After over 15 years of driving various MB products, I watched the buyer of my 1998 C230 drive away this afternoon. Rusting spring perches, breaking $$$$ wiper assemblies, aggravating CE lights for numerous things and other sundry problems have finally taken their toll. We didn't even consider a new MB. Our Subarus are not as interesting to drive, but reliable to a fault and great in our snow-bound winter driving conditions.

Adios...

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Happy Trails, the insight you have provided will continue to prove valuable to those in more hospitable climates.
Best wishes.

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1993 190E 2.6 135k
1989 Ford Thunderbird SC 5 Spd 79K

Or as they say.... once you've done black you'll be back

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1993 190E 2.6 135k
1989 Ford Thunderbird SC 5 Spd 79K

You have provided further proof that unfortunately MBZ has jumped onto the current bandwagon gimmickry & quantity. Just in case you ever decide to return, the quality of MBZ exists - and can still be had - from the the W126 cars on back.

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Don't Chrome them; polish them

Best wishes John - I've enjoyed your comments over the years and will miss your participation here at MBshop.

Maybe MB can win you back at some point in the future, but I'm guessing not in the short or mid term future.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

Have a nice boring time in your wife's Corolla.
You must be getting old John
Whats next.. a Mercury Marquis...?

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2012 ML350 Bluetec 4-matic
1999 E320 4-matic Estate


"A ship in harbour is safe, but thats not what ships are built for". - John A. Shedd

http://www.varaderocigar.com/images/...ontecristo.gif

Best of luck with your ricer..

And please, don't ask me for even trade for my 19 years old Benz with well over 400K on the clock

Man, you should look at our 2001 Audi TT Quattro convertible (225 hp)

Under warranty:
1. Turbo valve
2. Tires (class action lawsuit #1)
3. Brake disks (17,000 miles)

Immediately out of warranty:
Temperature sensor
Windshield washing system (expensive. Audi windshield washer fluid frozen, hence spraying mechanism for lights jammed and broke on automatic extension)

2 years later:
Instrument cluster (whole unit) (Class action lawsuit #2)
Timing belt (premature failures on interference engines - class action lawsuit #3)
Boots & related ball joints
Bearings (they found a ball bearing from the right wheel bearing sitting out in the frame of the bearing assembly!)
Door lock mechanism (poor drainage control causes brainbox compartment turn into swimming pool - caused the car to stall in the first month of ownership after delivery as new)

Year of vehicle: 2001
Current milage: 32,600 (no, there are no digits missing!)


Queen Mary: 560 Sel, black on black, 1989. 125,000 miles. NEVER breaks down! You do your TLC, fix things when they become noisy, and she runs like a champ!

My rule: NEVER EVER Audi again! And I'm German (from Stuttgart, nonetheless!) (I'm still keeping the Audi alive though...)

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Henry Bofinger
1989 560 SEL (black/black)
2001 Audi TT Roadster (silver/grey)

Cheers John! You'll be missed around here by us old-timers!

Don't be a stranger,
C.

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

Good luck and enjoy. I echo your feeling for the W202 generally and the C230 particularly. The 1997 C230 was my first Mercedes. I was in love at first, but, over time, the unexpected, expensive problems took their toll on our relationship. Ours sits on the street looking nice, waiting for the next electrical issue to surface. I can't quite bring myself to sell her.

Funny story about the wiper. I had the same trouble, although not until about 160,000 miles, that everyone else has with the gears getting gummed up. I spent a lot of time and effort properly resuscitating the system, but the problem, always at the least opportune time, would always come back. So a year ago in a pouring storm an hour from home, the wiper stars slowing down. Thinking f it what do I have to loose, I sprayed an entire large can of PAM olive oil cooking spray down in there. Ironically, the wiper is one of the systems that's worked perfectly since that day. I have a backup can in the glove box.

Take care,

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Michael

1988 300 SL (5 Speed)
1994 E320 Wagon
1997 C230

Thanks for the warning, Henry. I've this sort of thing from a lot of current and former Audi owners.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Glad to see you still poking around, miss your posts.

Still I rather be fixing my MB than driving a Japanese car.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Oh for pete's sake - go get that car back and start ranting and raising hell with the rest of us. Admit it - you've never had such a good time with any car like that little Merc now have you?

MB's are sort of like women with huge ti*s - they're a blast to play with and show off, but the long term maintenance is awful.

Go find an E500 and get back in the pool - the water ain't that cold. Just a lot of dumbazzes during "adult swim" you've got to be careful of <-- sentence ends in preposition

Buckwheat

I was in the same leaking vessel, I'm afraid. My C230 was a wonderful little car in many ways, easy to work on and change the oil on, etc. Yes, I had to replace the A/C compre$$or early on, but that was the only big thing outside of replacing all 4 tires, one at a time, over 3 years (due to nails and debris all over the crappy streets here).

But . . . the persistent rattle from the sunroof bothered me. The car rode a little hard on these broken streets. And then came the big thing: The early 5-speed electronic transmission began to balk and stick, and nobody could say that the $1500 rebuild that both dealer and independent quoted me would *certainly* fix the problem.

Maybe I should have bitten the bullet, gotten it fixed (presuming that expensive tranny job would solve the problem), and continued to drive the little gold beast sans car payment. But my gas costs would have been about the same as I pay now for the Buick. And the '97 would now be 11-12 years old, and there'd be more issues. I miss it sometimes, but I'm also very pleased with its replacement.

(By the way, I too had the wiper arm slowdown symptom. I squeezed a little power steering fluid under that clamshell, and it would work perfectly for another year, at which time I'd repeat the treatment. Worked okay.)
.

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* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

I will never get rid of my 1986 190e 2.3-16, hehehe