Consider that within the first 100,000 miles you may need head gasket ($1200), wiring harness ($800 or so - forget any good will from Mercedes unless you are the original owner and a very good customer), throttle actuator ($1500, apparently also because of the bad wiring harness), timing chain cover seal ($900), automatic load levelling system (varies) and the biggest shocker of all, the evaporator box on the a/c ($2500). These major items are on top of already high maintenance costs and the usual repair suspects such as water pumps, belt tensioners, suspension components, cruise control amplifier, and hopefully not the computer if you took care of the wiring harness in time. This is not normal - most of the major items are the result of defective design. It is not a good shade tree mechanic car either, since info is very hard to come by - the cd that others mention is very hard to navigate and find the info you need, and often is incomplete. My other car is a 1987 Saab 900turbo. Not known to be the most reliable car in the world, but EASY to work on due to several manuals readily available (Chilton's, Bentley) and (fortunately) a good web site like this one (SAABNET). Good luck - doesn't sound like I love the car but I do - but it is expensive.