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Another vote for the 300Tdi with the four-speed auto. V8s are too thirsty and the manual is too clunky for the city, I reckon. The ZF autos have a good reputation.
D1s are dirt cheap too because they're relatively common. Just make sure its been serviced well and check the front footwells for rust under the carpets.
Rough ones are cheap. Good ones they are starting to ask good dollar & not many good ones advertised on Carsales, Trading Post or internet.
Im not fussed if its a roughie if its cheap and id rather spend money getting work done to my standards than trust an unknown mechanic.
My Mechanic is a diesel and hydraulics guru anyway and seriously OCD about his work so id rather he fix it and know its done right.
Its been a week or so and it seems she has found the Series II's.
The story goes something like this, "Love of my life" (Herein referred to as LOML or Bwana) snuck out and test drove a Series 1 3.9 and then tried out a Series 1 Diesel.
Both cars Auto, under 200,000 km and with good service books by Ritters and ULR so it seems she was paying attention when I explained about good and better workshops.
Neither steed was suitable it seemed and the diesel had a scary lag when she took off and even giving it a mighty but dainty bootfull (Yeah right lol) of loud pedal made little difference so now all of a sudden she was not so enamoured with Series 1.
I have driven early auto diesels and knew what she was referring to re the lag and its not all that bad but the sales woman being a smart cookie steered Loml to the Series II TD5 and she drove a Manual and an Auto and fell in lust.
SO! My problem now is the order has changed to a TD, early 00's and she is toying with the idea of a manual.
She came back raving (Rave.. yeah I know its ominous) about height adjustment etc and although she didnt say EAS I still got chills thinking of the P38, there was also something about electronic brake distribution? which I suspect is a form of brake retardation or similar so one again im in your hands folks.
Main questions are do all the SII have EAS?
Whats the Electronic Brake Force Distribution?
And are there any pitfalls to her choosing a manual over an auto?
She wants one for Christmas which being a sensible girl means I have plenty of time to find what she wants aaaand have no chance of escape.
She also freaked me out coming home with the height of the S II and checking the garage door height with me to make sure she could usurp my car from its garage spot........
So im screwed either way but I will have a new toy to play with and the S II look great.
Thanks in advance and no you cant have my wife.
Some D2s have rear (only) self levelling suspension (SLS) instead of rear coils but all have coils up front.
EBD is a braking feature that maximises braking by detecting even slight wheel-slip using the wheel speed sensors.
SLS I can cope with especially hydraulic with accumulator pods.
And so EBD is an advanced ABS?
SLS is air, not hydraulic. Some comments from people experienced with SLS would be appropriate although I don't recall much in the way of problems being reported as long as longer shocks aren't fitted without placing a spacer under the air spring to prevent the bag from being pulled off the bottom section when fully extended. I was going to convert my coiler to rear SLS but got a D4 instead to get full air suspension amongst other reasons.
EBD is on top of ABS. ABS prevents a wheel from staying locked whereas EBD increases or maximises the effort of other wheels to compensate.
Thanks Graeme, I did a bit of research between posts and the seven seaters I noted tend to have SLS which makes sense.
I don't intend to add a lift kit or similar at this stage so that wont be an issue and rear only sounds good.
I have Benzes with rear SLS (Hydraulic) and its a great system and I have worked on early airbagged S class Benzes as well so knowing its bagged is not such a worry.
The EBD sounds interesting.
Ta,
Tony
I must've run over a few chinamen in my travels because the search/research continues.
I found out that the MY99-00 SII has Diff lock bits but no ability to engage as they thought it wasnt needed but couldnt be buggered removing it until 2001 and then put it back in 2003......
So now im looking at a 1999 TD5 Manual with 380 k on the clock for around $8500 on road.
Clean enough with climate control and it seems about right for the money and everything works.
Is the mileage too high?
Obviously Turbo and clutch may be a weak point at these miles but both are replacable.
The other question is can I find a way to use the disconnected Diff lock? I assume its a matter of fitting and hooking up a lever?
I suspect the end of my search is near!
Cheers,
Tony