In March, 2024, Volvo announced that they had built their last ever diesel-powered automobile – a 2024 XC90 sports-utility vehicle. While Volvo hasn’t been manufacturing diesel-engined cars as long as Mercedes-Benz (45 years for Volvo versus 88 years for Mercedes), they were a relatively early adopter of diesel technology and similarly leveraged the efficiency of diesel motors to meet government-mandated average mileage requirements, at least here in the U.S. of A.  Although Mercedes-Benz hasn’t yet made a similar announcement, the move by Volvo makes me wonder if others are not so far behind – and it got me reminiscing about my love for diesels.

To the non-believers, diesels – especially old ones – are slow, smelly obstacles to forward momentum. The truth is a little more complex. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, diesel fuel contains 13% more energy than petrol, due to its higher energy density. What that translates to in cars is the ability to go farther on less fuel. The downside is that diesel fuel burns dirtier, releasing more particulate matter. Can this be engineered-out?  In a word, yes. Whether using technology like particulate traps or additives like Diesel Emissions Fluid (DEF), particulate matter released to the atmosphere can be substantially reduced, if not eliminated entirely. Automakers were making great strides in that direction, even pairing diesel engines with electric motors for hybrid vehicles, until Volkswagen got caught cheating. I won’t re-live the whole sordid tale, suffice it to say manufacturers programming vehicles to behave differently during emission testing is bad form – and basically signaled the end of the diesel engine, or at least started the process.

The last diesel “car” (?) in America – Photo courtesy Jeep

Although Europeans can still buy a pretty big range of diesel vehicles, here in the States (not including heavy machinery and large trucks) there are 28. While that may seem like a lot, all of them are either trucks or vans. There is not a single new diesel-powered passenger car for sale on these shores. Unless you count Jeeps, but those are classified as trucks here. The primary reason is that emissions standards are different for trucks than passenger cars, so manufacturers frankly don’t have to try as hard. So there you go.

More or less the car I took my driving test on….

For me it’s a little bit personal. I took my driving test on a Mercedes W126 300SD Turbodiesel. I used to lull my older daughter to sleep as an infant by taking her for rides in my W123 300D: the soothing thrum of the 5-cylinder engine was as good as any lullaby! Subsequently I have owned a number of additional W123 and W126 diesels, and still appreciate them for their build quality and their relative simplicity to care for. I’ve had newer ones as well, a W212 E350 V6 OM642 and two W211 E320 CDIs with the OM648: the last of the iron block inline-6 Mercedes diesels. In fact, I owned my most recent OM648 until about a week ago, when I handed it off to the aforementioned older daughter as a replacement for her crispy Subaru Outback.

The venerable Mercedes 5-cylinder OM617a Turbodiesel Engine….

Of course, giving my diesel to her meant that there was a car-sized hole in my garage, and I abhor a vacuum, so unsurprisingly I started car shopping. Again. As fond as I am of them I pondered another W211 CDI, but the lack of appealing examples at reasonable prices and the desire to drive something different put me off. Then I started surfing the internet for all sorts of bad automotive ideas: Alfa Romeo 164, BMW 740i, W221 S550, and so on. I did find a remarkably good deal on an A124 E320 Cabrio, but as we all know if something seems too good to be true then in probably is. In this case what I found was an expertly-photographed car with rust popping-out all over, an interior that had been cleaned with something so caustic that it took the color off the leather, but yet smelled like it had been underwater then left outside for the better part of a decade. I walked away, sad, but glad that they returned my $500 deposit when I pointed out all of their convenient “omissions” when responding to me questions.

The W211 E320 CDI that now lives in Indiana….

I decided that perhaps I would just wait for a while, play with my C126 500SEC, and use the fuel-guzzling Toyota Tundra pickup I had at the time for my daily coffee runs to keep the miles down on the SEC and to keep it out of the bad weather. And of course, it’s when you’re not looking that a car comes along that catches your eye. In this  case it was the 1983 W123 240D posted on the local Mercedes-Benz Club of America chapter’s Facebook page: 1-family owned for the last 35 years, manual transmission, sunroof, relatively rust-free, and just 221,000 miles finished in the same Light Ivory over Palomino MB-Tex as that 300D that soothed my daughter 23 years ago.

The ’83 240D – complete with obligatory “Taxi” roof sign for fun…

The asking price was VERY reasonable, so I reached-out to find out why. Frankly, the car was not being used and the owner wanted it to go to an enthusiast who likes to fettle with the little things, but appreciated a solid, usable car. With 67 hp and 97 lb/ft of torque delivering 60 mph in 22 seconds and a top speed just shy of 90mph, nobody will be winning any stoplight drag races in it. But as a unique, fun, and efficient car to cruise the country roads on my morning caffeine grab it fits the bill perfectly. And did I mention that I love diesels? I have no intention of giving up on them anytime soon, although this one is moving on to a new caretaker due to current space challenges. On top of that, I think next time I’m going back to forced induction because, well, you know… Old diesels.

Perhaps next time we’ll lament the demise of the station wagon…? Yeah, don’t like that either. Not one bit.

An earlier version of this article appeared in Classic Mercedes magazine.