-Apparently the American models suffer from failing spring perches. Have read of about 10 cases where they have failed at speed and all were American cars. Just be careful and regularly inspect.

-The temperature and time/gear displays all have dead-pixel problems. A 98 model should have problems with dead pixels already and if not it has most probably already been fixed. Replacement kits are available on Ebay. Youtube has a few good instruction videos on how to perform the repair. Just dont trust any that tell you to cur mouldings apart. Also make sure not to remove gauge needles with a screwdriver, but rather by twisting them anti-clockwise against the stop and pulling. They were designed to be removed this way. I have also seen many companies that advertise repair service in America.

-The Aircon fan is controlled by a switched mode regulator that WILL fail.
Switching the fan speed to a low setting, if you can hear a high pitch sound coming from the passenger side of the dash you have a failing/failed regulator. They work fine for a while and then switch off so be careful when checking. There are many tedious fixes using the regulator from a W140...ignore them. Also dont replace with a new one because they are very expensive and will fail again. Dont replace with a secondhand one because it will also fail soon. A failing regulator is most irritating when it is incredibly hot or the windows are misted up. In these cases you usually put your fan to max. I designed and implemented an augmentation of the fan wiring harness to provide a manual override bypassing the regulator and switching the fan to maximum. I am busy with the writeup, images and videos an will a post a link to the thread as soon as I'm done.

-The suspension has many rubber bushes that were later classified by mercedes as service parts. This means they fail and cause suspension noise that is difficult to trace. Once they have been identified they are reasonable cheap to replace. Febi-bilstein has a lovely website that lists all the suspension parts and tell you exactly which models they fit.

-Seats and sunroof will squeak with age but can be replaced

-MAF sensors fail after about 150 000 km

-Apparently the correct size tires are incredibly expensive. I have 215/55/R16 Firestone TZ700 on mine that were relatively cheap and have very good performance.

-Rear window regulators fail, same as the 124 series. Mercedes keep using crappy plastic pieces of crap. There are many cheap replacement parts available on ebay that are much better than the original parts. I have also seen regulator kits(ebay) that include all the crappy plastic bits and the cables needed for a proper DIY fix.

**I have had my 210 for 2 years now and these are all the problems I have come across or read about. These are amazing cars and I would encourage anybody to get one. One thing though, the series was facelifted in 2000 I think. The facelift models are a lot prettier than the older ones and have a few extra features. Rather look at a facelift if you are going to buy a 210. Truly magnificent cars though!!!!!!