On Sun, 21 Jan 2007, andrew strasfogel wrote: > We drove a '76 Chevette for 3.5 years so we could afford a baby. By the > time our son was 3 we could afford a 9 year old Mercedes (1973 280). There > has to be a mathematical formula in there somewhere, perhaps in association > with one's zip code at each purchase or entry point...
Hmm maybe. I had an 84 SD until it was knocked from beneath me in Leesburg. Seeing as how the sunroof popped and the paint chipped off the rudely forced into intimacy, and the trunk pan split off the frame rail on the left side, I felt fortunate to escape uninjured. I wanted another 84 SD, or maybe an 85 (I wasn't too into the SDL's) ... Anyhow SWMBO dictated something newer, and there was a 1999 E300Dt on the lot at a local dealership, so we snatched it. I just added a second one to replace the jeep (fishbowl due to a failed windshield seal). Looking at the safety record of Mercedes, you can't afford to NOT drive one (given modern drivers). As far as I am concerned that 1984 did its primary job: To keep the occupants safe in a collision. It also did its secondary job very well (to haul my butt back and forth to work daily!) I will say that I am completely and utterly spoiled by one thing on the newer cars: with the extensive highway driving that I do, I am getting about 16K between maintenance intervals(!) (So I let the dealer rake me over for a complete "B" service everytime just to have independent eyes go through everything.) Soem stuff, like engine mounts, torsion bars, brakes, I do, others (Ball joints, control arm bushes) I leave for them. I just picked up a used Baum/Autoland Scientech D91 (aka iScan) which covers them and it is AMAZING what information those computers (plural!) will share with you; theres one for each door, the overhead sunroof switch/dome switch/etc, airbags, engine, tranny, each audio component in the fiber ring, traction control, instrument cluster, automatic climate control, headlamp range adjustment, "control panel" (the one with the hazard switch in the middle) etc. I mean if you have a bulb out failure, the computer will actually tell you WHICH bulb is out (okay not like it is hard to figure out, but sometimes you forget about the license plate lamps) ... anyhow wicked cool.. and if anyone needs to have codes pulled or cleared in the baltimore area, drop a line... I supposedly have coverage from 1988->2001 or so and BMW as well) -j.
