Belcavitch

I’ve been in the market for a diesel model for awhile but stumbled across a 200 with the m115 engine for a reasonable price (262k miles). Do the petrol engines live up to the reliability standard of the Diesel engine? Also is there any easy way to convert the car to a manual? Thanks.

rocky raccoon

Although Mercedes petrol engines are very durable, none can compare to a Diesel. The primary reason is that Diesel fuel itself is a lubricant hence the "dry" startup condition with the associated wear of a petrol engine is avoided. Diesels are also more robust than gasoline-fueled engines by design to withstand the higher pressures and more reliable due to the lack of an electrical ignition system. This is true of the older design Diesels but less so of the modern Bluetec engines.

Conversion from automatic to stick shift is possible and has been done many times but it is not "easy". If all components are on hand it will still take about 10 hours of labor.