Be grateful you don't live in the " Rustbelt ", because there would not be anything left of your Honda after 5 years.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

I think that the Lexus LS quality declined around the 2001 redesign, with the introduction of the LS430, but it was still a super car- at least according to the owners of them on the Lexus forums I am still a member of. I used to own a 1990 LS400 (first year model) and it was a very high quality car, but being a 13 year old car at the time, with 240K- it had its faults, but the engine and transmission was still silky smooth.

Toyota overall started to decline in the very late 90s to early 2000s. I think the last good Camry was built in 2001 and the really last good Camry was in 1996. I had a 93' Camry LE V6 a couple of years ago, with over 215K, and it was still like brand new- in and out - no leaks, no squeaks, no rattles, highly padded interior panels without mis-alignments, and a smooth engine and transmission. Same could be said for my old 1987 Camry that I owned in 1997. Still I see it from time to time.

I personally think it is safe to say that foreign car quality (for the most part) declined in the late 90s to early 2000s, while American car quality increased, but still sub par in some cases. Obviously Hyundai has improved- I know a few people with them and they are very pleased. And whats with with the Kia - 20 year / 200K mile warranty? I have not researched it yet, but this warranty is very intriguing.

My Mercedes has its fair share of problems, but it is nearly 22 years old (built in late 1984) and has 264K, but is still a rattle and squeak free car that still runs well, that I also feel safe driving.

I own Three German Car's... A Jetta(made in Mexico - Not really German, only when it comes to buying parts at VW they mention, "The parts a little more since its a german import"), A 94 C220 with almost $15 000 In repair bills to show, and a 99 BMW 5 Series which Seems so far to be Flawless! THe BMW has had its share of breakdowns, but it seems flawless compared to the many nights my mercedes and Jetta have made me lose sleep over...for the past few years.

All of them are JUNK! When you buy a mercedes, you buy a car that will last its warrenty life, beyond that, you just want to be a show off and drive a nice car, but you're really a broke joke and just want to impress all the ex girlfriends that dumped you....That's all Mercedes means these days. I laugh whenever I see someone buy a late 90's S class for 30 000 and finance it. Becuase this car was over $100 000 dollars brand new...the guy who buys it financed to show everyone wuz really up scooping up the S Class, you know he's rich now right?....well the moron forgot to think that the car only a few years ago wuz 100 000, and naturally when an older mercedes breaks down, the repair cost for parts and experianced workmanship on a S Class is still like a 100 000 dollar car, their was a reason it was so expensive when it was new. Then after owning it for a year, he gets his first bit of experiance on how much the car is costing him to fix when it breaks down, and Insurance over charging him for driving a high end veichle.

Now this guys got a problem, everyone thinks he's doing great! and he's rich now since he drives a S-Class...Girls that didn't look at him twice let alone once in high school are calling him up.... but deep down inside he's really not happy about how much this car is costing him to drive and keep up. Now's he's faced with problems such as getting rid of the car and it worries him that everyone will think he lied to them about being rich, maybe gotton fired?, or struggling finacially....he might not get laid for a while....

So What ends up happening is, this guy comes on a user forum like this, and wines about....how his mercedes always breaks down and costs him so much to repair, and how his uncle owned one 30 years ago and it never did.....so now he's got a problem with his mercedes and he's really mad. But the truth to the matter is, he's just broke...and is mad that everyone thinks he's a hero with his S Class but he can't afford to repair it and keep it up to date. In the end people like these fianlly do the math get rid of their car, and go lease another Luxory Car so no one finds out about those expensive mercedes night mares.... So what do mercedes owners get? Only a Image...perhaps and ego...

not many other cars survive the rustbelt without battle wounds either, Benz included.

I'm at the southern end of the rust belt and my honda for years saw road salt between DC and Pittsburgh. Its still in wonderful shape and its an '89.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Did you ever see the bumper sticker that said something like this "Its a Jeep thing if you have to ask you won't understand"?

Thats kind of how it is with MB. I'll take a $30K S430 any day of the week over a new Accord. The MB is just a better driving car period. If someone is making that comparison I suspect they don't have any actual wheel time with a W220.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I drove my friend's s430. with 87k miles, when the transmission gives up and starts to wonder whether R to D will actually work, then a week later the air suspension stops working one has to think. wouldn't it have been better to be driving a brand new accord with 0 miles rather than the s430 with all these issues ?
j/k.

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Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

Nope I'd still take the MB, fix it and move on.

My Dr. has owned a 2000 S430 since new and has never had a problem with it. 50k miles and zero issues, less troublesome then his 300SD which he also bought almost new.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I know a lady at work that has a 2000 S-Class sedan. I am pretty sure it is an S500. She bought it brand new. Last year, I remember her booming about some problems it has had. I especially remember her telling Ms. McCutcheons about "all" of the recalls it has had. She was very cross the last time she had to take the car in for repairs.

I know this was the first year for the new style, so that may have been part of the problem.

Well, I put almost a hundred thousand miles on my AMG C43, which is supposed to be one of the better Mercedes and, as I have stated, it does belong in the same class as my Hondas. My old NSX handles better, is faster, brakes better and more consistantly, is more fun to drive, is more comfortable to drive and is built better. It also has four-valve heads, variable intake and variable cam technology - none of which are in my Mercedes which was built a decade latter.

If someone thinks MB is really better, I suspect they can't see past the badge.....

Your NSX was designed to compete with Ferrari's, I don't think MB even made a car that could compete with the NSX. Maybe the SL600 in a straight line. What did those things cost new $100kish.

Back in oh the late 80's MB had V8's that four overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, and variable valve timing. Look up the M119 V8. You can pick them up real cheap now.

Granted the V6 in the Honda is a great engine, try comparing the specs to the M119. The MB has the Honda for hp, stock at least.

You can't make general statements like that based on the one C class you own.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I just noticed the title of this topic - "Is merecedes too troublesome"?

Just wondering - what is a "MERECEDES" ?

My family has gone through several Mercedes cars. Also, the issues with the C43 are basic engineering problems and fundamental build quality issues, not the kinds of things that would be specific to a particular model.

Folks on here don't seem to have any reservations about bashing Honda - I wonder how many you guys have actually owned.....

Waaay off - MSRP was $57,000.

Riiiiight - my aluminum car is going to rust. Brilliant.

Thats a good thing about living in the southeast - rust is not often (if ever) an issue. When a car originally from here has rust- it is normally not from salts on the road in winter, but rather from the typical high humidity/moisture that normally plagues the southeast year round'.

We get a lot of tourists through here, as a couple of busy freeways pass through and around our city, so I see cars from all over. I see cars from northern Ohio, Michigan, New York, etc- with rust all over. One I often take notice of (since I owned one) are the 90-93 Accords. The typical rust spots are toward the back of the wheelwells and toward the lower front of them as well. A lot I see here from up north are rusty. Ones normally from here have no issues. My old Accord was originally from southern North Carolina before it came here to eastern Tennessee, so naturally, it was rust free - as it had always been a southern car. I sold it to a couple in Rock Hill, South Carolina, so it got to stay in the south.