Indeed as above, your car has a torque converter auto box, so no DMF to worry about.

It about due for a transmission oil change though if not already done, and that does not want to be neglected for a long service life...MB's will cover big mileages but competent regular servicing as with all cars is the key.

As far as the 220d's go, my MB specialist indy looks after some E class taxis with the same engine and at up to 400k miles are running fine , one of them had a couple of injectors and EGR clean recently out of interest at 380k as it was smoking a bit, now back to normal.

Indy tells me they have had little go wrong over the miles and he has maintained them from new, he's been a MB indy for well over 30 years so does know what he's talking about, keeps my almost 16 year old W124 well fettled.

Do you really need such a car if all you do is 50k and get shut at nearly 4yrs?

now is the time that you'll still get a good price for the Mercedes and your 'cost to change' may still be manageable.

Aren't you an accountant, Avant?!

A smaller step change is far outweighed by the fact that, over a given period of time, there are more changes. Depreciation follows exponential decay; you can't contrive the economics to be favourable!

A warranty will have more holes than a sieve.

What does a DMF replacement run at-£1000?

If that makes you wince, I'm afraid you can't afford to run a late model merc.