i think you know what i mean about the pleasures of driving, distinct from being driven by electronified cars.

yes and no, i was going to drive the new s550. until i tried to use its computerized nonsense. you can track my posts on this automotive development in the archives, i bet.

but, succinctly, i don't like it. as bad, as user-unfriendly, as the system on the big bimmers, the big audis.

after a brief examination of the owner's manual, i vacated the car. leaving the salesman stammering. he hadn't the foggiest notion of how to modify the program either.

the gl450 is more of the same electronic nonsense. but as i said, the center console design is such a folly that it astonishes me that it got by the committee.

i prefer my automobiles analog. perhaps you don't know my story. i had a 2000 s500, a ml500 on order. when they arrived, and i went to take delivery, noticing the lcd KOMMANDO system, i refused them. best decision i ever made. garage queens, i think.

i am a geezer now, officially. i don't like d-c's slavish affection for unnecessary electronics. if mbna offered "option delete" i would delete them all.

i think that my older benzes are the best vehicles ever manufactured or designed. virtually bulletproof. i have a great mechanic. he keeps them in great shape.

the only modern vehicle of a sporting nature that i like is the jaguar xj8. virtually analog. i can rent one anywhere and drive it out of the hertz lot with no mysteries, no confusion, no hours studying a manual.

you cannot do that with any vehicle manufactured by d-c, bmw, audi, lexus, nissan.

the sad thing about the jag is that in its aluminum revision, its suspension is not as supple as its predecessor, which had the silkiest suspension i ever encountered.

my prediction: the new sonderklasse are going to be another version of electronic garage queens. it will not be restoring the sonderklasse reputation. daimler will continue to swirl down the sewer.

and my old benzes will be like gold. the real automotive cognescenti will begin to prefer them to the new ****.

i shall close this way - increasingly as i drive my antiques around metro houston, more and more people come up to me and tell me how beautiful they think they are.

if you own what i own, maintain them as i have. don't let them get away from you. if you don't own any of these, look for the well-maintained ones. acquire them, then take care of them. they will make you very happy.

my 560sel has 254,000 miles. immaculately maintained. except for bugs and rock chipping on the front, it looks and runs as if new. i have always called this the refrigerator of an automobile.

my 560sec, has 93,000 miles. looks new.

the e320cab has 19,000 miles. is virtually new.

the c140 has 43,000 miles. a killer. the last best benz coupe. quiet. fast. the last bruno sacco design.

then there is 6.9. a beauty. 55,000 miles.

none of these cars are garage queens. when they are driven. they are driven. AND DRIVEN HARD.

over the long-term, the 1986 560sel has been the most inexpensive vehicle that i have ever operated. and still one of the most fun to drive.

and i would love to get some of my earlier benzes back. i wish that i had never traded up my 1973 220 sedan. or my 240d sedan. or my 1976 450sel.

i should have kept them. little did i know that daimler engineering was going to devolve.

little did i recognize 30 years ago what watershed automotive creations those models were.

too soon old, too late smart.