MB dropped their prices dramatically for the 1994 model year in order to better compete with the Japanese luxury marques. This on cars like the 140 and 124 that had been previously sold at the higher prices.

Something had to give -- you can't sell a car for 20% less overnight without something giving.

In my view the late 126 sedans and coupes (1988-91) were the best of all worlds -- build quality, materials, lack of gimmicks, and replacability of individual parts, not modules. Individual problems could be diagnosed and fixed without the need for expensive integrated module replacement.

Starting with the 140, things started getting dramatically more modularized, necessitating replacement of entire assemblies when in fact just one simple part in the assembly went bad. From there, it's been more and more challenging.

All that being said, the drivability of recent Benzes is quite good. The 1995 E320 wagon (M104) that I currently own starts, idles, and responds far better than the 1992 300TE (M103) that we used to have. The electronic controls of the 104 engine are the reason for this. It's all a trade-off, I guess.

Cheers,
Gerry