So, short answer: yes.

It’s been amazing to watch the BYD Shark pickup, for example, start appearing everywhere.

In a very conservative market, customers are finding something very compelling.

Chinese brands overall seem to be offering what many legacy OEMs struggle to, or refuse to (Toyota)

In H1 2025, Chinese brands accounted for 19% of the market.

They started off offering economy SUVs and affordable EVs, and are now expanding. Brands like Zeekr are going after the premium/luxury space and BYD is going after pretty much everything including the PHEV pickup, which they’re monstering.

My 500 SL? AU$580,000

My old 600 SELs? AU$740,000

A new Mercedes-Maybach 680 is $630,000…

Delightful!

Congratulations :)

I remember this one, too. Bulgin opened by describing the way the indicator of the M5 bounced off the reflective signs in the dead of night.

You speak the truth.

And sometimes they even ship updates that they know will mess with multiple features, because management want something that they promised the market rolled out yesterday.

*sighs deeply*

The best kind of driver for a 5 litre supercharged V8 sedatchback, IMHO.

I'll take one in white over cream on chrome, please.

TOTALLY!

Weirdly, as I’ve got deeper into 90s Merc ownership, it’s been getting *slightly* easier.

When I bought my first W140 in 2013, parts from Mercedes were a nightmare.

Now, third parties are filling in quite a few gaps.

I had one S-Class on which I fixed it piecemeal, because buying the entire thing wasn’t a possibility at the time.

Do. Not. Recommend.

Now, companies like Kieth Classic make them for M104s, M119s and M120s and carry stock.

Went that path for the second S.

There are two things to watch out for with them:

Head gaskets.

Wiring looms - that *might* have been fixed by the last year of the 124. From memory, it was fixed on the W140 S-Class by 1996.

Other than that, they’re very good.

If neither have been attended to, get an Indy merc expert to review

Also, that M104 is a low-key screamer…

I kinda wish they’d kept the 6-cylinder tune when they doubled it into the M120 V12.

It would have been slightly unseemly in the best possible way.

This is stunning! I’m so inspired by the ingenuity, love and dedication you put into these.

Palomino! 🐴

We neve got that interior colour in Oz.

Part of it is how the 119 delivers its power. While not VTEC intense, there’s a significant shift in character as the intake can timing changes. Also, the early, mechanically-injected variant has full-throttle enrichment, which further intensifies the run for the redline.

So cool.

Fascinating to drive given my familiarity with the Up!

So, if I was going W210, it’d be one of the tiny number of E50s rather than the E55.

If you get the chance, it’s really worth experiencing the difference between an M119 an M113.

The 113 is a nice V8. Torquey. Refined. And when it’s not supercharged, reasonably reliable.

The 119 is a beast from another planet altogether.

Oh, I meant 928 S4!

Wouldn’t touch that Audi V8 with a barge pole, once you see where the timing gear is, and what it takes to access anything on the back of the engine…