At 240,000 miles the vacuum system began to leak causing the automatic door locks to not work, the cruise control to fail, and eventually the engine to not shut-off. It became necessary to shut the engine off under the hood.
The fuel lines clogged after allowing it to run completely out of fuel.
A/C failed after approximately 220,000 miles.
Leaked oil excessively after about 200,000 miles.
The front seats eventually began to lose their straw-like stuffing into the rear floorboard.
What a car!
This car is a tank! You can't kill it even when you try.
This car is absolutely remarkable, and remarkably slow. It's 0-60 MPH time is over 19 seconds. So it's definitely not the modern AMG hotrod Mercedes of today. It does however have a great running gear and will run at 90+ MPH all day long, even with it's 60 something horsepower. The interior of this car is luxurious and comfortable, trimmed in wood and chrome. It has an old fashioned sense of luxury and charm that can no longer be found in todays high-end cars.
This car does something to your soul. It becomes like a member of your family. I sold this car at 275,000 miles and the last time I saw it (2 years later) it was running liike new. This was the best car I've ever owned. If you find one with low mileage, jump at the opportunity to own one of these machines.
Good review. I'm sorry that yours was an automatic. That must have been painfully slow. Ours was a manual, and it was slow enough. Great car though, tremendously reliable and it was fun to own, ride in, and drive.
Sounds good! I just bought a 1978 240D automatic with only 89,000 miles, it was a little old lady's car. Also I think the 0-60 time is more like 23-25 seconds, with the 240. I am not sure how yours went 90mph? The owners manual says top speed 83mph.
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