I have set up a spread sheet for 2005/6 CDI shopping for online listings. Mercedes Shopping Spreadsheet
It calculates the comparative cost / year of use to 300k miles at 20k / year. I figured that by 300k, all the cars would be worth about the same in the marketplace + or (-) for condition. It's not exact by any means, but it allows me one metric to compare cars with different mileage.

Example:
2005 CDI $7,995 171k $1242/year for 6.4 years to reach 300k at 20k/year
park-tronic, side screens, rear screen, light washers, active bi-xenon, HK sound, CD changer, heated seats, keyless go

2006 CDI $13,995 68k $1205/year for 11.6 years to reach 300k at 20k/year
rear screen, CD changer, heated seats

I have checked the boxes for each of the options on the car according to the data card for the VIN. The options on a used car do not seem to affect the asking price by much, if any. It is interesting to see how common, or rare, some of the options are.

I have yet to find any CDI's with:
Distronic cruise control
Solar panel in the Pan-o-roof
Active suspension
4 Zone HVAC

Without accounting for the cost of money, you can own a CDI for as little as $100/month for the time to 300k miles. If you account for any salvage value after you reach 300k, then the cost will be less.

Of course, it will cost you more if you then want to license it, insure it, fuel it, maintain it, and repair it.

__________________
Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

Unfortunately, the cost of options aren't recoverable. So, that's always a wild card on resale.

What the marketplace offers are used car prices and miles on them all over the board. So, there's no consistency to base an accurate spreadsheet on them.

The only exact way to gauge how much something actually has cost you is on sale day. It can then be reduced to the timespan owned, and all costs per mile covered, which will then include the cost of the purchase in the first place.

So, controlling costs going in on any used vehicle is always a roll of the dice as per repair cost, and of course the amount spent when driving it.

What is controllable is deciding which car to buy at what price. What the outcome of that is depends on cost per mile going forward, and luck of what the costs of repair will be.

Some are dazzled by tons of options. Still others are fixated on the lowest possible price to obtain a very high mileage vehicle, with a totally uncertain future, and lowered expectations because of their diminished useful life span remaining.

Others are focused on low-mileage cars for the lowest possible price, without scads of options that always seem to break or fail, costing more in repair dollars.

One size does not fit all in shopping for used cars here. Further, the intended use of the car differs widely here as well.

Nice! I wish I had that when I bought mine.

Yes, that is neat! It's interesting to see the optional equipment for all the cars currently on the market.

I have seen lone examples with either 4 Zone HVAC, Airmatic suspension or Pacific Blue leather (special order option on the '03 & '04 W211) before though! These options were only available on very early U.S. CDI builds (01/04-05/04), so extremely rare. Especially as they only imported around 3000 CDI's to the U.S. in the 2004 calendar year IIRC.

Of 56 cars on the sheet:
2 - panoramic roof
3 - tire pressure sensors
4 - parktronic
4 - heated steering wheel
4 - heated + cooled seats
7 - keyless go
8 - dynamic seats
9 - trunk closer
10 - folding rear seats, 8 - ski bag
10 - Bi-Xenon curve w/headlight washers
29 - rear door sun screens
29 - sat. nav.
35 - harmon kardon sound
37 - heated seats
46 - rear window shade
50 - CD changer

My personal opinion on options, nothing to do with what you would or should want.
Panoramic roof is a novelty. Neat to show off. Not really useful to me as I always sit up front. With the solar panel, it would be useful.
Parktronic is not needed as much on a sedan. On the ML, where you cannot really see the corners of the vehicle, it is useful.
Heated steering wheel is really nice when your car has been sitting outside at -20 all day
Heated seats, the same
Cooled seats seems like it could be a nice feature.
TPS is useful.
Keyless go seems like a novelty that may be more trouble than it's worth. I've never had the experience.
Dynamic seats are very nice.
Trunk closer, novelty.
Folding rear seats, I want, I want, I don't have.
Sun screens, useful.
Bi-Xenon active curve w/washers: the washers are useful, the lights I like.
CD changer should be standard equipment
Sat. Nav. should be standard. I was surprised how many did not have it.

For where I live and the way we use the car I would want:
Folding rear seats
Dynamic heated/cooled seats
Heated steering
Bi-Xenon w/washers
TPS
Sun screens
Sat. nav. / CD changer

I read a posting by someone who had driven a car with distronic cruise control. They thought is was the coolest option they had ever experienced.

__________________
Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

I would avoid especially the airmatic suspensions and the pano-roofs. Not sure why the need for a 4-zone HVAC. That sounds like another problematic area as well. The moonroofs are great, until they malfunction and or leak water. I seem to recall the Pacific Blue color.

Of all of my options I'd love distronic.

I'd like to see a bare binges car. I figured they all had nav and the HK system

HK, yes. NAV? No. I'm a big fan of the German purest MBs. All that optional jazz is to appease the U.S. market. If mine had roll - up windows vs electronic lifts - you can guess how I'd order it.

My little Brother that owns my old E300 with tons of options on it, lives and dies for the moonroof. Ack!

Sunroofs are awesome, especially if its a manual one from a 240D. I actually use them quite frequently.

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Fewest number of options of any car I found, and it's in TX.

Fewest number of options with HK sound.

I thought you were interested in the folding rear seats. Not really fancy, but quite useful to some people.

__________________
Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

One thing that I find interesting is the disproportionately high number of CDI's for sale which have salvage titles.

The only thing I can hypothesize is that repair costs are so high that perhaps a relatively minor collision can cause an insurance company to total-out these cars? (Is this a commonality with all w211 cars?)

The funny thing is how a lot of those (salvage car) sellers also have the most unrealistically high pricing.

P.S. - Thank you GregMN for the spreadsheet. That's an excellent way to gain rational perspective on potential purchases.

__________________
Current rolling stock:
2001 E55 183,000+ Newest member of the fleet.
2002 E320 83,000 - The "cream-puff"!
1992 500E 217,000+
1995 E300D 412,000+
1998 E300D 155,000+
2001 E320 227,000+
2001 E320 Wagon, 177,000+

Prior MBZ’s:
1952 220 Cab A
1966 300SE
1971 280SE
1973 350SLC (euro)
1980 450SLC
1980 450SLC (#2)
1978 450SLC 5.0
1984 300D ~243,000 & fondly remembered
1993 500E - sorely missed.
1975 VW Scirocco w/ slightly de-tuned Super-Vee engine - Sold after 30+ years.

I noticed that too. I wouldn't not look at a salvage titled car if it was repaired well, but I would expect to pay less for it compared to a clean titled one.

Maybe the seller bought it to repair and flip, but the market dropped faster than he could get it fixed.

I made some changes to the sheet:
You can enter what you think a current value is of 300k car
You enter the number of miles you drive / year.
I also now list the percent of cars on the sheet that have each option.

The future salvage value at 300k is calculated by deducting $200/year from the current salvage value at 300k.
So a car that is worth $5000 with 300k on it today (10 years old) would be worth $3000 with 300k on it 10 years from now (20 years old).
It is just off the top of my head figuring, no science or actuarial studies involved. Maybe I should change the reduction to a percent of the current salvage value... later.

__________________
Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

TheDon was interested in seeing "bare binges" ones.

I'm very interested in learning how the folding rear seats work.

Lack of folding rear seats wasn't a deal-breaker for me. However, airmatic and or pano-roof? That would be.

I think you mean "bare bones" model. I thought all W211s came with folding rear seats, or was that an option? I wonder how much it cost if it was an option.

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

The cost for the optional split folding seats was $540 back in '05. Today on the '15 E250 BlueTEC,
you have to order the $4380 premium package to get them!