One Crapped Honda - Hello Mercedes

As some may know, I have a 99 Honda Accord. 4 cylinder VTEC, automatic tranny, leather.

Not an exciting car I felt, but a good solid reliable car. Hondas such as mine typically go 200,000 miles or more with little or no problems.
When it got up around 80,000 miles, I used to smile looking at the odometer because if I had an American car, I'd have had to start thinking about getting rid of it. I was so damn happy that I had finally gotten a vehicle that wouldn't start shedding parts before 6 digit mileage.
Well, I guess I have very bad karma, because at about 116,000 miles the tranny started slipping. It was the shift between first and second, no check lights, and the D light does not flash. That means it's not a simple $200 pump, but a rebuild is required.
I kept driving it and now have 120,000 miles.
Then the ignition started acting up. I start the engine, and when I let go of the key, the engine stutters and stalls. It'll stay running after about the third or fourth try.
Also, it just randomly stalls while driving. If I'm going along at road speed, it kicks back in after a couple of seconds, but if I'm going very slowly, say walking speed, it does not.
So now I need a tranny rebuild, which will run me at least $2,300 if I go to a shop many miles away. Close to home, it'll be $2500 minimum and likely more. And that's not including the ignition problem.
Then too, the shocks and brakes need replacing, so by the time it's done, I'm looking at a good $3,000 to get back to reliable running. That's if there's nothing else wrong and if the ignition problem is easy, like the switch or a loose wire or something related to the tranny.

Well, I talked it over with my wife, and we decided that before repairing the Honda, we'd see if any of our friends could lead us to a good used car instead.
One friend told us that his aunt had recently passed and his uncle was selling her 87 Mercedes 300e. I wasn't that interested as I explained to him that I couldn't afford the parts prices and that I wouldn't be able to handle the extreme complexity.
He convinced me to do some research, and I discovered that the car is old enough that I can get most any part after market and don't need to pay OEM nosebleed prices. Also, the thing is old enough that it's not very complicated and I can do much of the work on it myself!
Another problem I had with the Honda was that the trunk wasn't big enough. I carry a lot of equipment around for work quite often, and I'd have to put some of it into the back seat, thus preventing me from taking my kids anywhere. This Mercedes' trunk is so big, I can fit all my stuff in it! That's a big plus.
And the sub $3,000 price was most attractive!

So here is my humble, way lower middle class self tooling around in a Mercedes. All I can say is

I LOVE IT! I LOVE THIS CAR! THIS IS THE GREATEST CAR EVER!

I've never had a European car before, and I must say I do like the overall feel better than the Asian cars I've owned and driven. This thing has a solid, purposeful feel to it that must be experienced to be believed. It handles far better than its smooth ride would suggest. It's amazing how it just glides around fast corners so flat and with little effort. I've got the dinky 6 cylinder, but the engine does love to rev, much like the Honda's 4, though this one is much more torquey.
I am sold. I just love driving this thing, it's a joy!

Now, I will say that it's not perfect. The car only had 84,000 miles on it when I bought it a few months ago, and now there's a bit over 87,000. Still, the years got to it a bit, and I suspect the previous owner fell down on care during the last couple of years of ownership. I've already had to replace the centerlink and one tie rod (there's a story there that I will post later). The valve seals are shot, so oil consumption is high and I found out that this was common on these cars during the 80' as Mercedes used bad material. That's going to set me back about $500.
The shocks are a bit worn, there's a driveshaft coupler that needs replacing, a bad headlight connector, needs front brake rotors, and a glitch in the courtesy lights.
None of this is bad enough to prevent me from driving it though, so I can get it done bit by bit.
All in all, it would have been cheaper to fix the Honda. This was the gamble we took, fix the Honda and hope nothing else is wrong, or buy another used and hope nothing goes wrong.
Well, we're going to fix the Honda later this year anyway as our oldest daughter will be driving. So buying the Mercedes now wasn't totally the wrong thing to do.

Except that I've now completely lost interest in the Accord. All I want is another Mercedes!