re: Is a Mercedes that much more expensive to maintain than the average car?

Beyond. Remember taking my wife's honda van in years ago when the check engine light went off. Took me right in that day and the charge was less than $100 after an hour wait. The MB would sit at the dealership for days and always ran $500-$1000 for oil and filter changes.
When I drove off the Honda lot, all I could think was WTF do I even own a MB or European car.

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Audi, but I absolutely will not own one out of warranty.

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I have two family members that love theirs also and are about to move to their second ones to keep a warranty.

I used to drive one. Average maintenance is a lot more expensive and when things break the replacement parts are more expensive too. I never had any issues with mine but the normal aging of the vehicle eventually made it not worth keeping until the wheels fall off so I had to sell it. I sold it with 215,000 miles on it and it still had a bunch of life left if you were willing to start replacing all the expensive stuff.

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C class

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buyers remorse

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You tell me. I just spent $930 last week for a “service b” service. Basically an oil change and new air filter. 

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I feel better now about that same service at volvo at $485... Bargain

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Some small part will go out. It will be super expensive to get to the area to fix it. You will get the car back. Something bigger will go wrong. It will be very expensive. You will get the car back. Something more serious will go wrong. And again and again and again and again. At some point, you will tell yourself, damn I'm looking pretty good. I've gotten a lot of stuff fixed. I think I'm in good shape. Then, at that very moment, or shortly thereafter, something else will go wrong and it will be very expensive. Rinse and repeat.

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Sounds like my friend's Mercedes. I don't know the model, but it's a big 12-cylinder sedan. It will fly, it has tons of room, the seats will do everything except a happy ending. He is able to expense it through his business otherwise, he would have dumped it long ago. He says he will replace it with a Sequoia. Just tired of the constant issues and exorbitant repair costs.

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Looking at a used C class. It's clean and priced well (considering the market) but I'm worried I'll have buyers remorse the first time I have to get it serviced. It's purty. My eyes say yes, my pocketbook says no. The purchase price isn't the issue, it's the cost of maintaining it. Will I regret the maintenance over say a Toyota?

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Maintenance is not significantly more than a Toyota IF you find a good local independent mechanic that specializes in Mercedes or German in general. Maintenance however is not the big concern for Germans out of warranty though, it is the repair costs. Parts are definitely more expensive for the ones that are only available from the OEM. Labor costs even at an Indy are generally higher because it often takes more time to replace them which is a product of the tight packaging many German cars have in the engine compartment.

The biggest issue with buying out-of-warranty Germans is that people often defer maintenance and repair due to the costs so it is easy to end up with a car that needs multiple small issues fixed that add up or it is on the verge of a catastrophic failure (though rare) that someone is getting rid of.

IMO certified by the manufacturer pre-owned is the smart money way to go if you want a German that isn't new. This covers you in the event of a huge bill shortly after you buy the car.

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Some small part will go out. It will be super expensive to get to the area to fix it. You will get the car back. Something bigger will go wrong. It will be very expensive. You will get the car back. Something more serious will go wrong. And again and again and again and again. At some point, you will tell yourself, damn I'm looking pretty good. I've gotten a lot of stuff fixed. I think I'm in good shape. Then, at that very moment, or shortly thereafter, something else will go wrong and it will be very expensive. Rinse and repeat.

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Wow, you just described my experience post 100k miles.

I later learned that our area auctions will not put any level of warranty on Mercedes, Volvo, and BMW. All sales are as-is. Everyone knows that post 100k these brands are a money pit. I know firsthand by owning a 5 series BMW.

I agree with a previous poster that every little part is difficult to access and the labor time just to get to the part is very costly. A $28 gasket had a $1400 labor cost.

Mercs, BMWs, Cadillacs

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For whatever reason, my mom (no pics) loves Mercedes and she loves the service guys at her dealership. I tried to tell her to no avail, she wouldn't love the service guys at a Lexus dealership, because she WOULDN'T KNOW THEM!!!

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This is basically how old rich people think. Hopefully your mom is rich.