For some strange reason, one—but only one—of the supermarkets in my area often features interesting eighties cars in its parking lot. Back in mid-2016, there was a Mercedes-Benz 300CD Turbo coupe casually parked among the crossovers—a good enough reason for this blog entry.
“A singular new achievement”
1985 was the last model year for Mercedes-Benz’s mid-size W123 models—the substantially revised and very different-looking W124 models would follow for 1986.
For 1985, the 300CD Turbo powertrain continued to be the fuel-injected 125 bhp 3.0 liter/183 ci inline five turbodiesel connected to a four-speed automatic transmission. At about 3,360 pounds, these were not fast cars—Car and Driver recorded a 0-60 time of 12 seconds. Fuel economy was 22 city/25 highway by the day’s standards—19/23 by today’s measures. With the 21.1-gallon fuel tank, the driver of a 300CD could expect 400 to 445 miles of range with a 10% reserve.
Standard Equipment & Options
The base price for the 300CD Turbo was a non-trivial $35,220—about $108,600 in today’s dollars or almost twice what a 2025 CLE 450 4MATIC coupe goes for. You did get a lot of standard equipment for a 1985 vehicle: power steering, power brakes, halogen headlamps, halogen fog lamps, and 195/70HR14 tires (a size still readily available) on 14-inch light alloy wheels were all included. Inside, power windows, power door locks, cruise control, intermittent windshield wipers, eight-way power front bucket seats, electronic climate control, and an AM/FM stereo with cassette player and power antenna were standard.
There were few options on the 300CD Turbo: leather upholstery, an anti-theft alarm system ($335), and a power sunroof (optional at no extra cost) were available.
The View From 2025
W123 models definitely have a following, especially the relatively rare coupes and the 300TD wagons. According to Hagerty’s valuation tools, all the money for a 1985 300CD in #1/Concours condition is $67,000, with a more normal #3/Good condition car going for $25,700. 300CDs sometimes show up for sale in the Hemmings Motor News classifieds, on eBay Motors, and on Bring a Trailer, often with mileage well over 200,000.
I like these coupes, with their smooth hardtop lines and their reasonable size. Make mine Astral Silver Metallic, I think.
Other Mercedes-Benz models I have written about include the 1980 450SL convertible, the 1981 380 SEL sedan, the 1985 380SL convertible, the 1986 560SEC coupe, the 1986 560SL convertible, and the 1989 560SL convertible.
Last updated December 2025.
Eighties Cars 