Book excerpt: This book is an E-class buyer's guide, maintenance handbook and technical reference source all wrapped into one. It is full of tech tips, service hints and system descriptions, plus lots of insightful information about the W124 E-Class chassis. This "E-Class Owner's Bible can help steer you through the purchase of your first Mercedes-Benz, provide the information necessary to maintain your E-Class to factory standards, give you the assurance to speak knowledgeably to your service professional and provide you with the hot setup for better road handling. The prospective buyer will also find tips on what to watch out for, why a pre-purchase inspection is important and why one model may be preferred to another. Do-it-Yourself owners will discover a huge hands-on maintenance chapter to help keep their E-Class at peak efficiency. To bring you this authoritative volume, Bentley Publishers has teamed up with Stu Ritter, a 25-year independent Mercedes-Benz repair shop owner/technician and current technical editor of "The Star (the magazine of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America).