For me, it's a choice between an 80's or early 90's W124 or a newish Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic... etc...
There is just no way I could be as happy with one of the newer cars. I have driven a few of them, been a passenger in a few too. Just not my thing. I guess I like the Civic Type R and SE-R Sentra, but only for their rev happy engines. Don't really like the styling of build quality but, I would drive windows down all the time I could in those just to hear the engine. I like 1st generation Miatas because they really are a blast to drive and extremely simple to work on for the most part. Convertibles are always fun on the right roads and with the correct weather. Driving one in downtown Atlanta might not be fun.
I am happy with 300E, I guess there is some strange motivation about trying to make the older cars last as long as possible. It's rewarding and frustrating at times... but overall can be positive experiences. I don't think it is a feeling of smugness that I drive an older Mercedes-Benz, but more of a feeling of I am capable of saving money and enjoying an older car that I can maintain by myself.
I can see myself trying to drive W124s far into the future, once you work on a particular car and engine combo you learn about all the quirks, what to watch out for etc. You acquire a particular set of parts so it makes more and more sense that if you want to drive an older model of a brand stick with that one... at least it does to me, for now.
Is it weird that I have an excel sheet of a list of all spare parts I have for my car...
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