I've never owned a Mercedes or a diesel before, and I'm looking to buy a medium to big sedan as a daily driver. I commute about 120 miles round trip each day, so I'm in need of something reliable with good gas mileage that is good for highway driving. I'm not experienced under the hood, but I could probably figure out some of the easier fixes.

I like the way the W123/W124/W126 look and I don't care if its a D, SD or SDL. I'm trying to keep the price under $5,000. If you were me and reliability was your top priority, which Mercedes would you get?

 

Most of your questions have been covered in this thread:

https://www.dieselbombers.com/merced...edes-look.html

Forget the W123. The W201 doesn't fit your medium/big criteria. The S-class (126, 140)will have lower fuel economy than the E-class (124, 210). So you need to decide if MPG is more important than size, or vice-versa. Your price cap will likely eliminate the 140 and 210 as options. So you're probably looking at a 124 or 126.