same sentiments as Cossie here ...

when people ask what type of car i drive, i answer in the most generic, need-to-know manner i can, like, "sedan" or "small 4-door". If they dig deeper i say "German". If they persist and i want to show it's none of their business, i say "white". If i think they are sincere/non-judgemental or car enthusiasts like me, i tell them the exact model. At least nowadays you could say "Daimler-Chrysler" ...

what i'm trying to figure out is that my car costs less than half a brand-new honda civic yet i get labelled for owning a benz. Would never happen to a honda driver.

For those i care to explain to, i tell them the reasons i bought the car - for the engineering features and the autobahn breeding. If the car is with us, i show them how solidly the door thunks and tell them it's a 10yr-old.

when i was applying for a car loan, even the loan officer made a remark about the car. I explained that it was a 10yr-old car, but she said that it was "still a Mercedes Benz"

i am a rather low-profile, non-descript person, and when walking towards my car in a parking lot with other people walking towards theirs, i could see through my peripheral vision how they would do a double-take when i open my door.

my car's star has been swiped a couple of times and the second time, i just grinded and smoothed off the base of the star. It also has some conspicuous rust in one of the fenders. At least these details will tell them that i'm not the rich guy they think the image says. And the absence of the star tells them that i'm not after the image.

the best way to tell them why i bought a benz is on the highway. With the right pedal doing the talking ...

I have a friend who once had a Corvette and he complained that mysterious stratches and gouges, or "keying", was always happening to it. Any high end car can be the target of this kind of stuff. A "locus of class conflict" is the way academics refer to something like this. Of course, it is also simple envy. One reason I just drive beaters.

I have a long journey to work and home each day in my classic 74 240D, 124 miles from Spring City to down town Chattanooga (TN) and back every day. I respect others right of the road, if some one comes up behind me or I come to a steep hill, I play right lane. I try to play fair! Most of the time I don't have any trouble at all. But sometimes I find that Mr. Lincoln wants to ride my a+2s', so I end up with my foot on the floor giving him the old
D - smokescreen (HA HA!!!). Also some people say "Thats one of those HIGH
DOLLAR cars, when they are driving a 05 or 06 something or other. I don't
have the hart to tell them that it only cost me 1/10th of what they will
be paying the next 5 years. Just to sum it up I LOVE MY OLD OIL BURNIN'
SMOKE BOMB and don't care what anyone thinks!!!!!!

The Shopboy
74 240D - Daily Driver

I got my 1st benz in 1990 it was a 1989 190E 5sp.. I loved that car.
I had it parked in my driveway and the neighbors started to look out the windows and thought I was selling dope or something like that.. little did they know I gave less for that car than most of the cars on the block.. I never had the car egged or rocked.. (kept it in the garage at nights..) i did notice the
rude behavior of other drivers on the road..

So what did I do.. told the neighbors I needed to move to a new area so I bought a new house and got a E420..
I just would out run anyone that thought about getting beside me..
The E420 has a kick that I was totally shocked..

I've driven nothing but Mercedes for over 15 yrs now..

So Long live the Mercedes Benz owners and down with the Haters..

We work hard for the finer things in Life and Mercedes are as Fine as they come!!

So far, no one has messed up my car, one morning I went downstairs and the star on the hood was lop sidded so I think somebody might have tried to yank it but failed. I would go seriously berserk if somebody really messed up my car. I do take care where I drive and where I park. Fortunately the first two years I owned my Benz I lived in Nova Scotia where people don't really vandalize cars adn if you drive a nice one people go "wow" rather than get upset. One time I had my 87 DeVille parked at a mall in Hamilton, Ontario and as I was getting in I heard some ugly middle aged woman sneer, "wow, posh Cadillac". I don't know what is wrong with some people. People don't realize that if you own an older Benz (difficult for 99% of people to tell the age of a Benz within 15 years I find) that you are not some snotty rich punk trying to show off, and if you are well do to and own a brand new Benz that you can afford it because you earned it. All I know is that if I ever caught someone in the act of messing with my car....

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Jason Priest
1986 420SEL

I hate the mercedes status symbol.


I worked hard for a car thats 5 years older than me. Being in the suburbs South-Eastern Detroit kinda scares me now. The Hood ornament was stolen before I even bought the car. I've never seen a car with such great OEM companys, and a great look. Sleek, yet boxy.

and to think in europe some mercedes cars are used as taxis. (as another member has brought up)

no none of those.

who am i kidding. there are thousands of them over there.

tom w

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Funny thing about the MB is how mechanics treat you too. I've seen independent mechanics break down and cry like babies because its a Mercedes that rolls into their garage.

At first the muffler shop panicked in terror about building a pipe system for the 240D. I had to practically punch em to get them to put it on the lift after they stopped sobbing and weeping from the initial shock. Ended up with a darned fine custom muffler system with aluminized pipes for less than $200.

It's funny because Mercedes are actually easy to work on, lots of room under the hood.

maybe they're scared?

__________________
-1983 VW Rabbit LS Diesel (5speed, VNT/Giles build)

A lot of it is misperception by people who can't do math. There is not a lot of price difference between a new BMW, Legend, Infinity, Lincoln, or Cadillac. In fact, the more expensive models of the competitors may cost more than the less expensive MB models. Certainly with the increasing popularity of leases, the price points become meaningless.
18 months ago I developed an urgent need for a reliable car, so I bought my father's MB from his estate. I was reluctant to do this, because I didn't know anything about MBs except their snob appeal. My enthusiasm was developed over time after I dealt with the stereotype. (When in high school, my son and his friend were picked up after school by the friends mother in there newest MB. My son's friend asked if he was impressed by their 'expensive new MB' - the mother told me that my son replied "why should I be impressed by a car that much of the world uses as a taxi!" The mother told me she laughed so hard it was tough to control the car).
I suspect that education of the rest of this country will be very difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish by talk. It is rather like the issue of radiation. You can quote facts (The largest occupationally exposed group in the world is not N plant workers or X-ray techs, it is airline flight crews. Cigarettes have more radioactive material in them per gram than any other consumer product. Coal power plants produce more long lived rad waste than n plants, but unlike n-plants, the coal rad waste is exempted by the EPA and released to the atmosphere. Most rad waste in the country is from medical treatments and cancer research. etc. etc. etc.) It doesn't make any difference, people know what they know and are difficult to re-educate.
It will be a big waste of time to tell your friends "My MB cost less than yours because you will replace yours 3 times in the 20 years I am keeping mine." "My MB cost less than yours because it came with all the suspension and brakes I need, and you had to upgrade yours to get my level of handling." etc. etc. etc. They won't listen.
Just smile, enjoy the car, and let one of the critics drive it over a twisty road or for an 8-10 hour trip . End of argument.

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JCE
87 300E, 65k miles
Smoke Silver

ditto.

Have not had anything targeted at my car (yet?), but then again I live in this country's german car capital and I doubt that my lowly 1993 is worthy of some hood's attention.

Some of the comments I get are funny though. Short story:

Pulling into the local shopping center I turned wide and my neighbor (of all people) had to stop short on her way out to let me through. She trite-ly said something to the effect of "What?! All you mercedes drivers think you've bought the road too?!"

A couple of weeks later I was talking with her in the front yard and having a look at her brand-new loaded Accord 4-cyl. She proudly told me that she "only" paid $24k for it and that it came with a "great" 3yr/36k warranty. She further went on to say that although my car is beautiful, she could personally NEVER see spending THAT kind of money on a CAR.

I didn't have the heart to tell her I bought my car for almost $10k less, in MINT condition with only 53k miles on the clock.

What that has to do with this thread I've lost all idea, but I tend to think that people who are knee-jerk MB haters are pretty stupid and definately ignorant, seeing as how just about anyone can afford a good, reliable MB.

Then again, I'm a pretty arrogant guy and get the hell out of my way...

Aftr buying my '87 260E, I let my wife drive it rather than drive it to work because of all the stuff one has to put up with. I finally got over it after I had owned it a couple of years. I had the hood star stolen in my driveway and did not replace it for a year and a half until I moved to the country. I figured that if "they" were that intent on my not having the star then why bother.

Boy. In view of the comments listed here, I'm sure glad I live in the San Francisco Bay Area ––*at least as far as cars are concerned. German (and other european) cars are as common here as rabbit droppings in a lettuce patch. I can't afford to buy a house within 100 miles of my job, but at least no body beats up my car.

John

Call me naive, but I'm confused by this thread. I've been driving Benz products for so many years I shudder to even stop and think about it. I've driven them in the Plano, Texas area where a Benz is as common as a Suburban, and that's pretty common here. I've also driven them in the boondocks of East Texas and absolutely all over the surrounding states, small towns as well as big cities.

I must be naive, because I've never noticed any treatment or comment that is different from the way I'm treated in my 22 year old 4X4 pickup, or my wife's 4Runner, or my Corvette.

Just call me naive,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 523K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

I must agree with you all, I can remember a few stories with a benz.

- Back in '88 when I was about 10, mi dad decided to drive from Guatemala to LA in our 230TE wagon he had bought the year before and so we went. On our way back we stayed in Mexico City for 2 days and some thiefs broke all the left side windows on the car and stole our jackets and other stuff in the car. And so we looked for the MB dealer to see if we could have it fixed. Since we didn't know the city, as we were driving we saw a group of soldiers on the side of the road, which were blocking some sort of drive way. To our amaze the soldiers all got out of the way and opened the barricades for us to go through. At the end of the road we got to this nice big building and a security person asked us the reason for our visit. So my dad told the guy we were just lookin for the MB dealer. THe security guy almost flipped, and said to please leave the Presidents house imediatly.

-I also find it true that people cannot see that my car is 15yrs old. I am actually shy to tell people the car I drive, because most think I drive it to show off or something; while actually it is the just the only reliable car I can afford while still in college. Besides if I get runover by a an ever popular SUV, I will still be alive.

- And yes, my car has had the egg thrown at it while it was parked at the movies.

my $0.02