My brother just bought a 1990 190E 2.6 with a 5 speed. One owner car with all the records. He paid a few hundred less than that and it needed tie rods, tires and a coolant bypass hose. It took 8 hours to replace the $1.50 bypass hose.
It's a great car, but there's hardly any room in the engine compartment to do anything. Lots of disassembly to get anything done in there. He's been getting less than 20 mpg as well. It's hard to listen to the economy gauge.
