Actually I've been needing a daily driver due to the short distances I drive frequently. Mainly dropping off the kids at school and my work commute. I knew I wanted another diesel, and I wanted one as tough as my truck. The 3 litre Mercedes Benz 5 cylinder turbodiesel is one of those engines. All cast iron, rugged IP, simple like a tractor, and powerful enough for spirited driving. I found this one which fits the bill. An '83 300D. It has only 114k miles on it. It does have a salvage/rebuilt title, which is fine with me in light of the low miles.(Evidently spent a long time sitting in storage before it was repaired) It was rear ended, with crash damage limited to aft of the rear axle. (All new sheetmetal; trunk, rear clip, etc.) Mechanicals are all excellent with the exception of a few vacuum issues I need to track down. Cosmetically it's in nice shape, but not so I nice I fret about it. Perfect DD material.

 

Awesome Alvin, those motors run forever. Nice find and good luck..

 

good looking car, i have also been thinking about replacing the dd for a diesel car almost forgot about the benzes. let us know how you like it.

 

With such a great find it is clear that pretty soon you will have to find some mods to do. It's my experience that we can't help ourselves. Have fun!

 

Thanks Mike. Like our 7.3's these 5 cylinder engines easily reach 3k-5k with no major issues.
Of all the diesel sedans out there in the $2k-$7k price bracket, the 1976-1985 W123 models are hard to beat. The production run was over 2.5 million, and parts are plentiful and relatively cheap. And they are wonderful to drive. For a basic Mercedes model, the build quality is top notch,and quite amazing how well they have held up for being over 20 years old.
...........I've already started.........

 

Very nice... Hard to beat a Benz.....

My DD is a 2000 VW Golf Tdi.

 

My DD is still my F250, but I have a 96 Passat TDI that gets ~50mpg highway and looks crappy enough that I will park it *ALMOST* anywhere (but I'm not stupid!)

 

Congrats on the find.
The only "weak spot" that I can recall about those MB cruisers is the steering box mounts tend to loosen up.
Then the frame get's cracked, so keep a sharp eye on the mounting bolts for the steering box.
Double roller timing chain IIRC so it should go a LONG way.
And my DD is a '99 Jetta TDI as well. Just as reliable except it has a timing belt that must be changed periodically.

 

Come on Brendan, I've seen your Passat and I didn't think it looked all that bad!