Hello friends, I love my 2005 Cdi diesel. I am a used car dealer and buy and sell nothing but diesel cars. After owning several cars for our business and several gasums too, I found that the Mercedes Benz diesel to be a wonderful fit for a true driver! In 1999 Mercedes , Said shame on you u.s market for not buying a diesels so they stop producing them in the u.s market. In 2005 This is the first year in the u.s but no worries this motor the cdi has been around for a few years in Germany and Europe before made for the 300 series here. So you don't have the worries of the first year ouchies! Like the neon,!! We currently have 89,000 miles on it and here are the highs of this model and chassis. #1 I have never been a fan of Mercedes gasums cause they cost to dang much to fix.....With that being said when your sweet diesel finally needs a repair the only place to go is usually a Mercedes Benz dealership and pay the price, resently did oil change full syn Mobil one and glow plugs,,,,880.00 but using the right oil 12000 miles before oil change!  Also a update i  had a problem with the car jerking at 101000 miles. it felt like the transmission going out, but after bring it to the dealership they replaced the egr, and cleaned the carbon off and updated the software, and after re-seaching it it is a common problem not a  lot of people know because most people dont see the 2005 with this type of miles on them. I don't like the shade tree mechanic I have never found one straight with a Mercedes they think since you drive one, you need to pay for crappy work and crappy parts. trust me fix it via dealer. Compared to the gas model it gets 30  some percent better fuel economy.  Also in car and driver they did a test the lexus hybrid car compared to the cdi slash blue tec diesel the hybrid got 22mpg and the blue tec got 39!!!! No brainer! Comfort! wow. And nice extras a drawer for extra stuff and underneath both seats and fancy little pen drawer. reliability is perfecto! Craftsmanship, dude its a benzie! I have owned a 1987 300 sdl 486k , a 99 mercedes e300td 235k and a 98 202k. This is by far the way to go.! Trunk can fit 14 people if you are smuggling them across the border give or take a few depending on how much they had to eat...jk! The tranny has a sport button or a economy button press one for economy and saves you close to 3 miles per gallon, or if you want to us the zero to 60 in 6.6 seconds go ahead and hit the sport option and race all the mustangs you want with a car seat in the back with plenty of room/! Baby saying go daddy faster our secret mommy would ban me from driving and make me get a 1995 that didnt have a turbo! what a wonderful car to own if it can overlook the down stroke it takes to buy one. Only bad thing i have to say about the cdi's they do start okay in cold weather but!! rear wheel drive car and the motor has torque and can be a mess on really wet roads and snow ice forget about! Good luck and i hope this helps you in your benzie search good luck and remember as soon as you buy a Benz you have free life time road side assist even if it is a 1923, Mercedes policy not mine! And once you own a diesel you are no of us we will always wave at a follow diesel lover!