Interesting. Any change=cheap. I don't subscribe to that argument. As I understand it, the rack & pinion steering saves quite a bit of weight and it does respond to the various car mag editor's constant complaints about MB steering (feels like molasses, feels dead, etc.). That is probably the biggest complaint I have with MB now; I think they are responding TOO MUCH to customers, rather than relying on their engineer's intuition as to what is right. However, the rack & pinion steering on my E430 is nice and accurate, only lacking a bit of the straight line stability of the recirculationg ball cars (it actually feels similar, with a bit less feedback, to the steering in the Porsche Boxster). And, there is a whole lot of rational thought in the three valve engines. They are cleaner, as powerful and return far better fuel ecomomy than the old four valve engines. If anyone is interested, I can e-mail them some MB press releases on the three valve engines; there is some good info in them.