Your experience is unusual, but not unheard of. Similar to the experience that my Father had with his Lexus from new and my Wife's Jetta from new. Oddly enough, that Jetta was sold after 7years of constant care and maintenance, and was never any trouble to the next owner.

Every carmaker creates a troublemaker or two, that is fact. That yours was a troublemaker at 22years old is indicative most likely of years of ignoring many small problems and maintenance items that later became big problems. It happens.

I've had 5 124 models in the past 18years, from new to 250,000miles. Although I've been disappointed that anything failed over time, the '87 300D that I sold this winter was much more reliable and tight to drive than most any cars I've owned. I did replace and maintain things, but had few problems, mostly maintenance items. From my experience I say that your experience was not normal.

What has been said many times tends to hold true: The most expensive Mercedes that you can buy, is the cheap one.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff