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I finally decided last week it was time to bite the bullet and spring for another car. My old Mercedes diesel is, well, an very old Mercedes diesel. It's old enough to be in Grad school. Damn, by the time I was as old as my car is now, I was half-way through my doctorate degree.
When I went hunting for cars 14 years ago, I'd been in small Japanese imports for 12 years. I'd gone through a couple of toyotas, a honda and a suburu, and I wanted something that was going to last a while. I happened on an '83 Mercedes 300D with 163K miles on it. Took me a solid month to decide it was the right car. It was. Was basically trouble free for 5 years, then I sold it, when I got another of newer vintage. Got almost what I paid for the beast. My '85 has 260K on it and the body shows it. Despite 3 attempts to resurrect the AC, I'm without one that works, so it truly is a convection oven on wheels during our NorCal summers. No amount of anti-perspirant can convince me to drive to Sac'to. I have a seat cover on the driver seat not for comfort, but to prevent the springs from snagging my pants and tearing them. Yeah, it's time for a new car, or at least a newer one.
I'd love to find a newer Mercedes diesel, but the the only reasonable one I've seen hit the wires in the Bay Area within the last month got snapped up tout suite, and at the asking price. That one was a '96 E300 with 112K miles on it; went for $12K.
So earlier this week I saw and test drove a '00 C230 with 62,500 miles on it. It's been well maintained. Liked the test drive and my mechanic gave me the thumbs up on it. Everything works, there are premium wheels, a factory intalled 6 CD changer and the A/C works. It's costing me $11,200, but that's below blue book by a solid grand and it should last me another 6-7 years. At least I hope so. We shall see.
When I went hunting for cars 14 years ago, I'd been in small Japanese imports for 12 years. I'd gone through a couple of toyotas, a honda and a suburu, and I wanted something that was going to last a while. I happened on an '83 Mercedes 300D with 163K miles on it. Took me a solid month to decide it was the right car. It was. Was basically trouble free for 5 years, then I sold it, when I got another of newer vintage. Got almost what I paid for the beast. My '85 has 260K on it and the body shows it. Despite 3 attempts to resurrect the AC, I'm without one that works, so it truly is a convection oven on wheels during our NorCal summers. No amount of anti-perspirant can convince me to drive to Sac'to. I have a seat cover on the driver seat not for comfort, but to prevent the springs from snagging my pants and tearing them. Yeah, it's time for a new car, or at least a newer one.
I'd love to find a newer Mercedes diesel, but the the only reasonable one I've seen hit the wires in the Bay Area within the last month got snapped up tout suite, and at the asking price. That one was a '96 E300 with 112K miles on it; went for $12K.
So earlier this week I saw and test drove a '00 C230 with 62,500 miles on it. It's been well maintained. Liked the test drive and my mechanic gave me the thumbs up on it. Everything works, there are premium wheels, a factory intalled 6 CD changer and the A/C works. It's costing me $11,200, but that's below blue book by a solid grand and it should last me another 6-7 years. At least I hope so. We shall see.
