Cheeseman,

Gilly gave you some good general advice and you can use the search function on this forum to find other info. There are many resources to research reliability of used cars. Consumer Reports sells a book (at your local bookstore) that compiles reliability data for the last 10 years. Get the book and you will see that Mercedes is in the same league with all the European brands, with the C and E class being at the top of the Merc. range reliability-wise. The Japanese brands come out on top joined by Buick of all things I believe. Also look at carsurvey.org. Anyway, the thing is not a time bomb and I have been pleasantly surprised that the parts I have bought have not been expensive in my opinion (previously I had a Toyota and those guys are PROUD of their parts, if you know what I mean) That is what I call sticker shock. Get the thing inspected. That will hopefully let you know if anything needs to be done NOW. Get the service records from the seller so you know the history. Any car will be expensive to own if you pay others to do the work. And Mercedes will be even more expensive since you probably don't want your local Firestone or Sears working on it. You will save a lot by doing the work your self but if you don't have the skill then you have to consider what these costs will be. Every car breaks, even (God forbid) Japanese cars. Mercedes is a prestige brand and you sometimes have to pay to look at the world over that little star. Maybe you will be happier in a Honda with the rest of the world. I may end up there myself.

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra