Thanks, Steve. So, had you taken it to the shop for all these repairs, it sounds like the car would have cost you about $265 per month.

Financially, that wouldn't be a disaster for me for a 560SEL that cost me less than $5k initially. However, there are other concerns. Let me ask you this, out of the repairs you've had done, how many, if any, were situations where the car had to be towed rather than driven into the shop?

I live outside of Austin, TX. It will take me about 45 minutes to get to a reliable MB indy. The logistics might be what kills me. I can't drop the car off and catch a taxi.

A few years ago while I was writing a book, I worked for an executive sedan service. I took corporate execs to and from the airport in Houston. Over a two-year period, I drove five different Lincoln Towncars. The first was a `95 with almost 300k. I put anywhere from 200-300 miles a day on those cars and rarely had a problem. The only reason I drove five is we'd get switched around from time to time.

In this particular company, there was no central maintenance facility. We paid a weekly lease on the cars and were responsible for getting maintenance done on our own. I very rarely had any problems with the cars.

I was assuming (or hoping) that the same was true with the MB S-Class cars with the added benefit of higher resale value. It sounds like this isn't the case at all especially if you're not into DIY.

At this point, I'm still undecided.

~Bill