[black_falcon]

Yup the e500 will be night/day compared to your old, anemic w124. I've been putting miles on an '05 4MATIC over the winter and with Nokian snow tires the car is a tiger tank in the snow, 5" of snow and it's like accelerating away on concrete. Prior to the W211, I put about 30,000 miles on a W210 which was also a VERY good car. As pointed out, the FAILMATIC air suspension is by far the biggest "gotcha" of the platform, but find a well maintained car with low miles and you'll be fine.