Assuming you are paying very little for it...just one question that should apply to running a 30 year old car as a daily vehicle......how lucky do you feel.?

The 1st thing I would say is go on a Mercedes forum and ask them regarding using it for commuting, spare parts situation, etc.

My heart would say yes, definitely!. In theory there is no reason why a 190 couldn't manage just fine for what you want. But that kinda depends on what kind of life it has led, and how well its been looked after. But, as Rob says, the 190 was made back in a time when Mercedes engineering and quality was the best, so it would put up with more abuse than pretty much any other car of it 's time (except a volvo 240 of course!). The 190e had a 2.0 injection engine which was generally reckoned to have the best balance between economy and performance (though its power output would be well and truly laughed at these days). It is also quite a petite car (compared to its equivalent these days) and doesn't have that much rear seat space, so bear that in mind if you regularly have more than 2 adults in the car.

Cars of this era were the best all rounders by far, and the 190 Merc one of the best of the best, maybe not quite as bullet proof as a Volvo 2/7/9 series or most Toyotas but very very good, they never built a car as well again IMHO.

Check overall condition, you have to get down and dirty to check underneath, checking for corrosion around the rear subframe mountings and jacking points.

Parts are cheap and plentiful and there's always scrappers to raid, the car is reasonably easy to work on, but as said it is an old car and will require maintenance and rust prevention measures, if you can do the bulk of the work yourself then you could do worse than buy one of these but obviously it has to be very cheap, around £800 tops.