being a seasoned driver and shadetree mechanic, i've owned a lot of different cars: audi's, bmw's, volvo's, vw's and mercedes'. i now own two w123's, and think they are great. i have $2625 in two cars. a lot of people where i live are scared of "foreign" cars, so they buy crap box american cars that are good for at most 150,000 miles. my 85 300td has 307000 miles on it. it smoked bad when i bought it, like on fire. i got on this website and found diesel giants site and got LOTS of good advice. these cars are in a class of their own. they are fairly easy to work on, except for the electrical system. i had an 82 jaguar xj6, a lawyer gave it to me! he hated that car. i kept it a while, and gave it back. but even if all the electric components of my two benz's go out, they still run like tanks. i'm glad someone likes bmw's, i had one and it was a huge money pit. i'll never buy another one. so if you dont like mercedes, sell and get out. but for me, i feel like i'm part of a silent army of benz owners, and we assemble here and learn from each other. take care and God bless, jim