Originally Posted by thayer

Its all about $ per mile. A brand new E250 at $50k with an assumed life of 300k miles will cost you 16.6 cents per mile. Adding the cost of diesel at $3.75 per gallon and getting 45mpg will add 8.3 cents totaling 25 cents per mile.

The 95 E300D with 150k costing only 5k getting 32mpg will be 3 cents to buy and 12 cents to drive. so 15 cents per mile.

Its 40% more expensive to buy the new car. the sweet spot is around 2 to 4 years old with 30 to 60k miles on it. Thats where you really start to win. right now, the best car for all of us as far as inexpensive would most likely be an 06 to 08 bluetec e class with around 60k on it.