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We have a 16 year old Mazda in our family that is easily the most reliable car we've ever owned. It has required little other than routine maintenace, except:
Nothing before 133,000km's. Then after that:
New struts front and rear, and fronts are shot again
New alternator
New radiator
New battery (a few)
Dash illumination replaced
Pretty good for 16 years and about 170K-miles. The AC is on the way out, and that'll be an expensive repair. I'm debating keeping the car as insurance rates have gone up, but it's a durned handy thing to have.
The real kicker is the driveline. We're for sure on borrowed time on the electronic four speed auto box. Also, the engine will need some top-end attention soon. Neither of these things will be done by us. If the tranny lunches, the car is towed away. No way would I drop $2500 on a car worth half that.
Here's the problem. A 16 year old Benz still has value. It must have, otherwise why on earth would anyone do anything more than a minor repair to one? Fix a 1990 anything? Huh? Why do people expect their 14 year old MB to have new car like reliability? The very fact that the cars have strong engines is AMAZING to people that own old cars. Check out those "great" 1988, 1989, or 1990 Honda Accords. They're buckets compared to any similar vintage Mercedes. Our Mazda is a great car, but drives like crap, looks like crap, and is not worth anything to anyone but us. If that's what you want, go ahead.
Now, my family experience has been marginal on new MB products. The C230 has been good (until my tranny recently) but our E300 was terrible. I personally think MB could do better on many fronts, and 3-5 year relability is one of them. Yes, the bottom end of the engine will last until I'm too old to drive, but so what if I've replaced $25,000 worth of electronic items in the meantime?
MB has been chasing new customers, and their wish came true. Unfortunately, many of these customers are moving "up" from Accords and Camrys. They expect MB to do at least as well during the first 3-5 years, and they're not. These folks were weaned on Japanese cars built i the "age of automotive reliability" (post 1988-ish) and have grown used to things running smoothly. What they don't know is that the simpliest MB is more complex that the most complex Camry.
MB has reaped what the sowed.
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