Hey everyone....die hard car nut here.

To make a long story short here it is. My last car was a 2002 Infiniti I35, totalled it and the airbags didn't come out. I am about to come into some money b/c of the negligence. I was going to go out and buy a brand new Lexus IS350 (don't hate me) but I decided I'd save 20 grand and get an old S class. (W140?)

That is without question my favorite S-class.....big and boxy....I don't give a **** how the magazines critisized it; it was the epitome of what a Mercedes should look like, especially 97-99 models.

So I plan to go to the dealership and have them find me a Certified Pre Owned '99 S500 (it has to be the 500, I want the HID's and the 5 liter- it's a GREAT engine, hell they JUST NOW stopped using it)with as low mileage as possible.

So here are my questions:

Is this a reliable car? I see tons of them on the road, but I wonder, is it cause it's a great car or because the people are so rich they can afford to constantly fix them.

Input would be greatly appreciated. Share your stories about it. Here's mine:

I LOVE this car. 10 years ago when I was 15, a friend of mine had one down in Florida (it was a '97)....I oohhed and awwed over it so much.....The Bose stereo I remember is ridiculously incredible..the door closers, double paned glass, etc....She let me drive it alot....I remember my favorite thing was the hood ornament- you know you're driving a bad *** car. But the one thing that had me in absolute awe once was when we were driving around town (South Florida)....I wasn't paying attention, I thought we were just going maybe 10-15 over the speed limit, we were kinda easing around traffic (not on the interstate, on a regular 4 lane road)...I look over and we were doing 100! No lie! And she had it in 4!! I was like...whoa.....

So I want one of my own. Screw getting a new Lexus, plus this car would eventually be a classic, and always look good, at least to me. Let's not forget it was around 90k new.