i continue to be intrigued by this thread.

i once had a salesman in 1990. i would have furnished him a benz. he wanted a honda. accord, i think. he worked for me for two years. the car was remarkable. it never saw the shop. when this salesman left, i retrieved his car and drove it back to my offices[100 mile run].

the car was totally screwed up. no wonder it was so maintenance friendly. nothing had been done to it for 40,000 miles. the engine ran terribly. the alignment was all screwed up[reviewing the salesman's expense reports, i discovered that tires were being replaced every 10k miles].

after 3,000 dollars to bring the car back up to norms, another salesman decided he wanted it. he was more conscientious - at least it received routine oil changes, etc. but, whenever it needed any part, the parts were never in the usa. and the car was always laid up for at least a week. these parts included spark plugs and spark plug boots[extensions], ignition wiring harness.

at 68,000 miles, the auto tranny went south. honda offered no factory rebuilds. a new replacement tranny was quoted at $3,500. at the time, 1993, i recall that this was more expensive than a new replacement tranny from benz for my 1986 560sel. and from benz, i could get a factory rebuild for about $2,500.

the new honda tranny would have to come from japan. had to be paid for in advance from the dealer, delivery time to dealer 7-10 days.

the benz trannies were available within 24-48 hours. no prepay requirement.

eventually, for a 4-banger, 120hp honda tranny we had it rebuilt at aamco for about 2 g's. should have sold the car. because the rebuild didn't make 10,000 miles.

compare this to my 8-banger, 240hp 560sel tranny. rebuilt at approx 210,000 miles for $1,700. at 250,000 miles, working like new.

i want to close by mentioning some japanese design imperatives. by law, cars in japan must be replaced every 6 years. for all practical purposes, japanese cars are designed to this durability requirement. and if you have ever driven in japan, you would recognize that achieving 60,000 miles in 6 years would be quite a feat.

i had a friend with a lexus ls400. he accumulated 60,000 miles in the houston area in less than 4 years. he took his car in for its 60,000 maintenance. he had a heart attack when he picked it up. he didn't want to tell me the cost, but i was able to get him to yes or no it into a range. more than $12,000, less than $15,000.

i have never had any maintenance performed on any of my fleet of benzes that ever came close to this amount of money.

oh, and then there is my personal lexus story for the grand finale. in 2000, i purchased a new lx470. in its first 1100 miles, i had so many problems with it, almost all dealer-caused, that i offered it back to the dealer for the full price i paid for it. without argument, he wrote me a check and re-purchased the vehicle.

i have always felt sorry for the next owner. i told the dealer that he should just keep it in his fleet as a perpetual demo.

enough said.