No disrespect to Larry's opinion either, but it's not about strength anymore than power brakes are about strength. Provided the system has a good balance between assist at low speeds and feel at higher speeds, I prefer the greater assist of my '95. It has great feel, but doesn't fight me like a 123 around low-speed corners. The parking-lot manuevers aren't really the issue, it's just so un-refined feeling going around slow corners to have it pulling a few pounds of force to hold the wheel into a low-speed turn where my '94/'95 cars are a two-finger job at low speeds.

I'm pretty sure that Mercedes spent the money to re-design and re-tool the later 124 for a reason, and since the components aren't any less expensive in this case, it couldn't have been motivated by cost.

So for those of us who prefer the lighter feel at low speeds, not interested in whether we need more arm strength or whether the high-speed feel is inadequate, I can tell you that I'm quite happy with the feel of the late-model 124s at 110mph-135mph, the feel on circuit tracks and on the highway. The early 124 is simply too heavy feeling and tries too hard to re-center.

Now back to the original poster's subject.

I question whether the difference between the early and later cars is more geometry than boost? Could easily be the steering box has lower pressure actuating valves, but could it also be a reduction in caster? I know that the control arms are different part numbers, what else has changed?

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff