I'm just getting started!

Persevere!! We are with you all the way, never mind those nattering nabobs of negativism!!

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Then simply ignore us Hopeless,hysterical hypocrites of history!!

Sorry to hear of all this pain you folks are having with your "newer" Mercedes. But, I have to smile deep in my blackened soul: My ex wife recently purchased a 1999 E320 (?). I cant wait for the fun to begin on her end

Meanwhile, my 82 300D keeps rolling along.

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"Ninja monkeys are meeting as we speak, plotting my demise."

1982 300D "Melba" 332k
1985 4Runner "billygoat" 204k

I am with you on that one. The one big reason I love the '83 is because it is completely mechanical and I can understand it. The '84 BMW has Jetronic injection, but still has a lot of mechanical bits as well as it is not too bad but the 1999 is a complete mystery and I cannot deal with it.

I miss setting dwell, timing, carb jetting, etc. Used to be you could tune a car by ear with nothing more than a screwdriver, feeler gauge, and a spark plug wrench.

However for you guys who still want a new MB don't give up yet. They are getting better at least according to my friend doing QA on their parts suppliers. They have gotten the message that their cars are unreliable and are trying to fix it. They do not want to become the Jaguar of the 2000's
I feel for you guys with cars from 1992-2003 though they went through ten years of producing crap ummm EXPENSIVE crap. Oh, they had excuses like "MB cars have to be on the cutting edge of technology to please our customers, that is why our cars have teething issues not found in lesser brands" I say that is crap nobody should be a guinea pig for a car company- that's what prototypes are for. I think they got this through their heads with the new C-Class...

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

lol - man, you guys are bitter! While I do understand the frustration, I have to disagree in some areas.

My E430 has been a dream thus far. Consider that these cars are close to 10 years old. Consider that they cost upwards of $70-80 new. I paid a mere fraction of that, $16K. Say you lease a new Audi or BMW for $500/mo over 4 years, $3000 down. That's $27,000. So, if you add in $10K for repairs over 4 years for the E430, and you are still better off than leasing a new car, which would cost more and leave you with nothing at the end of the lease. $10K can fix a LOT of problems and of course a 10 year old car will have problems.

People think that just because it is a Benz, it should last forever. The older chassis cars were infinitely more simple in all areas. So, yes, they are easier to maintain and service. I miss tuning the dual carbs on my 1971 250, but those days are gone, plain and simple. Time to break out the OBDII scanners. Apples to oranges. Do I miss the way my 250 drove? Hell no!

The major areas in my mind are the chassis, engine and tranny. There are plenty of happy 210 owners out there driving high-mileage cars that just keep going and going. I look at the features my car has - ESP, power everything, xenons, rear electric sunshade, rain-sensing wiper, etc. and I can't think of another car that could match the luxury, safety and performance I get with my E430 - not for the same numbers.

Visit ANY car forum and you will find the same gripes. Lexus, VW, Audi, BMW...each and every forum will have a post like this.

Bottom line is that with any car, a lot of it comes down to luck. Maintenance and diligence play a key but after that it is luck.

My W124 - considered one of the best MB's ever - had its own share of problems. Same with the W123 that preceeded it, etc. Looking back fondly on past cars seems to bring a tad of selective memory along with it (myself included).

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

I turned 16 in 1973, so my introduction to cars involved cars from that era. My neighbor back then was a Brit and the best mechanic I have ever known. He really was a wizard and he really did not like German cars. Looking back, I don't know how much of his distaste for German cars came from the Germans bombing the heck out of his hometown during WWII and how much was based on an objective view of cars. It took me years to realize that German cars were not crap, at least not all German cars.

He did make some persuasive arguments against cars of that era from Benz and BMW. Those were some very high maintenance cars, so maybe the late 90s and early 2000s were not the only Mercedes cars with quality problems.

Thanks to engineered obscolescense, new cars (pick your brand) are designed to make it through that 1st 4 year lease or payment period as trouble-free as possible. After that it's all gravy. They don't have the 2nd, 3rd or 4th owner in mind because they're not the ones buying or leasing the new car.

Back in the heyday, the purpose was to build the best car possible and they would last for decades. But why go to the expense on the bottom line when the average new car buyer buys a new vehicle every 4-5 years or just leases them. The relatively recent "Certified Used Car (or M-B Star Mark)" connotation allows the dealers to fix the known weak link parts and get another buyer for the next car loan term. By then the "useful" life has been expended as far as the manufacturers are concerned. If the average buyer drove a car for 10 years the engineering may very well be different.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Half the people in my office drive late model MB's, they are all perfectly happy.

Drove an 07 CLK550 today. Great car, only 6k miles on it so far but totaly trouble free.

Faster then hell to, that V8 sounds sweet!

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

That's exactly what I plan to do. I thought highly of MB until I bought the current car. Benz screwed up, not me.

Jeeze! Where were you guys when I was trying to defend myself for buying a Lexus, instead of another Benz?!

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

You bought a Lexus??!!! OMG, you ... you, ... you CONSERVATIVE!

Lots of people seem to think its a good move to trade in there MB's for "good cars".

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

the next sedan I buy will be either a GS 300 or GS 400. Bulletproof, fast, comfy, mod friendly.

I drove a 98 GS 400 with exhaust, intake, LSD and a chip that was a blast and sounded great to boot. That V8 in those cars is a sweetheart.

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"Ninja monkeys are meeting as we speak, plotting my demise."

1982 300D "Melba" 332k
1985 4Runner "billygoat" 204k

Then, I was enjoying my 1995 E320.
Now, after 4K miles in a car with 66K miles I am enjoying it much less. My previous Benz, an '87 300TD with 275K on the clock, had no component failures in almost 20 years of use.
BTW, the parts manager at the local Benz dealership tried to console me with the fact that the SL500 also experiences a very common failure of the A/C evaporator, but it takes 30 hrs to replace; not the 22 hrs required for my E320. I'll wager it takes less time for Benz to build an entire car than it takes to change out an evaporator.