Originally Posted by rchase

Depends on the commute. I commute in my 140 most of the time. While its not the cheapest car in the world being trapped inside some cheap plastic and polyester cloth lined metal coffin on the way to the office just does not appeal to me.

Then again since this is a school situation it might not be advisable to attract the attention of angry goth kids and environazi's. My 140 spends most of its day in a parking deck with the company of other MB's Porsche's and the occasional Ferrari.

If I had to suggest a Mercedes I would suggest a 123 or 126 depending on your commute. Both the 126 and 123 were built before the world went cheap and have good construction quality and comfort.

You can drive an older 123 diesel into the ground and it will just keep going and going and going. I had a friend that had a 123 that they did near zero maint on that kept going and going for years. The rear axles sounded like a train going down the road and there was not a panel on the car that did not have a dent. The only reason it ended up being retired is the hood release eventually broke from them shutting the car down from under the hood for so many years. The only service the car ever saw was an occasional fuel filter when it refused to start. It was on the "everlasting oil change" because of the oil that needed to be added during leaks and never actually had a change done.

The 126's won't put up with that kind of abuse but they have classic styling and a reasonable around town and highway ride if you like a big car.

Japanese cars are great until they hit 200K. They loose virtually all of their resale value at that point and even the most well maintained cars start loosing accessories like crazy at that point like Alternator, A/C compressor Power steering and other bolt on engine items. Japanese cars are great to own from about 70K (where most of the new resale has gone) to about 150K where people start getting afraid to buy them as Japanese buyers don't buy for quality they buy because they are cheapskates. They won't take the abuse that many of the other makes will endure.

P.S. When I say 126 I am thinking more on the lines of a 300SEL or a 300SD with an OM617. Notice there is already a 560SEL.