I love my proud-to-be 'pre-1996' MB. I have all the luxury of a new mid/top end car (as in windows rolling up when the car is locked from outside or the driver's door not locking up if the key was not used to lock the car, *I am scared to death to lock the keys in the car, so I am fond of that feature*), reliablity, and low-cost in one little pink package. I just finished installing a stereo system into my friend's '66 Mustang, and I love my car even more (there should be no comparison engineering-wise, but I am just mad at all the wounds I recieved from the moron - so many metal parts sticking out with no use whatsoever, I nearly got killed just tucking away the wires under the carpet).
Is it me or did MB lose its famous reliabilty when it got to the states? Might an agreement made in 1995 allowing MB for US market to be assembled in either US or South America be the reason? Germans are famous for attention to details and making sure by hand that every bolt and nut is tight in their cars, might the US assembling factories be a bit less attentive, thus causing MB to start falling apart right from the conveyor? MHO - result of reading long and ugly descriptions from people who wanted to get reliability and got something scary.
Thinking about it now, I can't really believe that MBUSA factory would not be able to make sure the quality is the first (well, at least second) priority on its list.
site: http://www.mercedes-benz-usa.com

mb forever