I apologize in advance for the lengthy post. My Grandfather passed away recently at age 98 and left me his 99 E320 with 135K miles. I am torn between selling it and keeping it for myself. He was the prototypical Mercedes owner - an ex-military man who took meticiulous care of his cars and took it to the dealer for EVERYthing. I love the car, but it sat for a while prior to his passing and required some work. The A/C quit working, the radio works intermittently and there was a problem with the side airbags. My Father took it to a mechanic and was told that the "modules" for those 3 items were faulty as a result of it sitting. He replaced the A/C module, but not the radio module or the side airbag module. (All of this is second hand information from my Father - the car is currently 250 miles from where I live.)

It sounds to me like it would be over $2,000 to replace these modules. My question is, might there be an alternative to relacing these? Do people buy these modules used? Could I install it myself? Does anyone repair them? Owning and maintaining a Mercedes won't be cheap - I understand that - but I don't want a "free" car to become a money pit. For sentimental reasons, I really want to keep the car, but I'm nervous about repair expense. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. The car still drives like butter and it is clear that Mercedes is a cut above with the way they design and build their cars. (I should mention that the car I would be replacing is a 2006 Volvo S80 - a solid, if unspectacular, vehicle.)