But I blame myself for not realizing that MBZ are really created no better than other cars as to reliability (JD Power and CR will support that with data, actually). I also blame myself for not polling MBZ drivers about how much they spend maintaining their cars. These are well-built, well-engineered cars with high feature contents but they have no advantage with regard to reliability over anything else on the road (well, let's not nitpick by bringing up Ferraris or Yugos). But I've come to realize that these are status cars and you end up paying 3x for status. Can I afford it? Yeah. But am I willing to? I don't think so, not anymore. If I have to have a great german car in the future I'm going to go buy a BMW. At least they really are more fun to drive. But there are quite a few compelling choices in the VW lineup now too that should offer similar reliability. And there are even some interesting cars coming from the japanese segment (including a saaburu, no less) and well hell, the new Chrysler 300C at $32k loaded would get my money looong before a $77k S500 (which it would lay waste to also with the hemi's 348hp). And the CLK? Looks kinda pussy next to the new GTO and unless you're willing to fork over $80k for the AMG version it's going to get trounced on perfomance by a $34k chevy. I'm happy for you if you have the love and money to throw into this brand. My 1993 2.6 is still happily whizzing me to work every day on the best commute this side of nurburgring and it's holding up pretty well (except that the fasten-seatbelt light flashes constantly and the factory alarm died a year ago). But it has 150k miles and although I've put a ton a money in it all the way along - to 'maintain' it - I suspect something major is going to happen again soon. After all, the vacuum pump is starting to buss a little (~$2k rebuilt and installed - my tech tells me they typically go - like everyhting else on an MB - at 125k miles) and the alternator is starting to make a little noise too (~$1k rebuilt and installed). I figure I'll wait until the next big repair and then I'm out. Nice chatting with you all and thanks for all the help and advice over the years - it's been a fun, pricey and educational (from a personal finance standpoint) experience.
Matt (aka Makakio)

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Makakio
1992 190 2.6
lotsa miles