Congrads on the new car!! Yes, it is nice that people "notice". Maybe its different in car- crazy California, but where I live it seems that the only thing people notice is that "its a Mercedes"--not that its a 20plus year old one. Enjoy!

As for transmission longevity--I have a friend who has a 300D with over 400,000 miles. The transmission has been making a "squeal" intermittently for about 200,000 miles--it has just started to slip a little.