My husband got the deal of the century on a used diesel Benz.....he will have that car for 300-400,000 miles.....he has wanted a diesel forever and if bought this car new Benz charges a thousand dollars more for that engine.....if you want the diesel engine in a Chevy truck you pay five grand more.....go figure.....
My neighbor's Benz just went over the 300K mark. Still runs GREAT - no major mechanical problems, just routine maintenance. It's the reason I bought mine after dealing with GM crap for years.
As for the price disparity between the Benz diesel and the Chevy Diesel, you can thank the environmental lobby here in the US for that. In Europe, the diesel is VERY common. MB and others have spent a tremendous amount of money in R & D because of the European regulations and through economies of scale, the European production costs are much lower. Here in the US, it's the exact opposite. Diesel is persona non grata and thus the R&D isn't what it should be and production is highly limited, so the costs reflect it.
Remember when MB had those 100K medallions? Gutsy.