<p>It all depends on how much money you want to pour into it. I routinely drive cars to 250k miles. Some, like Mrs. Turbo’s old Corolla, required nearly zero maintenance other than the usual items. My old Saab required some serious maintenance of silly things that simply should NOT break. But both cars were scrapped at 275k miles.</p>
<p>The problem with expensive cars is that repair costs are sky-high if you go at the dealership or a real stuffy Hoity-Toity (sp?) mechanic. Low mileage will do you no good if seals and other consumables start failing especially if you use it more. Low miles / high years is a combination for spectacular disaster because things that should have happened and fixed under a 4/48 warranty happen at 10/48, and good luck there…</p>
<p>Personally, put a few thousand more and buy a brand new el-cheapo Versa/Spark/etc… Even used Civics and the like those days command laughably absurd prices.</p>
<p>We had 4 used Mercedes checked out by a reliable mechanic who worked on European cars. He honestly advised us NOT to buy or even accept as a gift ANY of them because maintains car would be so high and they would each be dangerous to drive without some extensive work. We followed his advice and are glad. Sadly, Mercedes are very pricey to properly maintain.</p>
<p>Funny to see this thread as we just watched Auction Kings, which we TiVo, and Sugar Ray’s son was selling his dad’s first Mercedes. It was a beautiful car, low mileage. No one was interested for the asking price. Reading this thread, now we see why. I think it went for like $3500 and had about 65K miles on it.</p>
<p>Be careful with low mileage cars, as there can be issues with:</p>
<ul>
<li>Odometer fraud (which may be harder to detect if the car is registered in places without regular emissions or other checks).</li>
<li>Sitting for long periods of time without being driven.</li>
<li>Mostly city driving.</li>
<li>Mostly cold start short trips.</li>
</ul>
<p>Mercedes maintenance and repair is likely to be expensive due to the assumption that owners are wealthy and can afford to pay the price. It is unlikely that you would be able to get the yearly service done for $39.95 like you would for a vehicle of a “low end” brand (e.g. Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Hyundai, Kia).</p>