Hey y'all. I have a friend who is in need of a "new" car because her Saturn has electrical gremlins that aren't worth fixing. She doesn't really care about her car, it's just a tool to get from A to B when it's too far to ride a bike. I'm trying to convince her to look at an 80s/early 90s Mercedes cos, let's face it, they're bulletproof and they just won't die. My E300D has 271k on the clock and all I've put in into it in the past 20k miles is a new thermostat, oil, diesel, and tires.

So my question is this: is the 190e this reliable? I assume it is, because it's cut from what amounts to the same cloth, but if I'm to convince a good friend who still believes the FUD about Mercs being expensive to fix, and is soured on German cars from her terrible experiences with 90s VW products, I need more than "Oh yeah, it'll prolly be as reliable as mine, totes!"

Help me help a friend see the Stuttgart light!

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RIP:
2011 E350 BlueTEC, Schwartz 81k (totaled by uninsured drunk driver)
1964 Unimog 404.1 (wrongfully towed by the city)
1994 E320, Brilliantsilber 208k (transmission shuffled off after sudden catastrophic fluid loss)
1982 300D, Silberblau under a blue repaint 256k (sold for parts)
1995 E320 Polarweiss, 131k (sold for parts)
1995 E300D Polarweiss, 287k (totaled by drunk driver)