I just got my car back from my local independent mechanic - it has 90,000 miles on it now, and he performed the appropriate service. He came back glowing about my car! He said he couldn't find anything wrong - everything was as it should be, and the condition of the car was top notch. I have owned it one year with 74,000 miles. When I bought it the AC evaporator core was bad - this was disappointing and expensive to repair but I decided to do it because I wanted to keep this car. Other than this, I changed all fluids (myself) on purchase of car, changed serpentine belt and tensioner (more my precaution than a defect) and have followed normal maintenance as described in the book. I like to take the car to my independent mechanic for major maintenance as I like to get someone else to work on it periodically with experience. My indy only works on MB's and BMW's and is "semi-retired" but he knows these cars - loves them and it shows. He also is considerably cheaper and friendlier than the local MB dealer (he is German and was trained at the factory, but many, many years ago - he has been in the USA for over 20 years now). Net/net I really love this car, wish they still made them like this and would buy a new one to keep for years if they did. I don't post much to this forum but I read it regularly - thanks to everyone for all the great help and advice through all the questions and answers!

__________________
John Gillespie
1988 560sec - 192k miles
2006 CLK500 - 40K miles
1995 E300 - 202k miles

Congrats. You'll drive it for decades at this rate. Is it the 2.5T?

__________________
'91 300D 2.5 Turbo 330K
'00 VW TDI Golf, 190K
'67 BMW R50/2
'73 Norton Commando Interstate

Runs great, its a daily driver so it gets beat on cosmetically. Seems like you have a little left in yours.

thanks - yes it is the 2.5T, and I bought it with the intention of getting 100,000 miles out of it - but I have never been more pleased with a car - so if I can get to 300,000 miles I will be one happy driver!

__________________
John Gillespie
1988 560sec - 192k miles
2006 CLK500 - 40K miles
1995 E300 - 202k miles