[Odin]

I've had several NA Mercedes diesels, not as fun as the turbo and i really can't figure out why in 86 they decided both with the 190 and 250 to go back to the NA option even though they bumped it up to a in line 6, i think.. NA Diesels are dogs at low end but (especially with the more aerodynamic body) you should be able to get into the mid 30's but if you can i would advise finding a turbo model, Reliability wise i would swear by them Mercedes knows how to build a diesel engine. My 1980 300d had 300k when i got it as my first car and when i sold it I had 435k on it and all original still running exactly the same- 90% of those miles were on strait WVO compared to the turbo model my 80 300d got about 25 city almost 30 highway but it was difficult to reach since the w123 body style was 4200lbs- my current 1982 300d turbo gets closer to 35 average and i've gotten as high as 40 on super flat strait highways at 55-60 and with a little boost increase any black/white smoke disappears

in reality though if you aren't doing a WVO swap there are better options to get better mpg, merc knows how to make a diesel but they do NOT know how to make an automatic, A LOT of the power is lost to the drivetrain