Nine great cars for back to school

2. Mercedes-Benz 220D

Stahlkocher / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 & GFDL / File
The diesel-burning Mercedes 220 D (pictured here) is more solid than sporty and they can last for generations.

Vintage: Late 1970s to mid-1980s

Price Range: $1,000 to $4,000

Best-known nowadays as candidates for biodiesel conversions, Reagan-era Benzes are some of the best car-for-dollar options for those who recognize and value the cachet they carry. They may be primitive, but diesel-burning Mercedes engines are considered bulletproof, and the heavy bodies they propel have enjoyed the same reputation as the car of choice for diplomats and war-zone political figures. If you can avoid the onset of rust with frequent winter washes, a diesel Mercedes will probably survive to be passed down to yet another generation after your family is through with it. Besides, everyone can appreciate that star hood ornament reassuringly guiding them along the road.

It’s important for new drivers to realize the performance limitations of older cars, whether it’s a vintage Mercedes or any of the other cars listed here. If your learner’s permit hours were racked up driving your father’s late model Acura, you may not consider how differently the brakes on a mid-1990s sedan are going to respond. New drivers must take the time to familiarize themselves with their own vehicle before venturing into the unforgiving fray of traffic, for the sake of themselves and others.

Parents will like: The innate safety of sluggishness, the proven safety of solid steel.

Students will like: Cachet, fuel economy (diesel), simple enough to teach yourself to repair.

Downsides: Lack of pace and somewhat brutish driver feedback may lose its charm for those who don’t have an affinity for the analog lifestyle.

– The original photo can be found here on Wikimedia Commons.

2 of 9

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.