LeBenz said it best. As good as the E500 was, it, like any car, shows signs of age as time passes. My car needed door guides on both front doors. The rubber oxidized everywhere. The car was out of warranty and was a risk to keep with only 39k miles. I advertised it in a major Tampa, FL. paper at a reasonable price and got two calls in two months. The dealer gave me $34.5k in real dollars. This is just another Mercedes in the minds of the buying public, save a limited number of "aficianados". These cars will never become rare collector cars. There were over 10,000 of them made world-wide. I have said before in this forum that the 4speed transmission never felt right. But I liked the car for six years and still admire them when I see one.