My parents had them so I guess it was only natural I would drive them. Out of the 4 children in my family 2 of us drive Benzes. I did have a Pontiac grand am as my 1st car, had it about 6 months, then got a 190E and have not looked back. I get alot of flak for driving it from my associates, they love to quote all the horror stories they have heard. I just look them in the eye and say "if you are too scared to own a Benz...just say so, no need to try and bring me down, I am fully aware of the quality of vehicle I drive". Shuts em up right quick lol. <--I will add to this, I have been VERY luck with the 4 Mercedes I have owned, I am sure alot of us on here have had horror stories. Any problems I have had have been because I think I am a mechanic and put stuff back on wrong (changed out water pump did not tighten down serpendite belt pulley enough and it slipped 3L, cleaned engine with high pressure water hose (ruined some electrical gaget that set off my hazard lights....all the time 500.00) I have learned much since then lol.
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"The man who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been" Alan Ashley-Pitt
Having a family from nigeria, benz shows class, your social status and its an unbelievable piece of machine. I chose it cause its the best class of the first class luxury vehicles out there, believe what im telling u!
I have to say performance, cos anyone with the 204bhp vito would be a liar if they said otherwise
That said, my dad had a sucession of cars, ranging from some right bangers to some pretty decent rides, an early 70's 220 (love the stacked headlight models), an '82 Gwagen 300GD and an '82 audi coupe being some of the latter. thus as a child I learnt english cars were generally woefull and the germans and japs built, for the most part, the cars worth buying. I have only owned german and jap cars/vans.
After that I drove a sucession of badly made, poorly designed and hopelessy underpowered vans for employers and decided, now I work for myself and have some dough, to buy something better. Best of the contenders was the merc- powerfull, comfortable, reliable and safe.
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Messerschmitt-Benz Me120 CDI Panel Van
Got our first one when my wife totaled her camry. we asked the insurance adjuster what was a safe car. His response was there are mercedes and then there are the rest of them. we now have a S420,300cd-turbo, 300TD wagon,and just picked up a 300sd (84) Except for the repair bills they are at the top of the ladder for us. Our 420 is probably the most comfortable driving car we have owned. Unfortunately it is dependent on Opec. The rest are dependent on Mickey D's
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1982 300td wagon with 424,000 miles running strong
1983 300 coupe with 279,000 not running.
1984 300sd with 200,00 running well
1995 S420 with 156,000 running well but sitting until OPEC gives me a break.
1993 Ford crewcab with new 7.3 international with 190,000 miles.
In sunny south FL. Mostly with wvo on the diesels.
When I was a kid, my father bought a beautiful dark blue, 450 SEL. I remember thinking when I grow up I want to drive a car like that, and I never forgot that. Last week I took delivery of my CLS 550 (first Mercedes). Why did I buy a Mercedes? Because there is no other car like it.
I had owned several MB's before I bought Elvira (my 1984 300CD). In the fall of 1984, I walked into Stephenson Motors (the old Dallas MB dealer) and there on the showroom floor sat the most beautiful car I had ever seen, it was a metallic silver/blue turbo diesel coupe with dark blue leather. I didn't even look at the window sticker (which by the way was $36,633.00, I still have the window sticker), I grabbed a salesman and said - I'll take it. 24 years later, I'm still driving it and I haven't changed my opinion.
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Land of the Free
Because of the Brave
The very best 
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