I do a lot of driving in the dark and it was definitely a problem. After the mechanic raised the bulbs it's been somewhat better. I have 275,000 miles on my CDI (I have an identical vehicle that my wife drives) and it seems like it costs a heck of a lot of money to maintain. They're the first Mercedes' I've owned so it may not be excessive. I get 45MPG on an extended interstate drive so I'm pleased with that. I've had problems with the sun roof's on both cars and the right passenger door locking mechanism on mine had to be replaced at about 100K but overall I'm satisfied and look forward to seeing if I can make a million miles on it before my children show up looking for the keys.