When you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, sometimes you don’t have a whole lot of choice. Drop below $2,000 in the used car market these days, and the pickings get slim indeed, even in a car-heavy place like Southern California. Still, there are some choices to be made, and one of those is whether you’d trust an older, simpler car more, or whether you’d rather have some modern safety features even if they come with other newer-car crap. That’s the choice you’ll have to make today.
Friday’s track-daily-burn game went down about how I expected, with the majority of you choosing to torch the poor Chevy Beretta. You didn’t seem to come to a consensus about which car would make the better daily driver out of the other two, however. Some of you thought the Honda was too slow to be any fun on a racetrack, while others thought the nicer Mazda MX-3 would be more pleasant in daily use. I’m too lazy to actually go through and count responses, so I’ll just call it a draw.
As for me, I went a different way. For $1,800 with a pre-dented fender, all I can think is that the Beretta would make an excellent rallycross car. Slap some steelies with snow tires on it, maybe put some lifting blocks in the suspension, and go have fun in the dirt. That leaves me with one of the other two as a daily driver, and since one of them is fuel-injected and the other has a carburetor, it’s an easy choice: the Mazda MX-3. That consigns the old Honda to the flames, but I’ve already sent one second-gen Accord to the junkyard; what’s another?
All right; enough of that foolishness. Let’s move on to some new foolishness in the form of a rusty old Mercedes and a beat-up Nissan.
1980 Mercedes-Benz 240D – $1,750
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter diesel OHC inline-4, four-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Odometer reading: 208,000 miles (but odometer is broken, so could be a lot more)
Operational status: Runs and drives well
About fifteen years ago, this car would have been one of the better-kept secrets in the used car market. It’s not really worth much, and it’s slow as molasses, but it’s built like a tank, and it’s about as complicated as an anvil. Keep diesel in it, change the oil once in a while, and it’ll clatter along for decades. But is it still a foolproof option? After all, it’s forty-six years old. Even the best of us slow down after that many years, and this car can’t afford to slow down much more.
Seventy-one horsepower. That’s what you’ve got to work with here. Zero to sixty is around twenty seconds on a good day. Oh, and it sounds like a tractor. But it runs great, and it comes with a nice smooth four-speed automatic. These cars are known for racking up some serious miles in some really unfriendly parts of the world; Santa Monica isn’t going to present it with much of a challenge. We don’t know how many miles are on this one, because the odometer is stuck at 208,000, but it doesn’t really matter at this point.
A broken odometer in a W123 isn’t uncommon, but worn-out MB-Tex upholstery sure is. I thought this stuff was indestructible, but these seats definitely need re-covering, or some sheepskin covers to hide the wear. And of course, it’s missing a couple of pieces of the wood trim on the dash. This particular 240D doesn’t have air conditioning, but all it would do is slow it down anyway.
California cars don’t rust; we all know that – except when they spend their lives by the sea, subjected to salt air, which is the case here. It’s not minor rust, either; this has the potential to be structural at some point. This car is on borrowed time. But I wouldn’t bet against it just yet; you’ve probably got years before it becomes a problem.
2012 Nissan Sentra – $1,700
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter DOHC inline 4, CVT automatic, FWD
Location: South Los Angeles, CA
Odometer reading: 140,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
If you’re a regular Autopian reader, you know that questionable Nissans have become sort of a specialty of ours. There was the former NYC taxicab NV200 van, which was dragged kicking and screaming back to life after ending up in a Copart auction. It successfully drove all the way across the country and is probably still out there running around somewhere. More recently, there’s the Murano CrossCabriolet, which has been road-tripped, off-roaded, and rallycrossed, and is still kicking ass. In that spirit, I present for your consideration this scruffy, unassuming Sentra.
Like both of our hero Nissans, this Sentra has a Jatco continuously variable transmission. Almost nobody seems to like these things, and they do have a reputation for self-destruction, but it seems that if you change the fluid regularly, they can last. I’ve rented a couple of Nissans with this gearbox, and they were fine, no more dull and lifeless than any other automatic in a small car. This one receives its power from a 2.0-liter four-cylinder co-designed with Renault. It runs and drives just fine, according to the seller, and doesn’t have any nasty warning lights on the dash.
The interior is intact, but it’s grubby. I don’t know if those stains on the seat will come out or not. I guess seat covers would be an option here, too. The seller doesn’t tell us if anything in here is broken, so you’d be wise to check it all out.
Outside, it looks OK, but I think it had a minor bump in the front. The front bumper is a little wonky, and the grille doesn’t seem to fit. I have a feeling it’s a grille from some other Nissan that someone stuck in there. An Altima, maybe? Those aren’t the original wheels, either, and they’re either too small, or the wrong offset, or something. They just look weird on there.
If you just need a cheap set of wheels, either one of these will do, but they will be very different experiences. The Mercedes is rock-solid, but slow and noisy. The Nissan will get you up to freeway speeds a lot easier, but it will feel a lot cheaper and be a lot harder to fix if something goes wrong. They’re close enough to the same price that it makes no difference. Which way would you go?
Just say ‘no’ to diesel. I like my lungs, thank you.
Normally I’d say it’s everyone else’s lungs that are affected since you leave the plume behind, but this thing is so slow I’m not sure that’s possible.
Easiest choice ever for me today. An old diesel Mercedes-Benz is on the very short list of cars I need to own before I croak (as of now, it is down to a diesel Benz, a second generation VW hippie van, and a V10 Lamborghini). I’m not picky about owning the best example of cars on my bucket list, so this one is perfect for me. Too bad it is so far away.
I have no criticism for the Nissan at that price, though. That is one of the better sub $2k options I have seen in a while.
Come Thanksgiving, I’ll give a thought to how grateful I am not to be stuck with either of today’s choices IRL. At least in the Sentra you won’t have to smell diesel and watch the rust creep farther every week.
I’ve had a few old merc diesels and I’d have another in a heartbeat. That spot is kind of a weird one for rust, usually you’ll find it on the rocker panels and jack points, as well as behind the rear window from a leaking seal. Having it on both sides, seems like its from water getting behind the little trim strip where the C pillar meets the main body line. I guess for a car that isn’t subjected to road salt, it’s not a crazy place for it.
Oh and regardless of the Merc, a rattle-can-repaired Nissan with a Jatco CVT and the wrong grille is a general hard NO. Least they could do is find proper junkyard parts in silver, its not like these are exactly rare.
Water leaks and the ensuing rust are common issues with the rear window area of w123s and w126s.
The first thing you do when looking at one (especially w126s) is pop the trunk, climb inside, and look at the bottom of the window frame from the inside. They rot from the inside-out.
In my experience it’s in the bottom of the window, not the side trim as pictures. I’ve had multiple w126s. That rear seal is not a fun one on 40 year old glass and a rusty lip.
That generation of Sentra is the official car for people who have given up on life, Mercedes even with the rust and ratty interior gets my vote.
Grew up on a farm. Rust and the smell of diesel fuel take me back. Benz me, baby.
Was ready to vote W123 but that rust added to the price of diesel plus no AC swayed me to the Jatco CVT. Hopefully the AC works.
Same. The question of what lies underneath and the cost of filling it up made my decision.
Man I wish you could post memes in comments.
Today is a sofies choice, I chose the MB, we had one growing up (well the TD), they are built like tanks, but that interior, the rust and lack of AC!! Then we have a CVT tired looking Sentra. YUCK TO BOTH!
I had this Sentra for a rental and the CVT’s back then were a horrible driving experience.
Ocean side cars generally rust from the top down, so the Merc is likely fine structurally.
Since I don’t live in California, I voted for the Sentra.
If I did, I might have picked the the other car because diesels are exempt from smug check until 97 (gas engines only up to 75)
But wow, that is a lot of rust for a California car even that old. And if the MB Tex is torn like that, you KNOW it was driven HARD. MB Tex is very durable.
paging Jatco Xtronic CVT 😛
I was about to vote 240D and say something something shim the pump, but then I saw the rust spots. There’s no real fixing that yourself. I guess it’s Jatco Xtronic CVT time. In a Sentra that seems to have led a typical life of Nissans of the time.
I’m a Nissan fan, but it has to be the indestructible classic era Merc over the CVT timebomb Nissan.
My son just won a 2014 Sentra (A drawing among kids with perfect attendance at school last year). Compared to our Crosstrek (with a manual) and CX-9, driving the Sentra feels like punishment.
School sure has changed. I had to hawk candy bars in a sisyphean effort to win some prizes of dubious value. Some may say a 2014 Sentra is of dubious value as well but it’s better than an off brand walkman.
A local dealership has been doing this for about 25 years to encourage kids to go to school. There are about 2000 students but only 25 were able to try a key.
I feel like that Merc is a perfect candidate for a fry grease conversion. assuming those still exist. also, I wonder if you would pay less to just buy clean grease in bulk from say Sam’s club? Diesel topped 6 a gallon in the midwest, which is pretty much unheard of previously.
Saw the lede pic, scrolled down and hit the Merc button. Only minor regrets after seeing the interior and rust. I’ll always love those paint matched hubcaps. If it were missing one, that would be a deal breaker.
Bonus – a clock without a second hand so you can measure your 0-60 times!
The Sentra just looks gross to me. The Mercedes is rusty as hell but for only 1700 that is just what the hell money and drive it until it blows up money. Or make it into a Lemons car hah.
The Benz. It’s terrible. I love it! You know you’ve got Mercedes poisoning on the brain when you look at a wreck like that and get warm feelings about the not-exactly-adequate durability of its vinyl seats. But let’s get real… only one of these things has a chance of continuing to be a running car in another half century. And it doesn’t have a CVT.
Anything but this Sentra, plus the W123 is one of the best MB ever made. It isn’t going anywhere fast, but that thing is so steady it’d make a tortoise jealous.
As far as no A/C, a vintage air kit would get it frostier than the fatherland on Christmas.
This is a tough one! Ordinarily I would slap the Mercedes button so fast the computer would spin, but that Merc looks hurt. A few decades seaside is a hard life for a car…
Unless you’re a Nissan with a CVT! Holy cats is this a fraught choice. Damned if you do and damned if you do! Dammit!
I’ll go with the Benz. Even if half its structural steel has simply evaporated away, it’s likely got more integrity left in it than the Nissan did on Day One, and none of it is likely to have affected the running gear, which, while slow, is relentless. When the goal is to Get There and the Nissan may simply choose not to even while everything is ostensibly working, that’s the deciding factor.
I would daily neither. If I wanted a project car to rattle around in or a 3rd car the benz would be easier to work in and one could just ignore needed parts that are hard to find and just make due.
The Benz is ratty but you couldn’t pay me $1,700 to take that Nissan of your hands.
I almost went Merc for the Hella’s on the bumper, but no AC and the price of diesel? I’ll take the boring silver appliance (if the AC works).
The sentra is the more sensible choice, but as someone who has no sense I went for the Mercedes
No sense except that of style.
Between the cost of diesel these days, and the rust, I’ll pass on what would ordinarily be a great MB.
Maaaaaan, you HAD to remind me about high diesel prices after I voted Merc.
Crap…
Well, the rust reduces weight. That should help with fuel economy, right? Back me up on this, DT!
Properly tuned, a 240 will do better than 30mpg on the highway. Add that to the coastal weight reduction, you’d be pushing 40 no worries!
Ahh,,.coastal weight reduction is a nice, light, and airy sort of term I can get behind…
You would by definition be behind in the 2 slow 40 D.
Wohoo,I am the tie-breaker for the Mercedes. Depending on the rust of course,but I just can’t bother with that Sentra.