Consumers reports has an Annual Auto Issue....

Fun reading no matter what !!!

One of the categories they list is " reliable used cars" and another is " used cars to avoid"....

Of course this list does not go back to 1914 Maxwells....

The April 2001 issue lists Mercedes C-class 1996 and E-class 1995 as above average in reliability...

They list Mercedes 300E 1993 , CLK 1999, M-class1998-2000 as used cars to AVOID....

I don't know when they got so good at interesting and useful categories... but if they were doing this ten years ago it might give a lot of insight into our early 80's MB's to find a 1990 Auto Issue...

Overall ,though, I agree with those who suggest the 123 body style for many reasons.... I am partial to wagons ... they have a great reputation for being bullet proof in countries with bad roads... and are really firm feeling at speed out on the road.... but I love my 123 240d manual trans , manual windows, manual ac controls and no sunroof also.... .... simplicity is one of the great points to the 123 for repair purposes....

It might be smart to go south or west to find a rust free car and then rebuild the engine... you would almost have a new car...