Mercedes-Benz weren't about to risk their considerable reputation on introducing a duff model into a new segment for them - the compact executive class.

Consequently Mercedes poured over £600M into the development of the W201 between 1974 and 1984 when the car launched.

In fact, subsequently, even Mercedes Benz referred to the car as "over-engineered." The car proved a huge success, opening up the prestigious world of Mercedes-Benz ownership to a whole new demographic and becoming a forebear to many premium compact cars that followed.

Over its single model life of 1982 to 1993 a whopping 1.874M W201's were sold worldwide.

This particular example is hard to beat, coming to sale from the original owner, just ~60,000 miles covered and in exceptional condition.