W202Passion

Hello there. I'm 17 and i'm from Latvia(Baltic states). I'm soon turning 18 and I want a fast, reliable oldschool Benz(SC'd/TC'd) with a stick.Wagon would be perfect. I want to tune it , but keep it daily. Make it just about 230-250hp MAX.You can guess my budget is really low, but thankfully over here Mercs are pretty cheap. So, I've gone through some models and figured out two of the best ones for me will be the C250TD and the C230 Kompressor. Which one of those is better for perfomance and why?(Don't suggest me something like an E36 wagon, i'm sick of BMWs and I've decided to go only for the Benz.) I really like the diesel torque but I think there will be less drama with the C230. There are of course other Mercs like the E300TD/300CE.But those would be a bit expensive on tax I suppose.Any suggestions? Give me another model to consider, I'd be really thankful.