My '83 TD cost $34,612 in 1983. In today's dollars that is something like $65,000. I have a copy of the original invoice, thanks to MB. At the bottom of the invoice it shows what the dealer paid for the car, $27,606. That is a $7,000 profit for the dealer. One of the other ways MB has trimmed their prices is cutting this enormous profit margin the dealers were making. My '87 TD cost something in the neighborhood of $42,000. Just comparing the price of my '83 to '87, the price jumped $8,000 in just 4 years . Shortly after Acura, Lexus and Infinity came out, MB admitted that they were on their way to pricing themselves out of the market. It's another way of saying they were charging way too much for their cars. So they had to quickly back pedal to match the prices of the Japaneese cars. I think that Mercedes is now going down the same road that Jaguar did, selling cars based on a reputation from the past. People would get lured into a Jaguar based on the company's racing history and the elegant interiors. Over time people who knew the real story wouldn't tough a Jag with a ten foot poll. I am afraid MB may be going down the same road.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member