The most notorious Mercedes for eating up transmissions are the M-100s (600, 6.3 and 6.9). My 6.9 is on it's second tranny and it has begun to slip in first gear and reverse, so it looks like #3 will be in order shortly. I don't drive it hard at all nor did the previous owner, these boxes just handle so much torque that they are very likely to fail, and most do. However, my first 6.9 had 203,000 miles on it on the original tranny, so some must just last longer than others. My '83 300D has 292,000 miles on it and shifts nicely, although it does shift hard on the 1-2 upshift. That will be cured by an adjustment to the vacuum modulator.

165,000 miles on my 190E 2.3 auto, it does shift pretty hard from 2 to 3 and wont stay in the lower gears very long.
Repalced seals at 125,000.


I believe it is a four speed but starts out in 2, unless you stomp real hard on the go pedal.

My '85, 300SD now has about 162K miles and the trans. exhibits occasional flairing when shifting to high gear, but only under slow acceleration conditions around town. My '88 TE with 124K miles is perfect. I had about 185K miles on my manual trans. in my old 240D and it was perfect. Say what you will about GM cars, but I sincerely wish that a Chevrolet transmission would fit a MBZ. Reliable and dirt cheap to fix or replace.

trannys life
 

1994 S500 192000 miles no problems

1995 C280, 85K miles and no problems.
1999 S420, 40K miles and no problems.
I've been reading this post since it started, and thought I'd finally post mine, even though they're just getting broken in!

1979 240D 295,000...shifts fine, just regular fluid/filter changes.
1990 300E 115,000...occasional hard shift

Tranny Life Survey
 

84 300D 375,000. Strong shifts, but the F&R seals leak a little, especially after a fresh fluid change.