I bought a 1997 s420 which replaced a 1992 S300D , the car does not have the ride that my 1992 had. I decided that i will replace the shocks on the car, which shocks will give the best ride. the Bilstein or a replacement?

bilsteins will always give you the best ride, they are the premier shocks available on the market for street and light performance applications. Koni's are also very good shocks, but they will leave your benz riding like an civic Si... I would go with bilstein hds as they have the firmer valving, but are designed for stock ride height, unlike the bilstein sports, which have the exact same valving as the hds, but just are designed for dropped cars.