I just assumed the normal oil change interval would be every 1 year, based on the available MB Star Service for 2 years being 2 oil changes, 4 years = 4, etc. And that my VW GTI, which uses synthetic oil, is changed every 1 year. I won't be driving over 10k miles per year, but live in (hot) South Carolina and make frequent short trips. I checked the manual, but it just says to use the service interval display. When an oil change is on the order of $400 (more for the B), how often does it /really/ need to be changed? If more often than 1 year, do most of you take it somewhere else in between?

MB requirement 1year/10,000 miles whichever comes first, see attached service sheet.

I am in almost the same climate as you, RR. And my driving is all short trips around town - I rarely drive long distances. The maintenance countdown on the dash basically gets me right to the one year mark before it says it needs service. I expect you will have the same experience - I do not think you should expect to need service between the one year interval.

Thank you both, I appreciate it!

Mine was on a boat for five months. Does it really need an oil change after having been driven 4000 miles in seven months?

Did the boat get lost? I doubt the time from placing the order to it arriving in your driveway should all be considered "on a boat".

Miss the point much? I picked it up at the factory, drove it in Deutschland, dropped it off and didn’t see it again for five months. Capisci?

Not really. Again, did the boat get lost?? 5 months?? I'm presuming there is some backstory on it, that yes, in fact, it DID get lost, in paperwork, or on wharves or left in the bilge, or whatever.

We took a European Delivery last April. We dropped the car off in Sindelfingen on April 15 and it arrived at the dealer in Atlanta, GA on June 15....a little over 8 weeks....

Dropping off in the same city as the factory is much quicker. I did a road trip to Frankfurt first. Much, much slower.
After dropping the car off mid December, it finally made it on a ship in February.
I picked it up in April.

Our sales person told us it could take a few weeks longer if we dropped off someplace other than Sindelfingen but I did not realize it would take that much longer. We spent almost two weeks driving through Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Switzerland. I highly recommend a European Delivery if you are able. It is a blast being able to drive your own car through Europe......