Quote:
Originally Posted by jbach36
I didn't make a bad purchasing decision. I bought a car that, based on its REPUTATION, ....SHOULD.... last longer before causing such problems. Go ahead and chide those "cheaply made tin cans", but facts are facts. I'll bet Jap cars require HALF the repairs as MB's. That's a lot. Said another way, MB's require TWICE the repairs as their Jap counterparts.
Face it, MB has made bad a/c systems .... FOR NEARLY THIRTY YEARS!! You'd have thought they'd figure out by now how to make a good one. That huge, glaring achille's heel aside, their cars aren't that bad, but for a leading manufacturer, could be better. There's no excuse that a simple $10 gasket should cost a consumer $500 to fix, but these are issues that MB causes their customers. On my '88 300CE, at just 10 years old there were 3 separate gaskets, transmission and upper and lower oil gaskets, that cost $500, and $600 for the upper and lower to fix. That's $1100 in case you don't have a calculator. The cost of the actual gasket is about $10 to MB, $20 to the consumer. The a/c's cost thousands to fix. What I'm saying is, there's no EXCUSE for this from what is considered a top-flight car company. I'm betting a Jap car of the same year and mileage, other than normal maintenence costs, would have ZERO in repairs at this point.
If the repairs for all this is no big deal as you say, then step up to the plate and pay my repair bills.
jeff
1991 300d, 93k
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If you can't afford the repair bills on a Mercedes then the only logical choice is to buy something cheaper. I drive Mercedes cars because they are extremly comfortable and well made and last a long time. Your also basing your opinion on an 18 year old car. How many 18 year old Japanese cars are on the road anymore? Once they hit 200K they are scrap metal.
I have owned several Japanese comodity cars in the past and have not been pleased with them. Recently I sold a 2002 Honda Accord Coupe that I bought new with only 17K miles on it when I finally ditched it. This "icon of reliability" car was in the shop several times for issues with its brakes. Various squeeks and rattles and problems with its power sterring system. Honda has several open issues on this car with the NHTSA. One of them I found paticularly amusing was a problem with the sunroof which caused it to squeek. They discovered this in 1998 and did not do anything about it even in my end of production 2002 car. If I had not lost my patience the brakes alone could have qualified this car for a lemon law buyback.
Japanese cars are cheap to maintain but they are not comfortable and not well made. They are cheap commodity cars built for consumers who are don't know any better who want affordable transportation. They are by no way on the same level of engineering or quality as a Mercedes Benz. From my experience with my Accord I would say that ALL car makers are basing their reputations on the past and that ALL cars are being made cheaper to increase profits at the ultimate expense of the consumer.
Its one of the reasons I refuse to buy new anymore.