Well said babymog, neanderthal, lkchris and others. Unquestionably, upscale Japanese brands threw the traditional luxury car market into a tailspin with both product and customer service. But surely, changing consumer outlooks about what constitutes "luxury" in an automobile have played a significant role too. The instant gratification, short attention span, gotta-have-the-latest-electronic-gadget generation didn't respond well to the notion that quality is in the build, not in what you tack on to make the driving experience seem as much as possible like a home theater. And, as already mentioned, these buyers are on a replacement cycle having nothing to do with the automobile, but only when the latest generation of electronic toy gets added to the new models. That's about every couple of years. Design and build quality won't ever be an issue for them, and so, customer preference will inevitably drive the build decisions of the manufacturers, MBz included. That's not a bad thing; just a commentary on how we got where we are, and why some of us hang onto our 22 year old 124s, even when they don't have CD players.

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1988 California version 260E (W124)
Anthracite Grey/Palomino
Owned since new and still going strong and smooth
MBCA member

Past Mercedes-Benz:
1986 190E Baby Benz
1967 230 Inherited from mom when she downsized
1959 220S Introduced me to the joys of keepin' 'em goin'

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world--those who understand binary and those who don't