When did Mercedes stop making cars that people could work on without a garage?

[Smiley]

You've not kept your cars for that long if you've had that many. That works out at a change of car every 12 months or so over 50 years. You have to keep a car for a good few years and do some high mileage to get a feel for reliability.

Thanks for the detailed reply anyway. Appreciated.



Something with the basic dash and overall size of the 190E (Saloon) but with:

A turbo diesel engine >150 bhp.
Electronic injection and timing.
6 speed box for motorway cruising.
ABS, Power steering & brakes (standard now on most cars).
Air Conditioning (standard now on most cars).
>>>High mileage potential.<<<

Things I would not want:
A built in computerized dash or infortainment system. A 1 DIN radio will do.
In built in telephone or sat nav.
Self driving or lane assist.
Laser \ LED headlights. Halogen bulbs are easier to replace, faster to replace and cheaper.
Parking sensors and cameras.
Tyre pressure monitors.
Car parts that are coded to a computer. I want to be able to fit my own parts.

So long as the car is less than 10 years old and has no more than 50-60k on the clock I'll look at it. I run them to about 200-250k then scrap, as they're almost worthless by then.
I do mainly motorway miles.

Thanks.

I am afraid that your complete list of requirements is impossible in any make of car. Less than 10 years old is newer than the legal requirement to have TPMS as one example. And all cars have built in radio / satnav - which at least stopped the problem of the 1990s of cars being broken into to steal the DIN 1 audio system. Repairing the window and bodywork was worse than replacing the radio / CD changer.
All things have pros and cons. Most new things are a benefit - you say you don't want tyre pressure monitoring - but have you ever had it on a car? It is very useful actually - tells you as soon as a tyre is starting to lose pressure before it is too late. I can live without it but it is useful and reliable.
There are some new things that would annoy me - like £1,000 for a new headlight unit would make me question the value of the LED light unit......and would a Xenon be good enough?
I think the best compromise for your list of requirements is a car from 2002-2008 ish from any make. It won't meet all of your requirements but it will avoid most of your dislikes and avoid most of the "dealer coding" that you refer to.

 

[dorkomatic]

I'd just add that a W201/190E is pretty light (about 1200kg) compared to most modern equivalents so you might not need all the power you thought you might.
(That said, the diesels were pretty clunky and very underpowered.)