97 E420 Sport comparable to a 98 BMW 540i (they were not)?
 

Well I drove 2 hours to test drive a 1997 E420 Sport (77K mi) on Saturday. The optional "Contour" seat wasn't... Corrosion around the "security light sensor" next to the trunk key hole was... I had great expectations from the rack & pinion steering (second year on the E-Class) coupled with the Sportline suspension that were not met, but the trip was worth every mile! There was a 1998 BMW 540i with 72K miles on it there as well and I was able to drive them back to back. What a difference, the BMW was incredible.
I still can't believe the difference, I wonder if the MB that I drove was just a bad example?
Any thoughts? This was the first Sportline equipped MB that I have driven and I badly want to believe that it was flawed and if I were to drive another one there would be a world of difference.

I own my first BMW (other than a 2002 that I bought for my 16 year old daughter over ten years ago) right now. It is a 97 540i.

I agree! There are things I like better about a 210 MB but none of them are involved with driving.

I can't say whether the car you saw was bad, but I sure can agree that the BMW is one comfortable, driving machine.

As I asked in the recent 528/e420 thread, do you want to drive or do you want to ride?

They are both good cars, it just depends on what the person behind the steering wheel wants to do while moving along.