Birmingham, AL
1985 Mercedes-Benz 190D 2.2
1985 190D, 286k and the engine is barely halfway
The details
- Mileage
- 286,000 mi
- Transmission
- automatic
- Drivetrain
- rwd
- Engine
- 2.2L inline-4 diesel
- Fuel
- diesel
- Body
- Sedan
- Title
- clean
- VIN
- WDBDB22A1FF000003
Tags
From the seller
W201, the baby Benz, with the 2.2 diesel. These go to six hundred thousand if you feed them, and this one has been fed - every service since 1994 is in the folder. Starts on the first turn once the glow plugs are done, no smoke once warm. The climate control blows warm on one side, which they all eventually do. Paint is original and tired, the MB-Tex interior is basically indestructible. Smaller than the big Mercedes inside, so the back seat is for kids, not adults. It is not quick - seventy-two horsepower. It will outlive all of us. Photo credit: photos by Johannes Maximilian (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons. They show a similar car, not this exact one. This is an example listing. Sources: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercedes-Benz_W_201_19.09.20_JM_(2).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercedes-Benz_W_201_19.09.20_JM_(1).jpg
An independent read
The owner clearly knows the car and the W201 reputation is real - these diesels will run near forever if they're serviced, and a folder going back to 1994 is a genuinely good sign. But the photos here are admittedly not this car, which means you're buying a 40-year-old car with 286,000 miles sight unseen until you stand in front of it, and you have no odometer shot, no interior, no underside. The things to check on these are rust at the jacking points and front fender bottoms, timing chain stretch, and tired vacuum systems that make things like the door locks and shutoff act up; none of that is cheap on a Mercedes even when the engine is healthy. For a teenager I'd think hard: 72 horsepower is actually fine for a new driver and it's a solidly built car, but no airbags, no ABS on most of these, no modern crash structure, and parts and a diesel-literate mechanic are a hassle you'd be handing a 16-year-old. It's a lovely old car for someone who enjoys old cars, and that's a different job than first-car duty.
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