A friend recently picked up a second hand 2015. 577hp, all wheel drive and every driver aid imaginable. This thing is bloody fast and makes great noises but leaves me cold. Push a button to start it, step on brake and pull gear selector back a few clicks to Drive, there are several selectable programs or use the paddles behind the steering wheel. None of it is intuitive. Putting it back into Park requires some ridiculous machinations. I can't help but think how wonderful this car could be equipped with a manual gearbox, a bit quieter exhaust and eliminating all the techno gadgetry. The good news is he has essentially gifted me his long suffering Volvo V70 cross country WAGON. It is a rock solid old Volvo that will, after a suspension refresh and a few other things, be a great hauler again. It's already made few short trips for lumber and I was looking forward to tying our 2018 Christmas tree to it's roof but since it will leak the entire contents of the crankcase in fewer miles than a tank of fuel lasts I'll need to address that first.
Good luck with the Volvo I love the old boxy styling on them but I hear you on the new Mercedes, I looked at one a couple years ago and when I asked if they came with a manual trans and a real shifter the sales person looked at me like I was an alien and said "No" so I hopped in my 85 Mercedes 300TD and left.
Yeah, manual gearboxes are about dead. Even Ferrari doesn't offer them anymore. That MB of my friend's does a pretty good job of pretending to be a manual gearbox, complete with throttle blips on the downshifts. Write a check for something north of $100k(new)and even my grandmother sounds like Michael Schumacher is at the wheel. No skills required. I'll take my own clumsy heel/toe while standing on the brakes any day. Once in a while I get it just right and there is immense satisfaction in that. If this is the future then I'm ready for self driving cars. Your W124 MB is arguably the last of the finely built cars. Discounting of course things like the biodegrading wire harnesses The Volvo is visually appealing to me as well. It's lines are clean without superfluous swooshes, steroidal bulges or over-decoration. It's form follows function, quite Norse. It's AWD mitigates usual undesirable (for me) FWD driving characteristics nicely. It's comfortable and with just enough conveniences. It's engine compartment is horrifically congested though and I don't relish repairing it.
Actually it's a W123, the last year for them. A friend had a 71 Volvo wagon it was so easy to work on and that old tractor engine just kept going, and going and......... Just for giggles here's a pic of my 85 from last summers trip to the west coast.
