Not that I'm in any position to second guess Mercedes engineers....but 30,000 miles for an air filter?? That just seems unrealistic.

I was noticing some sluggishness problems. Changed the fuel filters (which had only been in 10,000 miles)...still sluggish, though improved. So I took out the air filter. Really dirty after 10,000 miles! Sluggishness solved.

And it's not like I drive through sand storms....just garden-variety driving.

When I think of all that's at stake with air flow, I think I'll start changing the air filter much more frequently!

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14 E250 Bluetec "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 153k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 171k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver, 142k mi, wastegate conversion

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I think it depends on conditions, mine usually go about 30k, but my driving is all long distance highway. I just take a look when I change the oil and replace it when it's dirty.

I change mine about once a year, but in that time the cars get driven only about 8,000 miles each. I "tap out" the filter a couple of times a year, gets rid of some of the larger chunks of grit that the filter picks up from our 1/4 mile gravel driveway.

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

I have had good luck blowing the dirt out of Air Filters with low pressure air and an Air Gun.
The one place I worked was a Refrigerated Container Comany and was located on 40 Acres of dirt.
Of the various Fork Lifts, Container lifters and yard Trucks we used the filters could plug up in a matter of hours. And the cost of some of the Filters ranged from $65-$125 each.

I had 2 Filters for each Vehicle that I rotated. Every chance I got and the Vehicle stopped moving long enough for me to do so I swapped the Air Filters.
I would blow out the Dirty one with Compressed Air and put it in a Plastic Bag for the next swap.
If there was enouh time and the Day was hot enough to dry the Filters in a resnoable time I would wash and Dry them and Blow them out with Air again.

It works well to extend the life of a filter.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Air filter life is highly dependent on conditions. It's pretty dusty where I live and I get maybe a year out of an air filter.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.