I have gotten in on this thread late and I offer my apology to others for not reading everything in the thread.

Keith Lucy,

I find your comments a bit confusing. You bantered with David C. Klasse regarding the C Class and attacked the car based on it's lack of long life. There are indeed reasons to consider the car "crap" as you put it. If you prefer large, expensive cars, the C Class may indeed seem like "crap" to you. But, if you are saying the C Class is "crap" based on lack of long life, that dog won't hunt.

The C Class cars, even the worst of them, probably are capable, on average, of having a longer life than your big bodied car regardless of whether the owner takes extremely good care of the car or not.

The big bodied cars, specifically the V8's (you are aware that your car has a V8 aren't you, that's one with a row of four spark plugs on each side) are typically more complex and often with expensive to repair sub-systems such as automatic level control and such. They don't sell as many of these type cars, thus they don't have the power in numbers necessary to really perfect and reduce the cost of such sub systems. Additionally because of the lower production numbers they don't have as many units for which they can ammortize such development costs.

The V8's are most definitely prone to timing chain related failures that are EXPENSIVE to take care of.

Don't get me wrong, I like the big bodied cars even though I have never owned one. Mike Tangas is a perfect example of a big bodied Benz lover. He is fully aware of the additional problems that he must contend with and he contends with them. But, he is fully aware of this going in. He also appreciates the solidity and robustness of these cars more than the fact that he looks cool driving it (and believe me, I've seen his big bodied car and it does look cool!)

You, on the other hand, I expect have not driven a big bodied Benz long enough to know what you are faced with. Additionally I expect that you have NEVER driven a C Class.

David C. Klasse is a regular long time, interesting poster. I think it was rude of you to make such a statement. And I think he showed much more "Klasse" and restraint than myself in responding to you.

Now after you have driven YOUR car 150,000 miles, I would ask you to report back to David with your expenses and experience with your expensive car and compare longevity with him. This is regardless of who turns the wrenches on your car. You do know what a wrench is don't you? Have your fingernails ever been dirty?

I'm sorry to get carried away here, but I find your demeanor quite annoying, just as many here probably find my demeanor to be annoying. An apology to David would go very far toward your redemption.

Have a great day,