My car has been starting to have some 21 year old problems. The motor and tranny are fine but in the last few months I've had the starter, vacuum pump, shutoff valve and alternator fail and now the monovalve is stuck open. The only repair I spent "real" money on was the Vacuum pump and shutoff valve. The other repairs I went with used or rebuilt parts and did the labor myself. I'm awaiting shipment of a monvalve repair kit as we speak.
All in all, I still like my car. I give it lots of love and respect ...it is 21 years old with over 250,000 miles on it and it runs fine. My experience is that mercedes repairs tend to stay fixed so I'm not going to worry. New cars cost big bucks nowadays and they just don't seem as solid. My friend pays $700 a month between payment and insurance on on a one year old Toyota Camry. My Car has only cost me a total of about $1,000 on repairs in the year and a half I have owned it. I bought it for $2,400 so 5 months payments on a Camry or a classic Benz...do you need to think about it?

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1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles