The 71C t'stat corresponds to 160F, a little low by most standards but the engine itself will be a little warmer than that. The concerns I would have is the pistons won't expand to spec, it might be more prone to carbon build-up on the tops of the pistons & undersides of the intake valves if you do mostly in-town driving, & running rich could be a problem for the catalytic converter. You could do a before & after check of the MPG to see if it makes it run any richer, or run the OBC in test mode before & after to measure the liter/hr instantaneous fuel consumption. The temp sensor on the t'stat housing nearest the head gives the Motronic the input for the fuel mixture setting. Bentley covers the temp sensor spec's on pg. 130-15, you could trick it into "seeing" 270 ohms when warm by adding the appropriate size resistor in parallel sensor to lean it out, keeping the 71C t'stat. T'stats are cheap ($13.75) & it would be worthwhile to try, being it's better than running too hot, why else would they offer the 71C in the 1st place if it wasn't meant to be used in hotter climates? It's simple to change back to an 80C if it doesn't work out.
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