All Mercedes were of good quality when they were made, but time has been less kind to some models, as has been pointed out. Once you get past the really early cars, the control modules become the points of failure. They are difficult to diagnose without professional equipment, and expensive to fix when they go bad. More than one tech has told me that the post-2000 cars are more reliable and easier to diagnose and get the fix right the first time.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe