I worked at a European Auto repair shop back in the late 1980's to early 1990's. I know that a lot has changed since then. But, I believe that a few things still remain true:
It's better to buy a well maintained European car vs a poorly maintained one. Typically, getting a neglected car up to 'snuff' will set you back more than paying the higher price for the car where the guy had the work done and kept the reciepts.
While I wouldn't say it's actually 'harder' to work on, I will say it is more involved. Ie: in order to do the alternator on my 2003 VW Passat you have to remove the nose of the car. It's called (in typical German conservative terms): putting the car into "service position". But, the thing is, once you know what you are doing it doesn't take that long (about 45 mins if you aren't going to disconnect coolant and freon). The wonderful thing about working on the more 'involved' cars was that everything was meant to be accessed and most everything was serviceable. Though, I'd think that a lot of that has likely changed in the last 20 years since I've professionally worked on them.
The parts are more expensive. Usually much more expensive than US parts, but sometimes only slightly more expensive than Toyota parts. Hey, that's what you get when you make your parts in a country that pays its workers a decent salary.
Back in the late 80's when I worked at that shop, the saying was: You don't save up to buy a Porsche. If you do, you'll likely never be able to afford the maintance, insurance, etc... So, while I am not trying to deter you, please do a little research on what will need to be done to use that car.
As to your question about how much to expect to pay to maintain the car, I think that'd vary based upon the specific vehicle. As someone else pointed out, an oil change on a MB is over $100, but, from what I understand it only gets done every 10k. So, it might average out a little bit.
BTW: I owned a 1985 300Turbo Diesel. It was a magnificent car. I really miss that car for more reasons than I can count. But, it was totalled after an accident that my wife had. I should have NEVER let her drive that car. But, it was a gift from her father (who was the original owner). Whatever... I still shouldn't have let her drive it...
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