Not only Mercedes,but everything. Even refridgerators don't last like the ones made in the 60s.
It all boils down to greed.Shareholders,CEO's want to increase profit so they can have cash to spend now.They don't care about their children or future generations.Its all about what I can get now,or who I can crush.
It used to be when you worked for a company,you had job security.Now they can up and move to another country,or cut you back to part time.
The only stable employment now is burying the dead,or maybe healthcare.But they will probably part time those jobs too,to prevent benifits.
So buying new products today is really a gamble,for one cars are so expensive you need a mortgage,second they are made cheap.
I will continue to keep my older cars going,far cheaper than payments,insurance.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

"Figures lie and liars figure"

Remember that customer satisfaction is basically whether the customer got what he expected. If I buy a new Kia, I expect it to get from A to B. My new Mercedes OTOH, better not have as much as a rattle or buzz or I'm taking it in for service, and they better get it right the first time.

My Brother was Product Planner for Lexus when they launched, pretty good product but even better marketing. I wouldn't have traded my quattro for a new LS400, my Father's Lexus coupe was at best a reliable car that did things pretty well, but nowhere near the car at speed that even a GTI was. The simple fact is that Toyota (and Honda etc.) did good marketing, decided what the bulk of me-too buyers wanted, built cars with good fit and finish, serviced them extremely well (a huge advantage over my Audi, VW, and Mercedes new-car service experience at the time), and when the JD Powers Initial Quality Survey came out in the first 3months of ownership, the Toyota/Lexus customers were VERY satisfied, ... where those of us who expected more, ... got less and were not satisfied. There is also the fact that my quattro was almost trouble-free for 200k miles (until my daughter crashed it), the Mercedes not so great but most if its problems were crappy service. Another argument that I had at the time was Toyota/Lexus and Honda service and parts prices, ... my Mercedes and Audi parts and service were MUCH less expensive.

I'm happy with the build quality of new Mercedes cars. You get what you pay for, a new A or C class is in Camry price territory, can't expect it to be the same as an S-Class, but the interesting thing is that Mercedes/Daimler has figured out scalability to a point where that new C-class car has many of the same parts as the new S-class, just not as many of them, and the quality is really getting good.

I have yet to decide on the service / customer service, so far it has been excellent, but my car is only 2weeks old, have only driven it 2,000miles, have only been in the service bay with my older cars. However, no rattles, no buzzes, everything works well, getting better performance and mileage than advertised, ... lots of follow-up calls, I don't feel that Toyota is doing it any better. I do expect perfection, ... my Father and Father-in-law only expect an appliance with wheels of their new Avalons.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

OldSinner and I (I suspect) are of generation(s) that remember when a product name meant something. Somewhere, you could find a human being who would take responsibility for it. If not, and you got grief from the product, you never darkened their door again with another purchase.

The refrigerator reference is one I use all the time myself. People still have old beer fridges grunting away in basements and garages, that were probably made when I was in diapers. I see new ones that look maybe five years old out in the trash all the time. Don't get me going on the numbers of small appliances and some not so small (gas barbeques) that go to landfill way beyond their time. It's a disgrace. We are burying ourselves in cheaply produced garbage. Cars are far from the worst offenders.

We have decided, speaking as a collective psyche, that lifestyle and bling trump all. Better to buy more junk now that lasts a few years or that you don't bother to take care of (gas BBQs and lawn mowers left outside in our nasty winters, for example) than buy something durable and take care of it.

The collective mentality of this period will be harshy reviewed when they write history books in an age to come. They will call us the "Plastic Age".

We are no better than the early years of the industrial revolution. Instead of children dying in factories, we send our nasty work overseas and let others work in poverty to support our greed. It's a disgrace.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I think to attribute the success of the Japanese marques to marketing leaves out a large part of the equation.

Lexus, for example, had a very simple philosophy for their service departments: Treat customers as you would like to be treated. Amazing how many other automakers haven't managed to wrap their heads around that.

One thing I was taught by an auto insider years ago was that, when you go to a dealer to check out a new car, be sure to check how close the service department reception is to the showroom. The further away the service desks are, the higher likelihood there are un-pleasantries on a regular basis, and one day you may be on the receiving end.

When I owned my Magnum, for example, the service reception was down a 35-foot corridor, and through a set of doors, off the main dealer showroom and offices. That certainly said something, and sure enough in the end I had to invoke everything short of the Wrath of Khan to make the service manager honour a secret recall that existed for faulty valves (they wanted me to pay for a $1500 valve job on a car with just over 60k miles). It was a well known issue on the Dodge forums, for the 3.5 V6s.

At Lexus the service advisors are in open view, about 20 feet from the customer lounge and showroom areas with no barriers in between. I would guess Toyota is the same but haven't been in one of their dealers.

I seem to recall that Saturn made a big thing at their launch of having the service desks right in the showroom. However based on the local dealer that opened years after their launch, that went away at some point (the service desk was very well insulated from the showroom).

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

You would need a large sample to determine durability of those fridges. As for ones ( few ) still working in peoples basements, they are at the far end of the failure bell curve. If these 60's fridges lasted so long, why are there not more of them still in use?

That has long been the rallying cry of those that are not in control of their destiny ( or at least make an effort to affect the trajectory ) Do you shop at Wall mart? If so, I bet you go there for low prices correct? Who's greedy now? Why are you not a CEO of some company? Do you have any retirement investments are they in the stock market? If so, do you want the stock market to do well?

Technology is ever changing requiring less and less labor to produce. Take a TV with a glass picture tube, it required vast factories and much equipment to make a tube. An LCD screen takes much less space and equipment. A company can't keep the former CRT people working and not earning their keep so they have to let them go. And what drove the switch from CRT to LCD? I'd say is the customer in the store wanting a large screen TV that didn't weigh 400 Lb. Companies more or less build what people are willing to buy new and often pay the least for.

Don't bet on it, go here CPI Inflation Calculator and type in what a car cost in the day and convert it to today's money. Now compare what is in the new car and how many miles it is expected to last. Do the same for tires and other things you bought in the day. Some went up due to increased costs to produce but most goods went down.

I recently saw a U tube vid from GE talking about automation, it stated the a home light bulb cost $ 0.25 in 1955 , that would be $ 2.24 today. A quick web search shows a 2,500 HR life 60W bulb for $ 0.40 . Still think things were cheaper in real dollars in the old days?

It wasn't that long ago that a car with 100,000 was unheard of let alone being offered for sale at a reputable dealers lot as is today.

When you take into consideration the actual cost per mile for an older car in the day and newer one today I'm thinking the actual cost nor a newer one is lower.

Well sure, fixing an older car is always less expensive per mile than buying a new one ( unless you pile miles on the need a 100% reliable car with near zero down time. ) However, what would you have said about your current car back in the day when it was new and a then 20 year old car?

This documentary on planned obsolescence should clear things up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1j0XDGIsUg

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1983 300D Midnight Blue
4 speed, W115 intake mani, non-EGR exhaust mani, KKK K26, 3 pc Euro bumpers, Lo-spec Euro headlights, AL129X, hubcaps, custom A/C

1987 300TD Smoke Silver
Euro headlights, thermostat relocation, coolant bypass mod, rebuilt Becker + Jehnert + Helix audio, OEM Oris roof boxes and surfboard racks, Euro towbar

1983 300TD Reed (Moss) Green / Dark Olive MB Tex Euro spec

1983 300TD Silver Blue / Blue cloth Euro spec, OM648 and 722.6, 15" hubcaps, W126 S2 brakes

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/vintage-mercedes/377456-1970-prices-cars-options.html

For car prices in 1970 and today, read post 1 and 4 , still think that old cars were cheaper back then?

As for post 36 in the current thread, I'm on a slow connection and can can't view the link. if cars never wore out, where would all the auto workers, repair techs , parts store people be working? If appliances never wore out, where would people in that field work?

If it wasn't for a person taking a risk, opening a business and hiring help, where would the vast majority of people be working?

A person can complain that " the big man is holding the little man down" Or they can work on becoming not so little, it's your choice.

Because the newer ones are more energy efficient and there are numerous government programs with rebates and incentives to pull the old, usually still working just fine one out of service.

Same thing with the CRTs. Some of them are still in excellent working condition even after 20+ years, but most have already been retired due to the lower power spec of LCDs. Many LCDs have problems after five years and are built for functional obsolescence.

I think that depends on how many miles you drive each year.

Dkr.

I remember well when this happened. I lived in Fort Lauderdale back in the 1960's and 1970's. Lauderdale is just another big city now, but back then it was something else. It was still kind of small and it was where the people on the East Coast who didn't have to work went to spend the winters. I remember in 1972 when that 116 450SE came out. All of a sudden the rich people sat up and took notice. Before that, Benzes were, let's be generous and say they were staid looking. Certainly not sexy. But that 450SE was a car you could drool over. Overnight it seemed like half the cars on the streets down there were 450SE's.

Curiously, it also seemed like overnight they all disappeared at once. Much like the Dodge Stealth/Mitsibishi 3000. I bought one for my wife. The streets were full of them, and then all of a sudden they were all gone.

Richard

If you asked the same question, "What happened to the quality of Mercedes?" on the MBCA web site forum you would be banned.

As a point of reference, the largest supplier of home refrigerators to the US market is Haier, a Chinese company. Haier private labels for many brands, about half of the fridges sold here come from their factories. They recently bought GE's appliance division.

I think the reasons that old fridges disappear are changing priorities. Energy efficiency. Styling. Size. Color. I suppose an avocado colored fridge from the 60's or a brown fridge from the 70's would still work, but who would want it in the age of stainless steel?

That's too bad. I've had pretty good luck with GE appliances up to now.
I grew up with an avocado fridge and my current home has an avocado bathroom.
I'm not throwing cocktail parties in the bathroom, and at least it's not PINK!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Those were probably the first Mercedes sedans to appeal to a much wider market than just loyal followers of the marque. For those new buyers, when the W126 came out, the W116s became as outdated as a '49 Dodge!
Personally, I prefer the 'staid looking' cars Mercedes built for 'smart people'. IMHO, the W123 was the last gasp of that philosophy!

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

My beef with automakers in general is why the price increase every year.They try and say technology,but I want a custom truck,with manual windows,a heater,rubber floor,and a lighter..They use CNC's now,robot welders,and painters.Water color paints,chinese parts and mexico labor.Why the increase?Personal computers started in the thousands,now $400.Who is screwing who?

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

I want a simple, roomy, reliable Mercedes, that I can see out of and repair myself, with manual heat-AC and a stick-shift, and not infested with computer-chips. OH yeah. I have that already with my '82 240D and '84 Euro 300TD.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW