MBZ 220D

With my ever changing vehicle line up I picked up another Benz diesel. Not just any diesel Benz but a W115 4cyl 4spd fuel economy champion. This thing oozes neat stuff. Just to start the car is reminiscent of firing up a fighter jet. Your hands dance between pulling, pushing, and turning knobs, levers and the key(which actually does the least of everything) with a glowing orb in the dash giving you the go ahead for the final extra pull to start. This is a car you operate not just drive. Truly old world German style when you need to actually read the owners manual(the most neglected of any books printed, period) just to get home from wherever you happened to purchase the vehicle. The pages of this particular owners manual are more dog eared and warn than the only romance novel that gets passed around a maximum security women's correctional institution. Once everything gets rumbling the 65hp diesel motor eagerly awaits a tiny bit of clutch and the rowing of the smooth shifting 4 speed. Brakes that can rival anything current and stable handling makes this thing more than capable on the streets with tons of character to keep you busy and working. Not unlike my moto guzzi, this thing operates with more "character" than it has horsepower or even pounds combined. I think the guzzi might be about 8 to 9 pounds lighter but it does have about a 10 hp advantage but who's counting. With the current state of my cracked tailbone the guzzi isn't getting touched for a while(i do have a onboard video of a swan island sumo run I might post at some point).

I did a few things to get the car on the road for service. It's currently running like a champ thanks to the services saving me from repairs. Here is some baseline info if interested.

The classic set up. Speedometer with max rpm shift points, coolant temp, oil pressure and tank level with a center clock. You can just see the center housing for the glow indicator. 

Something almost any vehicle fan can enjoy. They sure don't tests cars like they use to.

Here in the wild we have a very rare sight, the 220D at the filling station(spoken like a narrator from a wildlife show). This 15 gallons should get me about 495 adventure miles.