I trust the old SA AW 3-speeds... it's really the more modern 5+ speeds that I hear horror stories about and worry me.

My diesel is the 240 sedan (W123)... the four banger and an oddity for the USA as it has a 4-spd manual tranny. I rarely drive it now (my only car) but it has about 380K miles on it and still runs great... stone reliable. It would be nice if it were a wagon but I removed the rear seat so it's easier to load my 4X10 and 1X15 bass rig to gigs or haul large stuff in.