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S500, S600, or others?
I'm looking to add another Benz to the stable, as a daily driver. The 500E has been seeing too much action lately as I want to relegate it to night time and weekend use only. I'm choosing between a 96 or 97 S500 and a 96 or 97 S600 (I forget which is the 96 and which is the 97). Both vehicles have fairly low miles (20-30k mi) and are in great condition. The S500 is white while the S600 is (yuck!) that awful green. Let's forget about absolute prices for a minute as these two examples are relatively cheap compared to what I can get over here. (a 100-150% tax on imports tend to inflate cars prices locally). Let's just focus on the price differential. The price for the S600 is at a $10k premium to the S500.
My questions are:
- should these cars even be considered for daily driver duty?
- would maintaining these cars be more expensive than a 500E?
- are 96 and 97 model years okay? the 98s and later are out of the question as the currency crisis post 97 brought prices way out in the stratosphere. Somehow, the buyers of 98 and later vehicles have not yet come to grips with the fact that a close to 100% price differential between two model years in not acceptable.
- should I just forget about getting a W140 and get a 99 E240 6 cyl instead for about the same price?
Any thoughts and opinions are most welcome...
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