To prevent dings, I drive a Saturn, sorry to read they'll go to steel, I was planning on another Saturn when I drive this one into the ground in a few more years. I work retail, our parking lot is the test loop for the Indy 500. Everyone cuts through to get to the freeway quicker, heaven forbid they'd have to stop at that nasty stoplight. Semi's almost come through our front window on a daily basis, scares the heck out of my elderly customers to see a semi 2 ft. from the window behind them, and inching closer (sorry about that corner, truckers, I know how inconvenient it is for you). Nice coworker got a new Taurus last fall, noticed she had a good-sized dent on driver's side, rather high up on door, I thought, 6-8 inches under the window. She said it happened at work. Couple weeks later, I see a the exact same dent on passenger side, asked her about it, you should have seen her face, she's normally a peaceful woman, but...Poor thing, she probably didn't realize I have plastic doors when she started parking by me last year. The other day I came back from the bank, parked in my usual section, next to a....huge pickup, so tall the shrimpy guy who drives it prolly needs a stepstool to climb in. The car on the other side of him? My frind Dolores' car of course.Hmm, I can see how people get tempted to key cars (I would/could never do that myself). Couple monthes ago, a customer watched a junk car smack into a new car, the genius driver just parked there anyway, and went off to shop. Don't you know the witness waited for the smacked car's owner, and police were called. The offender looked shocked that she was caught. Boy I could go on and on, suffice to say it's true common courtesy is disappearing fast.

Uh, Jem I don't think she is proposing the Benz as a replacement for her but instead a vehicle that will get her husband back and forth to the airport and will serve double duty as a weekend cruiser when she and DH feel like going for a ride with the top down. I can't help with the track record for a late 70's SL Benz but I'll add this food for thought. An old car is an old car. If it has been well-maintained and treated nicely for its entire life then it will likely continue to provide good service as long as the maintenance continues and components get replaced as they wear out. I'm not sure I understand the point of EricWI's story except that of the clutch was never serviced then it was it's time to wear out. Your proposal is OK as long as you understand that there will be maintenace involved to keep it running and looking good. Benz service (like all acrs) is not cheap. Nor are parts (but I suspect that most parts are readily available). The fact that DH "has worked on F/14's for 8 years" means nothing except that he is mechanically inclined and can likely LEARN how to work on the car. If you haven't doen something before you don't know what you're getting into. I would not call a brain surgeon for a heart problem. Also, he has to have both the time and desire to work on it. Unless you find a really great deal, a $4k car is worth just that. When you try to buy luxury cheap you need to expect to do some work. I think it might be fun, but no one is going to guarantee that it will be all fun and games. That's the gamble of used cars. Nothing runs maintenance free forever. that's my 0.02. good luck

Sara, I learned the hard way that if you go to the Yellow Pages to select a garage door repairman, that it can get pricey. (Did I really say Yellow Pages? lol) You don't want an emergency response, just an estimate. Some folks come out in the morning to find their garage door inoperable and panic because they need to get to work. The 2/7 available guys come out but sometimes charge in the hundreds of dollars for the visit and/or have a huge "minimum." Also, there is a lot of bait and switch... quote you a couple of hundred and then add on new rollers, new tracks, new hinges, new springs, etc, etc. (obviously some of these things may well be needed.)

Hi Robo, funny you should resurrect this thread. We were pretty set on getting a Volvo crossover (DS didn't like the Subaru and we were fine with that since it didn't have any real advantage over the Volvo to us), and planning to look in earnest when they got back from their travels. We were out to lunch the day before they left, and DH mentioned a dealer friend he golfs with. I told him that I had checked his sites regularly and the only used SUVs they had were always late model and way more than what we wanted to spend. But I looked again anyway, and there it was. A 2004 BMW X3, over 100k miles. Not what we were planning on, but this dealer is a friend and we already have bought used BMWs from him and trust him. We called from the lunch table, then hurried over, and bought it. There were two other teenage boys in the waiting room with their Dads wanting to look at the same car. All of the other used SUVs they had were only 2-3 yrs old and multiples of the price. Anyway, yes, service is a killer on luxury cars, esp ones far past their prime. The cars we drive are usually still under warranty, but I had an old Benz once and we gave it to my stepson, who drove it 225k miles before selling it. You have to have the cash for the repairs, but actually it was a good deal all in. Hopefully the BMW will be the same. I am actually glad the car is so old and it even has a few dings; I don't want to spoil him. DS, OTOH, is tickled pink to have an X3. Safety wise, it has side airbags as well as front, and a low center of gravity, eg crossover SUV. Having now spent half of what we planned on, I told DS the first 7k of repairs are on us, LOL. In actuality I don't expect him to fully cover the costs of owning and insuring a vehicle; as long as he is a good student and is working at a job too, he is doing what we need him to do. The purpose of the job is to make sure they don't lose sight of the value of a dollar, but with all of the academic, extracurricular and volunteer demands on his time, (not to mention all the travel we do), he can't realistically earn terribly much. Good news is the dealer will give him a job (washing cars). ETA: Good luck to all the new drivers out there!