kajtek1

You've been warned
Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI Turbo Diesel - cars & trucks - by owner -... (craigslist.org)

E55Greasemonkey

The last good diesel engine built by MB in the U.S.

rapidoxidation

Quickest car I ever owned, could easily smoke my friend's '03 E500, and happily made black stripes on the macadam when asked to (twice in 80K miles of ownership). Sold it for $5k this summer without any haggling and 178K on the clock. The guy I sold it to made his friend drive him 300 miles to come get it.

kajtek1

My 4-banger makes black strips on dry asphalt as well, although more sophisticated ESP keeps it under control.
I had bad luck with the above engine - getting "black death" when at the time the description was unknown un USA.
Fortunately European member help me in dealing with it.
I still have search set on CL for diesels as present 4-bangers come from factory with weak DPFs, but now, having settlement and following warranty, that is no longer an issue.
4-banger will loose slightly to 6-cylinders on acceleration, but will beat them hands down passing gas stations.
Anyway, over 1/2 millions miles and car still looking good is impressive. Would it be in white, I would go for it, to have it sit next to my Ford T, but black seats under Las Vegas sun don't work well.

rapidoxidation

My car never had an issue with Black Death, but I did have that problem on my '05 Duramax. Had to replace the head gaskets at 135K miles and removing the driver's side valve cover was problematic thanks to a leaking injector seal on #4. Ended up breaking and replacing the valve cover. Truck is now at 304K and no issues. (knock on wood).

GoodByeHonda

Why are these illegal in 5 states? Which states? Is it that you can't register them in those 5 states?

kajtek1

Probably whole exhaust is replaced with cat deleted.
There used to be 5 states who follow California in smog requirements, but the number keeps on growing and last I heard it is about 10 of them

Quint22

if the vehicle is stock it is legal.