halu.. practicality?.. stay away from the 200G models.. malakas sa gaso.. underpowered kasi..

as for the 200D or 240D.. very economical cars.. theveed (a poster here) has a 200D and he says he gets about 10KM/L ata....

though these models (200D and 240D) are not built for high speed runs.. they are great city drivers... a little change in driving habit is needed.. if you crave for speed, then these models are not for you.

as for the 123s, well.. they are the last of the chrome MBs.. classified as a classic just recently by MB Germany.

Things to look out for? Rust on the wheel well/arches, rusts near the firewall around the battery tray, rust sa may trunk area.. if you can get a 123 without a problem in these places, you are ok...

for the interior, might as well get a unit that has a good to great interior (complete workign lights etc).. the small things (that we dismiss as, "madali lang kunin yan") are the ones that might haunt you later on...

A/T vs M/T for the models you mentioned 200D and 240D.. get a manual tranny... these cars only put out around 55HP so having these slugs on an auto tranny would definitely tax you on speed and acceleration...

for me.. i'd stay away from an A/T tranny (quite expensive to fix) and if it hasnt been serviced or broken yet.. IT WILL....

just my two cents po.