In General, how dependable is a used Mercedes?

Yes, I would say so. Although this is somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy, as people expect an MB to run longer, so they keep it working.

The Pontiac sunbird is one of the sorriest excuses for a vehicle ever made, so it's easy to say an MB will be more reliable and is of higher quality then that POS.

Marty

Mercedes Benzes are NOT reliable. They are money pits. That is before and after

mcbrue againbrokenly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

The more complicated any car is the more things can and will break, regardless of brand. Cars go through repair cycles, things break and then more things break until the owner is ready to scream. But it passes and then the car runs well for some time.

Owning a Mercedes-Benz is not cheap. Costs can be lowered if you can and will do at least the maintenance yourself. The older the car the more this applies. Some owners have bought mid '80s Turbodiesels with 200K miles for $2,000, fixed some things and driven them for a year or more and sold them again for what they paid. Other owners have bought complicated models relatively cheap and then paid the luxury car premium to the repair shop.

A M-B's basic components: engine, transmission etc, are quite reliable IF they were regularly maintained and should be good for 200+K miles, less if not well maintained.

As a buyer your job is to (1) know what you want (and why), (2) be patient and wait for the right car to appear in your local market and (3) be ready to act quickly when it appears.

Ideally, you want to buy a car from a local private party, someone who has owned it since new or some years, someone who can tell you about it and show you its maintenance records or give you the name of the shop that did the work. Select a car, don't be sold a car.

Remember, old cars don't enjoy senior discounts at the repair shop, it's your money and buying a M-B is strictly voluntary.

I own two M-Bs, a '80 and a '97, each is nice in its own way.

Yeah well, you have a 140; they were disasters. You can't say "all mercedes are..." because you're talking about a huge range of cars. If you want reliable get an old diesel.

They're not Fords, but then again they're not as bad as say, um, Jaguar.

About 2 years ago I bought an old Mercedes ('73 450 SLC) with 145K miles on the clock. Its been my everyday ride since I bought it. So far its been great....no problems other than the usual (replaced front brake pads) maintenance. I also own a couple of American cars, a 1986 Jeep Cherokee and a 1978 Corvette. Compared to the Mercedes, the Jeep and Vette are total pieces of crap. Poorly designed, and virtually falling apart. These are my impressions...

Steve

I just know I'm going to regret this, but I've had my 84300D for almost five years, and until the tranny went out last year I had really not spent much time or money keeping it going (that being said, I can just imagine what will go the next time I pull out of the driveway!). I started with 117K and now it has 265K, and considering that 99% of the time it doesn't give me any grief, I'd say that's pretty dependable - after all, my wife's 2004 PT cruiser's already been recalled,and it uses more oil than the Merc.

terry solom> About 2 years ago I bought an old Mercedes ('73 450 SLC) with 145K

I have a 97 C280 with 143,000 miles. It's still going strong, even after a tough encounter with some black ice and a guard rail. I don't intend to get rid of it until at least 200,000 miles.

Here is a quaint little tale...

Slightly OT: colour looks like "Weizengelb", quite rare when available in early eighties. My W123 200D in that period was that colour. Sigh...

DAS