I had seen some messages previously questioning the durability of the 3 litre straight-6 non-turbo four valve engines in 1995 and later E class models (mostly because there is so little info on them). I saw a 95 300D recently at the local MB shop with 386K miles. The owner said the car has been completely trouble free and a great car. Even the turbo version of this engine (98 and 99) appears to be trouble free, with a few cars on Ebay with
235K miles. I have a 99 turbo at 92K miles that is a pleasure to drive. Seems like these engines are just as durable, if not better, than the OM603 engines. Will be interesting to see if the new CDI engines will also exhibit long-term durability and reliability of older engines.Raj