Not a lot of people knew back then Cosworth built and developed an engine for Mercedes, originally she was designed to be a rally car but the ironic release of the Audi UR Quattro caused Mercedes Benz to pull out of the whole idea of sending the car for rally competition.
BMW then took the touring car world by storm with the E30 M3 so Mercedes decided to race and compete with BMW against the M3, the older 2.3 engines where not good enough to race against them as the BMW M3 is a car very well balanced, similar four pot engine with a better feeling dog leg gear box also but only available in left hand drive as for the Mercedes is available for the Left and the Right and markets, end results Mercedes decided to up the cars power and made the 2.5 straight 4 pot 16 valve engine which resulted in victories for the Works Team to finish there homogenisation they left an iconic EVO 2 as there mark that they made a car that demolished the M3 in the end.
regarded as a purist drivers car Ayrton Senna and many F1 drivers tested this car regarded by Senna as one of his favourite cars and still today Mika Hakinan uses the Mercedes Cosworth for rallying in the woodlands. Overall very well balanced and good power and good fuel consumption, drifters delight as the car is capable of holding drifts to the finger tips very precise no body roll in that respect this car makes a young up and coming good driver into a seriously good driver as it allows the driver to understand and balance the car at its limit till it goes into a slide mode but still with sheer confidence you can continue the bend whilst the tail begins to slide and execute the turn and exit with pure style not many cars are regarded as drivers car as they have a habit of fish tailing and throwing you off the road but for sure this is right up there with the BMW's E30 M3 no doubt about it.
Bad point to look out for when you go to buy one is ROT, they do rot around the front arches and on the rear arches where the bumper meets the seals and where the body kit sits over the arch around the corners, bare in mind a 2.5 is averagely going for around 5k mark with average miles 120k to 140k and from 4,6 to 8 owners that is, a good one owner car is estimated at about 10k minimum to 13k average some are 16k to even 20k so always think of the bigger picture and try to go for something maybe more pricey but more the investment in the long run.