here is another problem with owning a new d-c that goes undiscussed all too often.

the dealer owns you for the duration of the warranty.

in metro-houston, the nearest dealer to me is one that i consider a brigand outfit. owned by auto-nation.

and it is 30 miles away.

the only decent d-c store/shop is in sugarland texas. for all practical purposes, from my location, that might as well be los angeles.

my mechanic is 5 minutes from my stable.

the other great thing about my stable is that all are free and clear of all encumbrances. and probably no longer depreciating.

by the way, i did not acquire all these vehicles new. only the 560sel. but in 2000 when i encountered where daimler was going with electronics, i decided i was going to acquire the best that i could find of post-1976 benzes.

so that i could drive into my demise without an lcd screen, without a computer chip seizing control of the car, without big bro monitoring my whereabouts and/or the history of my driving style.

as an engineering proposition, the distronic[sic] cruise control system troubles me greatly. when i describe its potentials for highway mayhem, it concerns others as well. there ought to be a law outlawing it.

i envision scenarios such as this.....

a. one is distronically cruising down the hardy toll road at 140kph. your benz is within less than an assured clear braking distance from the car in front of you. you are on your cell-phone and disengaged from the real responsibilities of managing a lethal weapon. a deer springs out in front of the vehicle you are following. i think you will be involved in an accident.

b. another situation is that the distronic system allows for enough of a gap between your benz and the vehicle you are following to provide for a minimum assured clear braking distance. in my experience, this means that you are going to have rocketeers cut into that gap. when that occurs, i think that the distronic is going to brake suddenly. that will probably get you rear-ended by the clown[who might be in an 18 wheeler] behind you.

and these situations presuppose no chip failings.

i suppose, however, if you are into eating soylent green, these problems will not be troubling you.

personally, i am looking for a third world country with no highways, and with no resources that any evil empire wants to seize. and that gets plenty of rainfall as the temperate zones desertify.

illegitimi non carborundum

and one last important financial point, i acquired all the benzes other than the 560sel after 2000.

for less than the price of a new, loaded s550. which will do what within minutes after you title it? depreciate about 10%-20%. and 10% every year thereafter, i think.

they are out there. at least they used to be.

I personally like the new S550 although I wish they would offer a 6cyl model here in the USA. Like it or not cars are evolving to suit the needs of their drivers. Im not a big fan of moving map GPS systems myself but I do like some of the programability that the new S550 offers. Rather than have to read my owners manual and hold down buttons and do other strange things to reprogram a function you can see all of your options on a clean flat panel display.

I like the new shape of the 221 body because its a nice blend of angles and curves. The front of the 220 was always a bit softer than I liked. The 221 looks longer and sleeker and its flared fenderwells give it an aggressive yet elegant stance on the road. Just like the 126, 140 and 116 chassis cars theres no mistaking that your looking at the top of the line car.

The one great thing about Mercedes cars is they are designed to last forever. If you don't like the new S class there are several other wonderful models to choose from. My personal favorites are the 140 and 126 and I own one of each in black of course. The 220 never really did much for me and its probably one that I may skip owning. Like it or not the 221 will be the new S class for the next decade or so. Parts will still be around for the older ones for a long time to come. Its not like complaining is going to make Mercedes dump a car that they spent 5-10 years engineering.

I had a 1972 280sel with the 4.5 engine. Drove it in Houston. Put 100,000 on it after we bought it used. Loved the car, hated pulling 10-15 relays every couple of weeks to burnish them back into working order. So the electrical problems are nothing new with any complex car. Got rid of the car because the front and rear quarter panels started rusting out.

Recently bought a 1994 S500. Wonderful car, but will take me several months to get everything working on it again. I like the ride of a heavy car, but mostly I think I like all the gadgets. 59 years old now, but still love the stuff. Wish I could afford one of the new S600's. Don't think I've ever seen so much stuff on one vehicle.

That's on top of being faster from a stop than most anything else out there.

Heh heh,

Perhaps its middle age sinking in but my days of stoplight 0-60 races is over..... I used to really enjoy sucking the chrome off of BMW's and other German performance cars when I had my S70.... Most of the time they never saw it coming and it was more fun that way..... Its amazing what a 5 speed transmission and a big engine can do to a family sedan even in a Volvo.

In a Mercedes people just assume you have a V8 or V12 especially in a w140....

Perhaps its the double paned glass but I don't notice the looks or the revving engines anymore...

Most 97 and all 99 on up, not really a Mercedes. Talk about through away cars. 96 was the last year a true Mercedes was built.

You can't argue with me if you are in the repair buisness.

You might want to do some research on that statement. My 1999 car is pretty much the same car that was designed in 1992 with all the bugs worked out of it. I used to have a similar view of post 1996 cars until I did some research. There are many cars that were designed before Mercedes quality started to decline. The 129 chassis SL is another example built from 1990-2002. Additionally cars built after 1995 don't have the wiring harness problems that seem to plague many of the cars built in the mid 1990's. If you do some reading on the 140 its known as one of the highest build quality Mercedes cars ever produced.

I think a lot of the problems that the newer cars suffer from are design flaws rather than assembly or parts quality problems. The world is demanding faster cheaper and better and the Germans are getting a lot of competition from the Japanese "luxury" cars. Many consumers would rather pay 60K for a Lexus LS430 than 100K for a Mercedes S class. Some people don't know enough about cars to recognize the difference. Sort of like the people who would be happy with Cubic Zirconians rather than real Diamonds. Its really easy for the Japanese to copy the ideas that the Germans spent real R&D money to produce and produce a second rate copy for a lot less.

If you had to repair my car, you'd be broke or starving.
It's a 2000with 90 k miles on it ......and nothing ever seems to go wrong with it.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

Love how people grab years out of thin air and state that MB stopped building cars after XXXX year. I bet I could find someone that would make the same statement for every single year from 1960-2007.


Please what changed in the R129, W140 from my 1996 to 97? Be specific, like XX part was cheapened up.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

actually, the post-1996 140's were superior to pre-1996's.

it wasn't until sometime in the 1996 model year that the a/c defects were corrected. you owned a pre-1996, you could be assured of the premature removal of the interior of your car. after 1996, that automatic bit of major surgery came to an end.

Would be nice if MB would pay for the darn fix.

Hmmm,

Went and saw an S550 in the flesh tonight.... Im one of those strange people who shops for cars at night when the dealership is closed so that I don't get bothered..... Its very interesting size wise.... Its a massive car but is able to pull off looking smaller than it is somehow...... I really like it a lot in person..... Im halfway considering taking a closer look when the dealership is open.....

If anybody is looking for a 220 body S class NOW is the time to buy with the 221's hitting the lots. I saw several S500's and S430's that had deep discounts on them at the dealer near me. One S500 had a 15K discount bringing its price to $70K which was a bargain considering it had the AMG wheels and body kit. Do yourself a favor and look away from the 221's if your shopping for a 220.