This is my first MB and my first diesel. I do >30k miles per year and I need comfort, reliability, power and I like style. This car has it all. Other bonuses are that it does almost 700 miles on a tankful so fill-ups are much less frequent. With 400 lbft of torque, midrange is very good and with the 7 speed transmission, passing is a joy and totally effortless. This year I did 500 miles in 9 hours straight in it and felt OK afterwards.
The 16 inch wheels and skinny, cheap tires that it comes with look and perfrom horribly. Wet weather traction is scary and the ABS and TC have to work overtime if you drive it hard. The tires lasted 38,000 miles and I took the opportunity to upgrade the wheels as well. I now have 275s on the back, 245s on the front riding on 18s. It has transformed the handling and the look of the vehicle.
I have had only one insignificant issue in 40,000 miles. The moonroof autoclose function sometimes didn't work first try but this was fixed in 10 minutes under warranty. This thing also goes 13,000 miles between services so visits to the dealer are blissfully rare.
Owning an MB is great. Dealer service quality is second to none. Reliability and solidity are fantastic and you feel like a king driving it. Hey - it's green too. What's not to like?
I would highly recommed one.
This car looks promising, or rather, BlueTec looks promising. I think BlueTec is another good compromise between standard gasoline cars and the new era...it seems they are able to maintain performance as well...