on this forum own the former.

For a great many years now, newer Mercedes owners have not projected the quiet good taste that surrounded the earlier cars...they just want something vulgar to indicate how big a check they can write.

Will hold onto the '73 Rolex I bought new for just over $300, my 20 year old Brooks Brothers suits, and my W123 diesels until something better comes along...not holding my breath.

Two inane Ideas:
(I) I remember time after time, my Mom telling me to study Medicine, and I didn't listen..and now i am the proud inhabitant of the 9.23x10 to the 10000000 Cubicles in the various office spaces of the world..
Maybe if I had been a Doctor, I would feel like I deserved to drive a Mercedes.
I mean a lot of people admire our ability to fix and troubleshoot cars and how I am with machinery in general, but could you imagine how it would be to have the same ability to fix and heal Human Beings?
Answer: As much as I care about and respect people, I have much more stomach for Burning exhaust and grease all over me than I do for the insides of a Human being

(II) I think one of the reasons my nose is buried in an engine compartment, day after day is that I truly love cars and a Mercedes is a superbly crafted Car.

Times have changed. My first M-B was a 58 180D. The original owner paid, I believe, about $6000, about $1000 more than you would have spent for the best Cadillac in 1958. THAT was understated elegance.

Today people buy new M-Bs for status. I pulled alongside a new one at a light in Tacoma, and the driver wouldn't look at me, he was so ashamed to share a badge with an old car. He should have bought a Lexus, there are no old Lexii.

I'm ashamed of the nation that makes it possible for me to buy a better car for less because the car is old. I can live with that.

guilt? perhaps once but never again. I decided about 8 years ago that if I was going to continue to play with cars I'd better start showing some respect for my own time and get something I would like for a long time. Hence the purchase of a 82 300SD. If and when some SUV-flying moron smashes into it while making love to their cell phone, I hope to be able to say "kids, are you alright?" and get a response from each one of them.

It just kinda makes me feel sorry for the folks that don't own & drive a benz. there missing out on a well built car or truck, there just isn't any thing that drives & rides better than a car that was born on the auto-bond. when folks ride in my benz, they always coment on how well it rides compared to their over priced cars, and there eye's pop out when I tell them my mpg, compared to there computer controled cars.
what on the market, can you get today that weighs 4000lb car that gets us 27-28 mpg, and on a long freeway trip could get 32-35 mpg?

Attached Thumbnails

 

Judging by these remarks,most people here are like me, buying Mercedes that are 10 to 20 years old, are mechanically adept, and are very practical.
Most of own cars have passed through several owners, and its amusing that we third-time owners often respect and appreciate the car more than its first-time owner, who may have paid 10 times as much than us for the Car.
If you think about it, a car is really a dumb thing to appreciate and fall in love with. Its just a disposable box with four tires that takes us places, a mere consumer item with as much importance as a Cell Phone, a television, or a PC, or a Microwave that you upgrade periodically.
Or is it? Once, in tremendous guilt, I calculated I spent more time in a month working on my car than with my daughter, tweaking this and adjusting that,and i wash it and wax it two times a week.
Sometimes i wonder what it is about a Mercedes that makes us act like this..is it the fact that we love well made machinery, or is it because the car is a vehicle to wonderful imaginary destinations and times ( while in fact it just goes to the supermarket and not San Francisco or Time Square) or is that it brings the Fineas Potts (in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)streak out in us..or maybe its our overgrown toy..
There are billions of cars on the highways, each doing the same mundane thing, you see them in traffic jams and at the mall, and at McDonalds, and yet owning, repairing and driving a Mercedes really is a special experience..

Not so hard to understand. Late on a moonless rainy night with gusts that would push you off the road, who do you trust?

People around here driving American cars say "Nobody." They would make that trip under 25 miles an hour.

I had the PO take me for a drive before buying and remember thinking "He really doesn't seem to worry about not knowing this road". (All M-B sellers seem to want to show you how fast it goes). Now I know why.

I’ve owned my 300D for fifteen years now. The sum total for purchase plus 15 years of maintenance (including an engine overhaul) comes to exactly $11,760 or $784 a year. Deducting the purchase price in 1989 ($6800) Liesel has cost me an average $330 plus fuel a year. And she's still running strong.

I should have bought two.

__________________
Toblin

'79 300D, "Liesel von Diesel", 235K

I kid proofed the house....but they still get in

Guilt over owning/driving a car?
Why?
Current stable:
1985 Mercedes Benz 300SD. My car
2002 Pontiac GrandPrix. Wifes daily
1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II. for sale
1972 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II. for sale $17000.00
1990 Dodge Shadow. for sale
1987 Ford Bronco II 4X4. for sale
1989 Jaguar XJ6. $750.00 project for wife
1987 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4X4. $100.00 project for wife


I have felt guilt over driving a rust bucket that might fall apart at any moment.
I give a public bronx cheer to people trying to make me feel guilt for driving a nice car.
Envy is a normal human emotion, I try not to rub salt on other peoples emotions.
Let them think what they will, if you tell them what you paid and maintenence cost, many people choke on it.

__________________
ASE Master Mechanic
https://whunter.carrd.co/

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
HV-A/C Climate Control.
Vehicle build.
Fleet Durability
Technical Quality Auditor.
Automotive Technical Writer

1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

https://www.boldegoist.com/

That depreciation is exactly what benefits us. And to think that MB are some of the best at losing their value. But we are driving '80's cars for what we could buy most Mnfr's 90's models. Even at 10 years older, they are still better.

If only the MB engineers drank coffee or sodas while testing their cars and thought of cup holders................

__________________
Alan Hamm
'87 300SDL 277K Miles
'89 560 SL 68K Miles

Guilt? No Way! I am glad I dont have huge car payments every month. I let my friends get a chance to get behind the wheel of my sd and my sdl, after they drive these cars, they all say the same thing. "My next car is going to be a diesel benz"