I do 12K a year tops and I an thinking 5 years if not more

Cheers

Well maintained MBs will go on for many years, as ever a good service record is the thing to have, worth finding a good make specialist indy, not a car to let just anyone tinker with.

Best with auto box, the parking brake doesn't lend itself to manual driving and few want a manual anyway so difficult to sell on, Benz autoboxes are excellent, but require an oil change every 40k or so, do not neglect this and i would avoid any that have been.

Petrol or Diesel should be good, any Diesels with injector problems should have been sorted under warranty well before the mileage considered.

My present MB is now 17 years old we've had it 10 years, its been indy maintained all the time with us, one or two minor probs cropped up but the engine/drivetrain still hasn't been touched apart from good servicing, which i believe is the secret to long life.

C Class is still on the possible replacement list, but the main reason for that is my specialist indy, if i had to use the main dealer i would't consider another.

i have had many MBs including three c class coupes all petrol not a minutes bother with any of them easily do 250k miles ,Mercedes auto gearboxes do NOT need an oil change ever where people get that info from god only knows its not from Mercedes.The 180k petrol comes in two engine configurations one much more powerful than the other ,the glass opening roof I had on two of the vehicles they are a must have.The only downside to petrol over diesel is a slight difference in road tax in the UK.Once you have had one its hard to go for anything else when change time comes.One point is try and stay away from the extra large wheels they do not suit the 180 make cornering a handfull 16" or 17" are quite large enough and stay away from manuals. .

Edited by Collos25 on 18/04/2013 at 16:00

The problem with the smaller Mercedes petrols is that they usually had superchargers bolted on. Superchargers and their couplings tend to have shorter lifespans than correctly installed turbos.

Mercedes have been in the diesel game longer than anyone else in the passemger car game.