I will say one thing for the 123's, when my kids are old enough to drive, you bet they're going to be driving an old beat up 240D as their first car, or even a 220 or 200, hahah the smaller the better!

Your mom shouldn't worry.

__________________


1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

I have a 19 yr old daughter driving, and a 16 year old son. There is a couple of simple truths. First, when you're young you are stupid. Don't worry, that's your job. At that age I had my full portion of stupidity plus someone else's. I still have alot left.
But here is the main point, and listen close: You know how to STEER at your age, not DRIVE! Huge, huge difference that you don't realize at the time. Be very careful and just resist the urge to do something stupid or risky. A very little bit either way makes all the difference.
By the way, your average minivan is more likely to flip than our MB's.
Good luck, and I didn't mean to sound condescending, but I'm a parent and that's my job!

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

...unless you are a non-paved road rally racer.

Anyone else familar with TRNT? (The Road Not Taken)?

JimmyL just solved my problem - he says STEER and all these years I've been AIMING.

Bonehead what's your point? I could create a scenario where any car could suddenly flip over for no reason at all too. But how often does it happen? Not too often. The probability rounds off to zero.

My point was that the Mercedes, any Mercedes with IRS is safe to drive without worrying about flipping, in fact it is one of the safest cars on the road. Even the old cars that were not as good, were not the death traps some people say they were. If properly maintained and driven sensibly.

Flipping your Mercedes should be the least of your worries. Of course if you drive like a nut you are going to get in trouble sooner or later, whether you flip the car or not.

As for the problem of the car downshifting and boost coming in causing a skid, just shift down at the start of the hill and go all the way up in the same gear.

Hard to tell when some cars are going to flip over. I investigate insurance losses and see a lot of rollovers. True that most result in no injuries.
Most occur with too much speed and some really stupid driver errors. By the same mark most occur on rural Hwys with soft shoulders, just drift over , catch a tire there she goes....

Whats my point? How old are you and how long have you been driving......

Have you ever talked with a Fire & Rescure person as to how many single car accidents involve a rollover, and how many fatalities tend to be involved with them? My brother was in the Fire department for over 10 years.

I've been driving since 1977..............I have driven a tad over 1,000,000 miles....adn I have known over 20 people personally who have been killed in auto accidents.

I have done way more than my fair share of hot rodding in that time. I am a gearhead to the core.......so I know all too well the thrill of driving like an idiot. And its consequences.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

In my teen years of driving, I had a friend with a late 70's Corolla. We were practicing flying J u-turns in a Burger king parking lot at night. On one attempt, after backing up at 20 mph and throwing the wheel over, the car got up on two wheels and balanced for a count of 3 before coming back down on its wheels. We fell out of the car laughing, but in reality we were an inch away from totalling his Mom's car. My point is that any car can be made to roll over given the right conditions, but it ain't necessarily easy.

__________________
1984 300Sd 210k

Former cars:
1984 300D 445k (!!) (Strider) Original (and not rebuilt) engine and transmission. Currently running on V80 ( 80% vegetable oil, 20% petroleum products). Actually not, taking a WVO break.
1993 300d 2.5 275k. Current 120/day commuter
1981 300SD 188k (Hans) Killed by a deer

I'm a boy of 54, have been driving cars trucks and motorcycles since the age of 16, working on them since the age of 13. Don't think I've seen more than 2 or 3 rollovers in that time.

Now if you want to talk about SUV's they are the patsy for rollovers. Mainly because they are often driven by drivers who never worked their way up to even being lousy. Drivers who worry about getting in a wreck every time it rains or snows, or they go over 30 MPH, or there is another car on the road. So they buy the big Ford Exploder or Chevy Suburb and think they are invulnerable. They don't know a lot of things, but they especially don't know these 2 things: 4 wheel drive allows you to accellerate better in slippery conditions but doesn't do a thing for your braking or steering. And a top heavy truck like vehicle will tip over a lot easier than a sedan.

By definition if you're coming around a corner there's no curbs in the way. And my painfully extensive experience with back seat drivers is that their perception and subsequent opinions are way off.

But your comment "...like many of my peers feel pretty confident behind the wheel..." should be retracted, your feelings are misleading you.


Impossible Flipping:
I heard Citroen had an uncollected reward to anyone who could flip one.

Expensive Flipping:
A while ago I was at an indie and there was a fairly new Jaguar up on a lift. As I walked behind it I noticed while the wheels on one side had dropped straight down, the wheels on the other side were angled WAY in. The driver had gotten it sideways and hit a curb. Lots of expensive bent suspension parts. I don't think it would have cost that much more if he had flipped it.

Easy Flipping:
I live on a 25mph residential street and about a month ago early one morning while I was just about to go out and unlock my garage door I heard this "BANG." I went out to see what it was and two doors down, in the middle of the street, was an upside down car. At that hour of the morning I had to look twice to believe what I saw. It was a middle aged Japanese car. I'm guessing he was doing the speed limit, looking at his cell phone (he mentioned something about his cell phone while I was getting him out) and drifted. At the last instant he looked up and saw he was about to hit a parked car and yanked the steering wheel. I guess the car was hard over against the limit of its suspension with all its inertia against the part that was soon to receive an additional force vector. Seeing accidents on my commute isn't that unusual, but not almost in front of my house.

Not going to argue that SUVs arne't easier to flip becasue they are.....

My brother worked with the Fire Department for 10 years in 3 different jurisdictions in 2 states.....there are a lot of auto rollovers..in single and multi-car accidents....and most Teen acidents are casue by speed and inexperience most of the time. Cars don't typicly roll when driven at the speed limit........when you excede the speed limit all bets are off.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Well heck, Wes. That's what the star is for....

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Sounds like something my High School Physics teacher would have said....

__________________
Bill Reimels
Now down to one:
1972 300SE 3.5 W109 (Euro delivery)

There are really only two kinds of drivers:

(1) those with little or no first-hand knowldege of how terribly easy it is for a human body to be seriously injured.

(2) those who have seen mangled bodies.


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Which of those two categories you belong to is a better indicator of your chances of of becoming a statistic than the kind of driving you do.

The experienced race driver who has visited some friends in hospitals (or funeral homes) is very concerned with learning every possible aspect of driving near the edge---without ever going over it.

The inexperienced driver without any clue of how really fragile his body is... is in far more peril than he ever suspects.

__________________
1977 Mercedes 240D. 4-speed transmission. Windows, A/C, and sunroof: all manual. Medium Red. 204K miles.
1988 Subaru GL wagon. Dual range 5-speed 4X4. Daily driver w/ twin parts car.
1994 Subaru Loyale wagon. 5-speed 4x4
1966 International 3/4 ton 4X4 truck. Ooh yeah!
1952 Ferguson TO-35 farm tractor.
1984 Snapper rear engine riding mower. Just like Forest Gump.
1988 Nimble 20 sail boat
--Older stuff is built better--