I'm not sure the low-speed rural area thing works Bullwinkle, in my crash I was stopped on a residential road, when a drunk running pedal-to-the-metal hit me head-on at high speeds, I had nowhere to go. It happens, and unfortunately it'll happen to someone you know someday.

After that collision, I sold my (then 4-year-old) 300TE 4matic, felt I would never consider my girls safe in the rear (3rd) seat. Custom-built 5,000+# body-on-frame vans for kid-hauling was the ticket for us.

I do like your licesing requirements DerHerr, I've been arguing (tongue-in-cheek) the same. Let's start tomorrow.

Putting all those likely to cause an accident in Yugo-class cars would lessen the potential damage that they could do, and help out old Darwin.

Personally I agree, it's all a compromise. I've always tried to look at the compromise from the past-tense; what's the worst that can happen, and can I live with that. I've been through that in a collision once and can look back with satisfaction that I did what was best. Choose what makes you comfortable. The 123 is stiff and has decent crash-avoidance (active safety), but updating to a 124 gives you better crash survivabiity and better crash avoidance. As Hatteras says, each new generation of M-B automobiles is a measurable evolution in safety.

Best of luck,

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff