Gentlemen - did I condemn the car - no. I said it is overwheming me with the costs of repair and that I would not have purchased it knowing what I know now.

Besides the AC, there are the issues of the B2 piston in the transmission, the "plastic" radiator in which the neck will eventually break, the cruise control units and the ac/heater control units. All of these are weak areas for the "finest car".

The radiator and B2 piston are big issues because failure of either could leave stranded in in the middle of nowhere, or Podunk, USA, where they have never heard of MB.

Another minor point is that the differential struts/control arms tend wear out prematurely on the 300D according to my mechanic. The replacements have been beefed up. I saw the ones he took off my vehicle and the were shot.

As for the statement Steve made - I could have mis-interpreted his statement from "Mercedes-Benz: A/C Diagnostics & Evaporator Replaement". To quote "Two of it's finest lines of the last 20 years, the 124 and 140 chassis, now come with footnotes about their cost of ownership due to the air conditioning costs". I thought it was MB making it somewhere, but after looking at the article, I do not know who made the "footnote". My mistake on that part. Where did the "footnote" come from?

Ron