Rust....

The accountants took over managing the Mercedes (Daimler-Benz) company from the engineers in the mid-1990s. There is no better example of the decline in manufacturing standards than comparing the W124 E Series with its 1996 W210 successor.

I suggest the last nine years, since 1998, when Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler, have been the worst. Bringing Chrysler's "low costs", in other words "low standards", to the manufacture of Mercedes cars has been a disaster. Thankfully, Chrysler has gone now, and there is a strong drive to restore Mercedes quality.

Very true....every front wheel arch is rotten including my '98 c180 ... sad init? .......just have to keep my '91 190e forever......