PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - My anti-MB

pj67coll · #10 05-15-2009, 10:49 AM

My family back in South Africa used to swear by Peugeots. I used to swear at them.
They had, 203's (I think) lot's of 404's, 504's including a couple of wagons. Never had a 505 though there were lots of them about. The ride was fairly smooth. Everything else was crap. No other vehicle I've ever seen in my life rusted as badly as these pieces of junk. Not to mention several family members (including my own parents and I) being stranded in the middle of nowhere when the vehciles overheated. I remember seeing a nice looking 505 in a parking lot of a local grocery store where the driver got out, closed the door and a fist sized chunk of rust fell out of the bottom of the car from the bottom of the fender. Our 404 wagon had such bad rust you couldn't put your feet on the floor in the passenger side in front in the end as the metal had completely eaten away along the left side and front of the floorpan. It was held to the vehicle only by where it joined with the transmission tunnel and the box section under the seat. I also remember my cousin and her husband who'd just bougtht a 504 wagon that they were delighted with. They were supposed to be making a cross country trip from CapeTown to Durban to visit the family. They showed up in a Mercedes 190E instead. The 504 had only been on the road a few hours when it overheated. They had to go back home and borrow one of the fathers Mercedes. Maybe their quality has improved in recent years. But I have no intention of ever bothering to find out.

- Peter.