Do people at work make fun of your Mercedes.
 

Hay guys.

I am an engineer and I drive a ML-320 maybe not a typical suv that an engineer would drive, but I love it and I think it is the best choice I could have made. But I really don't think it is such a big deal since it is only a little more expensive than a toyota 4 runner.

But, some people at work here would draw me into arguments regarding my ML.

What is the deal?

Should I just ignor it and not respond to them.

Maybe that is the thing about owning a Mercedes.

I remember someone said on this forum that 'people would not thinks twice about someone who pull up in a brand new $40K Tahoe, but if you pull up in a 10 year Mercedes the reaction you would get is that, you must have struck it big'

blau

I get the same response and it kinds of bothers me. I paid a little over $10,000 for mine, and all of my neighbors are driving American / Japanese cars that they bought new which cost them over double what I pay.
Further, everytime I make a repair, perform maintenance, etc., they tease me about the money I'm spending. I also owned a Nissan Quest minivan, and many of the same items I repaired on it were less than or close to the same part on the Mercedes.
I tend to put a lot of miles on my cars and keep them a long time. So for me, it comes down to which car do I want to continue to maintain over the long haul.

BENZ remarks
 

YES....MOST all of my customers do GIVE me a bad time,since MY biz
is in the Ghetto and driving a BENZ is well....QUOTE YOU must be overcharging us to OWN A MERCEDES BENZ or in d talk BENZO
I keep it covered out back so I will get less TRASH re my benz
and I got very few if any negative remarks when I had my EX ML compared to my e class wagon....GO figure:confused:

I have been working at an engineering firm here in Montreal that makes flight simulators. I drive a modified VW Scirocco in the spring-fall seasons. It has never seen winter, and since nice ones are pretty rare around here, it garners much attention. I was actually looking for a 90-92 Golf or Jetta for winter,but only found rusty, high mileage cars for $3000-4500 Canadian. I couldn't resist when I came across a mint 87 190E with only 129000km for $6000 Canadian.I like it so much I will drive it year round, taking out my Scirocco only summers. I get so many comments at work though "We must be paying him too much"."whose car did you steal?" My favorite comment"So you drive a VW in summer and a Benz in the winter?...". Alot of envious looks and stupid comments coming from supposedly intelligent people driving cars costing 4 times as much as mine!:confused:

Our local Yacht Club that I belong to enlists members to do various projects over the summer that you may want to work on. I volunteered to paint the deck and patio that leads to the bay. I had taken the SL that day and mine was the only car in the lot. I was painting and a member, who did not know me, saw me working on the deck. He asked me if I knew who owned the SL. I told him I did......He had this look of astonishment on his face and asked me " How could I own the car?" I responded to the ignoramus with "Expensive Paint!" Talk about a flamer...:D:D

Are you kidding???

I get the interrogations at work, at church, by neighbors, friends...and family!!!!

I catch a lot of flak because I own three, not just one!

Close friends know the history behind the final outcome, so they cut me slack...I even steered some over to purchasing MBs of their own!

But I really get ragged on at work because I'm employed by FedEx...and "you obviously can't afford one of these on a typical FedEx salary" (below market salary rates for IS staffers)!!!

My wife (who also works for FedEx) draws raised eyebrows pulling into the lot with the SL...the top brass don't show up with cars like that!!!

Fortunately, I made the purchases while I was a contract programmer (got PAID big $$$ doing Y2K fixes).

As pointed out, most folks (save for the SL) don't realize that they cost less than those spiffy Bimmers they come to work in.

The other thing they don't know is that I have always kept at least a couple of cars throughout my driving life. Granted, the first acquisitions were modest beaters, and except for the W124 (which was a used 5-yr old car purchased outright), the ML and SL were the result of several iterations of trading up for a better model.

My insurance rates are lower now with all of these cars than when I was a heavily-ticketed single 20-yr old. Being able to troubleshoot and fix basic problems saves on repair costs and allows me to retain my current stable (thanks to this forum).

But people who don't know your situation will always make their own conclusions, and most will assume you are well-heeled if you arrive in an MB...no matter what vintage!:D

People even think my W123 (which is red with a recent, but poor respray), cost me an arm and a leg. Perceptions are indeed amusing.

My friend's '92 400E was purchased for $20k and gets far more looks and 'we're paying you too much' comments than his co-worker who spent over $40k on a '97 Landcruiser! Talk about a waste of money

Some other friends who are big audi/rally fans thought MB's were only conservative cars for retirees, to which much flack is passed my way, only being in my late 20's. They promptly changed their minds after a test ride in my friend's 400E - "Wow, we're already going 120!?". They were further silenced when finding that the cost of maintenance on their cars over a year nearly doubled mine. Maybe not fair comparing a diesel to a gas model in regards to durability, but they now know there's much more to the 3-pointed star. They now can't wait for me to get that perfect E420 I'm after, so they can actually drive the thing - we'll see how generous I'm feeling ;)

I'm kind of glad there are so many ignorant out there - all the more people to astound when they experience the performance and hear what I paid for it! :D

- Ryan

The comments are actually VERY flatering to me. I get taken for a rich guy although I am not (Thank God...). In addition I have to try less to be treated with respect on the street. So I hope that the comments will continue.

They don't really make comments about the car, but they do occasionally comment on the fuzzy dice and the bobble-head dog.

Being in the middle of redneck country :) I catch my share of flak driving the '85 300D. It is mostly along the lines of "How many people got hurt" (in that wreck). Alot of my friends try to talk me into purchasing a late 60's/early 70's hot rod but I am too cheap to buy the fuel required to feed one and I do not have anything but metric tools.
Very rarely do I drive the E320 to work because I never know which way the wind direction will be that day. I will say that no matter where we arrive we (the family) are looked at differently when arriving in the E320 versus the CRV.

I actually don't get much flak from co workers here. Those who have seen the car like it and think it's pretty neat. It is no secret around here what I paid for it either. Only two people "make fun of it" so to speak. One calls it a piece of s**t. He also calls his car that and it's a BMW. The other calls it a pimpwagon. He also owns a w124 chassis MB that he calls a pimpwagon as well. Not sure of the official designation of his car though. I do like how people see, understand, and react to that neat yellow blinking light that I guess no other car comes with to signal lane change intentions. :D

They ask me what kind of drugs do I sell.
I said anti jealous!

I couldn't agree more, John!

No one has ever made "fun" of the cars but occasionally I hear remarks about what they must pay me at the University. Whatever...I'm not even an academic, just IT staff. :rolleyes:

I have actually had to show some of my co-workers the registration to convince them that I actually owned the car. There were at least a couple of people who thought I was joking whenever I pointed it out as mine. Another funny thing -- I work in the Chancellor's Office at U.C. Berkeley, and the Chancellor, being a rather important figure, rarely talks to the mere mortals that slave away in the sprawling complex of his office. However, one day I had my car parked directly outside the main doors (to load up some stuff), and who should walk out but the Chancellor. Well, lo and behold, my first and only conversation with him was a ten minute talk about my car. He thought it was a brand new (!) car, and walked around it three times, commenting on its condition. It actually made people mad, because some had worked there for ten years and he had barely spoken a word to them. Now, he asks me about it everytime he sees me. a perfect example of my MB helping me make connections. ;)

Zach
1992 300CE

I have gotten the ..."well,well,well, you own 2 Mercedes." People really don't know how cheap an old diesel can be bought for. I tell people that parts are cheaper than they would think. Actually I have grown tired of trying to dispell people notions, so I'll just go around being happy knowing the REAL story. I believe it was Rolls Royce once said..."a gentleman need not boast". Let them think what they want. Besides if everyone knew the "secret" then everyone would have would have one.