Reliability should be a large factor... so you prefer to drive the best looking car, let's say, and have it leave you stranded once in a while, have electric bugs here and there, have to pay $400 for a center console, have to depend on your freinds to pick you up from the mechanic in their Hondas, Nissans, and Toyotas, each month it breaks down (of course just "little" glitches). How do you feel that your car has been broken down, more times than all your freinds' jap cars COMBINED?

Of course, each "little glitch" is always $300-$700....

In my case, I did the math. I have had my car for 2 1/2 years, combined service / repairs averaged $140-$150 / month... I just said "f>uck it" if I just add another $100 / month, some down payment, equity on the car, and not worry about having the next "issue" come up.

Did I love my car? Yeah, we all do, that is why we're on this forum, that is why we put up with the **** of these cars.... My conclusion on my second mercedes and having it for the time I did is the following: These cars are for weekend only, you have to have a second car to drive while you work out the glitches in the next problem, check online for possibel resolution, trouble shoot etc on the weekend, or just lease/buy new.... Come on who are we kidding? These were $40K + cars when new, and now we are just "wanna be's"....

I am happy I am out of my E320 and driving Japanese. I have been eyeing the Lexus down the road, we'll see. Mercedes just rides on the brand and that is what sells.... A prestige thing (ie rolex, mercedes, corvette, harley davidson) ... OBVIOUSLY, NONE of these are best in their class, but society likes to show off and be seen with these "status" symbols....

My shop summed it up twice, once this week and last year at one point. I asked him, what model or year bmw/mercedes should I stick with to avoid these issues (I dont' think my car was a lemon, as it didn't have any more issues than what I see here for the most part)..... he said, "listen, they all have issues, if you want to drive 200K miles with no problem, you have to go with Toyota or Honda..."... This is someone who makes money on me and all the other MB / BMW owners, so it behoves him to see me drive more German cars....

I do give it to BMW/MB... they have the best fit, ride, metal, feel solid, etc... around.. the lexus and Infiinity metal feels like a coke can but they are Japanese and more reliable....

Cheers and have fun fixing you Mercedes

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

the lexus and Infiinity metal feels like a coke can.......



That's simply not true.

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11 S550
09 C300
91 560SEL
90 300CE
84 380SE
83 240D

I have taken delivery of a brand new 07 Lexus RX350 the other day. It sure is a sweet ride. Sweeter than a can of coca cola

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joel

Prayers bring forth enlightenment.

Although I don't totally disagree with that point, I feel the need to defend myself and my 126. There are some of us who are capable of buying a new Benz, but prefer the older, more technologically uncomplicated models. Stylistically, IMHO, the 126 is the last of the traditional Benz-looking Benzes. My current 1991 has never stranded me, nor had my previous 126, nor has my 107. That's about 15 years of motoring. I consider that to be comparable to Japanese dependability. The older Benzes are expensive as hell to maintain, but quite predictable and dependable.

Moreover, how about those poor (possibly wealthy) souls who paid $60K to $120K for new Benzes that are giving them the blues now? Certainly you can't consider them to be wannabes. "Betrayed", may be a better description.

I have it on good authority that since the "merger", and the shift in management, quality control has become priority one at Daimler-Benz, as mandated by Dr. "Mustache" in the commercials. Owner complaints have been received and heeded. Judging by Car and Driver, the 2007 Benzes are testing favorably against other high end models, performance-wise. That was not the case 2-3 years ago. We'll see in a few years whether the quality control initiatives have taken hold.

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1991 560SEL (254K miles)
1980 Lincoln Mark VI - Givenchy
1979 Lincoln Mark V Collector's Series
1979 Lincoln Town Car Collector's Series
1979 Ford "Effie" Pickup (in gradual transformation to a show/street truck)
1969 Lincoln Mark III (waiting for "Overhaulin" to call)
1989 Lincoln Towncar
2001 Lexus GS300 (spousal unit's daily driver)

My '96 E320 has both notorious problems of W210 (1) rusty spring perch, fixed and paid 100% my a MB dealer at 71K miles (2) head gasket leaks at 78K miles, paid $1711 out of my own pocket to have it fix. This is not what I have expected for a $50K car... I gave MB a chance, but it failed to have me back as a repeated customer. I will keep current MB until I throw it away (250K+ miles, I hope). This is my first MB and will be my last. I will be going back to my Japanese quality , i.e. Lexus... My '87 Camry has 195K miles without a single problem , only scheduled maintenance. My son's '97 Maxima has 120K miles and still going strong, My friend at work has almost 300K miles on his '96 Maxima, without problems with head gasket, transmission, rusty spring perches... What else do you want? Maybe boring but you can't beat reliability

Well to each his own. I had '90 300E from 100K to 175K. '92 300E from 113K to current 244K. In the total of 206,000 miles there was only 1 instance of being stranded. Now these miles were 95% interstate and travels were long trips all over the Eastern U. S.
There were more than a few replacements of normal wear items.

Now these were not the first years of new model, bad idea generally. They were also not highly computerized. I did a fair amount, but not all of the maintenance work on them. The only thing that almost caused me to switch was the A/C system which went out several times. If my experience had been that I couldn't count on the cars, I would have been done with them.

Operating cost was a consideration. My starting assumption was, and is, that I am not going to sit in a Toyota for hours on end and mile after mile. Therefore, my choice is a car payment of over a grand a month for something I like, or a paid off 100K mile Mercedes with the maintenance cost.

So now I have recently gotten the '97 S320 with 109K, now 115K. Note last three years of model run. The car has full dealer service records so I know where I'm starting. We will see how it goes.

I also stand by my statements about style, status, etc. If they weren't valid reasons for purchasing decision, then Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover would sell no cars. I have great skepticism about reliability surveys.

Steve

My former mechanic (I had an Infiniti G20 back in the day) owned a '94 Maxima that had over 500,000 miles on the odometer.

It was virtually trouble-free. He used to brag that the head had never been removed for work of any kind. Original head gasket. All he had done is routine maintenance and timing belts.

Nissan sure makes a good V6 engine.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

AFAIK there is no timing belt on that engine. Maxima's are ok except the new ones, those are junk. Oh and the torque steer will surprise you if you don't expect it, FWD cars suck.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Mercedes owners should be wealthy or mechanics . I bought my E 320 wagon used with 87K on a 94 . My wealthy neighbor liked mine and got a brand new E320 05-06 500 miles on it , some transmission problem , under warranty installed a new trans. 100 miles later some shift issues over night in the shop.

One fellow said figure $2000 a year on average if you go to a dealer , seems high . I figure once they make 10 k most of the new problems are done , at 100 - 130k is the next run of water pumps - AC fixes - seat motor switches - head gaskets - auto. transmission plates /discs. After that 170K on they just keep going or people don't care as much.

I like the ride, seats , Steel quality , Paint , safety . Yes I am a mech.

You hit the nail on the head.

On my 1993 300E (3.2), at somewhere between 127,000 and 135,000 miles, I had to replace the head gasket, water pump, air pump (pulley rebuild kit), throttle actuator, flex discs, and some other parts that I can't remember.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Wouldn't they think of running enough simulatinos and road tests before putting it on the market and letting the consumer road test it for them to be best? I mean, that iiisssss what the Japanese do don't they?

I think you keep seeing high mileage MBs on the road b/c , like you said, the steel quaility, paint, etc... keeps it together. They stay in pretty good "visual' condition... so you keep putting money into it....as I did as well... but look how many fixes you listed.... that shouldn't be the case...

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

"you hit the nail on the head" so either they are pieces of **** and you need to be working on them all the time or you need to buy new... btw, as you also said, new doesn't mean perfect.... go on any given day to a mb dealer and talk to the customers... the cars are full of little bugs.

I used to read the low ratings , such as consumer reports, edmunds, etc... and used to think "ahh they just are too picky..".... I was wrong , they were right...

I just traded in my 95 e320.... I bought a 4Runner....a used one.... funny thing is, I bought at night, test drove it a bit, asked "where do I sign?".... how many times on here do you hear, "DON"T buy a used mb without a ppi" , "don't buy a used mb without maintainance records" , "don't buy a used MB from one of those hole in the wall dealerhships".... "don't buy without having the mb dealer pull all the maintainance for you", "buy only a certified car', "buy extended warranty".. I DID all the opposite of the above ... I didn't have to worry if they already "changed the evaporator, changed the head gasket, changed the wiring harness, changed the ignition modules"... wait, you only need to worry about that on the German luxury brand that costs $50K+ brand new...

My conclusion? MBs are awsome to ride in and drive....but buy new. As I said previously, if you can't afford new, then don't be a wanna be and drive a used mercedes... MB should sell them like they sell the disposable cameras.. One use and return.... you use it for 2-3 years and return it... wait , that's a lease, LOL... then the next su..c.ker who buys it used gets hosed...

I originally bought the car for me to work on it, but circumstances led me not to go down that road....but even if you work on it "ALL the time" it shouldn't have to be that way....

I'll still be around, but mercedes-less....

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Just traded my 10 year old C280 Sport for an E550. The C280 had 100 K miles on it and I never once took it to a dealer for service. I did most minimal service myself. Car never ever let me down, It was the best of about 30 cars I have owned. As far as I am concerned, don't trouble unless trouble trouble troubles you. The C280 was perfect and in the few miles I have driven my E550, it seems to be well done. BTY, I'm the only driver and never trust a dealer to service my cars. What say you?

YES MBZ are way to troublesome for the money. Back in the early part of last century, when car had hand cranks and magnetos, they were ALL troublesome. Really great cars seem to come from Japan ,Korea, Sweden, US made Japan designs, but not from MBZ anymore. I bet they still make and sell poorly soldered OVP relays that fail just like the original ones did. When MBZ (or was it Bosch) bid out parts production all over Europe, Asia, Mexico and South America, and ignored quality implications--they fell way way down in resulting reliability of the assembled car.

Intrested in getting a 4matic MB since I have to deal with the snow when the season is here, my current e class rear wheel drive tranny really sucks big time in the snow and in the rain. I hear there are alot of problems with the 4matic transmission, what are the problems with the 4matic tranny, from common to rare?