Oh my, 100,000 miles ...

[BodhiBenz1987]

... my newspaper's "moms club" Web site has a discussion board going now asking if anyone has over 100,000 miles on their car. The posts express amazement that their cars have such staggering mileage on them, or that anyone would be so crazy as to hang in there with a car that's so old. It made me laugh ... and that's when I realized it: I've become a high-mileage snob.

Lol nothing new to me I work at a fairly "rich" place and people are amazed that not only do I drive old cars but I call a car with 200,000 miles on it a good deal lol.

[Fulcrum525]

Originally Posted by helpplease

Lol nothing new to me I work at a fairly "rich" place and people are amazed that not only do I drive old cars but I call a car with 200,000 miles on it a good deal lol.

Tell me about it, I used to never hear the end of it.....until all those morons spent themselves into debt and got their fancy new cars repoed leaving me with the only Mercedes-Benz :coo l:

[Rahulio1989300E]

For me, it's a choice between an 80's or early 90's W124 or a newish Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic... etc...

There is just no way I could be as happy with one of the newer cars. I have driven a few of them, been a passenger in a few too. Just not my thing. I guess I like the Civic Type R and SE-R Sentra, but only for their rev happy engines. Don't really like the styling of build quality but, I would drive windows down all the time I could in those just to hear the engine. I like 1st generation Miatas because they really are a blast to drive and extremely simple to work on for the most part. Convertibles are always fun on the right roads and with the correct weather. Driving one in downtown Atlanta might not be fun.

I am happy with 300E, I guess there is some strange motivation about trying to make the older cars last as long as possible. It's rewarding and frustrating at times... but overall can be positive experiences. I don't think it is a feeling of smugness that I drive an older Mercedes-Benz, but more of a feeling of I am capable of saving money and enjoying an older car that I can maintain by myself.

I can see myself trying to drive W124s far into the future, once you work on a particular car and engine combo you learn about all the quirks, what to watch out for etc. You acquire a particular set of parts so it makes more and more sense that if you want to drive an older model of a brand stick with that one... at least it does to me, for now.

Is it weird that I have an excel sheet of a list of all spare parts I have for my car... ?

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by BodhiBenz1987

... and that's when I realized it: I've become a high-mileage snob.

Welcome to the club Did you tell the moms about your 364,000 mile 240D?

Fulcrum a while back both of my bosses were having car trouble one has a 2001 Jeep Grandcherokee and had to replace the motor in it (overheated once and the head cracked wide open) then she had to replace the entire rear end (bolt came loose inside the houseing and chewed up the gears) all of this is in the past year. Then my other boss had to replace a wiring harness in her 2004 VW Toaureg 1,200 dollars get a new computer for it another 2,000 dollars and now just had to get her brakes done 1,200!!!! dollars for rotors and pads on all four corners!!! My cars cost over the past year about 300! Diesels forever!!!

[pawoSD]

Originally Posted by helpplease

Fulcrum a while back both of my bosses were having car trouble one has a 2001 Jeep Grandcherokee and had to replace the motor in it (overheated once and the head cracked wide open) then she had to replace the entire rear end (bolt came loose inside the houseing and chewed up the gears) all of this is in the past year. Then my other boss had to replace a wiring harness in her 2004 VW Toaureg 1,200 dollars get a new computer for it another 2,000 dollars and now just had to get her brakes done 1,200!!!! dollars for rotors and pads on all four corners!!! My cars cost over the past year about 300! Diesels forever!!!

Yeah no kidding. Where I used to work a guy had a gas hog 2005 Silverado....he had to have a ton of work done to it around the 70,000 mile mark.....$$$.....and was complaining about it. I can't believe what people spend on their vehicles.....he spent more on that repair than I do in YEARS of maintaining my W126... I average about $500-600 a year or so....maybe more if I decide to "improve" something. But its still all peanuts compared to what new-car owners spend.

When I am with my wife's extended family and they get to car chatting, its always amazing when a car reaches 100k....(few of them have a car over this).....when I say my diesel is at 280k....or the 300E is at 139k.....etc...their eyes frost over and they have a hard time believing it.

I really did feel bad for them its not that they didn't take care of their cars and such they were just chunks of crap!!! They spent more one repair each than I paid for one of my cars!! Not good and an entire brake job for my car costs around 300-350 front and rear and rotors and bearings......crazy anymore the costs of having others do things to your car....


Lol I know all about in-laws and cars.....my father in law thinks my cars are death traps!!! Its really quite funny you couldn't pay me enough to drive his Chevy trailblazer P.O.S

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by BodhiBenz1987

... my newspaper's "moms club" Web site has a discussion board going now asking if anyone has over 100,000 miles on their car. The posts express amazement that their cars have such staggering mileage on them, or that anyone would be so crazy as to hang in there with a car that's so old. It made me laugh ... and that's when I realized it: I've become a high-mileage snob.

That would be just about every one of my employees, friends and acquaintances, who don't understand why I would drive older cars. Even my wife's '03 Ody is thought of as old.

Might want to let those newspaper moms know that it might behoove them to keep their paid-off cars longer given the state of the industry.

[LUVMBDiesels]

I pride myself on not having a car with under 100000 miles on the road! The Jeep doesn't count because she has never been on the road or registered.

One of my friends has a 2007 Volvo S60 she just picked up a few months ago with under 30K on it. She cannot believe that my old MB 300 SDL is so much bigger, classier, and gets better gas mileage than her Volvo! Of and it has 310000 miles on it Of course the Benz does not have 3 computers, a dozen airbags, etc... I just say that is more stuff to go wrong.

Out of the three road cars the Chevy has been the most troublesome actually stranding me twice due to electronic failures.

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

Out of the three road cars the Chevy has been the most troublesome actually stranding me twice due to electronic failures.

I have a great old Dodge van/truck but if I could find the right diesel, I'd give it up. I need something bigger to haul and I don't like the Sprinter. Too much like a bread truck. Plus dealers are stupid when it comes to them. Maybe an Unimog or a biodiesel Hummer......hard to find tho. I don't want a Civilian Hummer

Gotta wait until the little Dodge s-box with 200k gives up the ghost and would stick to diesel Benz and Citroen gas cars.

[pwogaman]

When I recently put my 300TE through emissions the technician was absolutely amazed and astounded that the car passed with 225K miles. He thought for sure it would fail. He later said it had some of the cleanest results he had seen.

Of the 5 cars I have now only one is under 100K, my wife's Saab. I still prefer driving my other cars that are 10 years older and have 100K MORE miles than hers.

[LUVMBDiesels]

Originally Posted by strelnik

I have a great old Dodge van/truck but if I could find the right diesel, I'd give it up. I need something bigger to haul and I don't like the Sprinter. Too much like a bread truck. Plus dealers are stupid when it comes to them. Maybe an Unimog or a biodiesel Hummer......hard to find tho. I don't want a Civilian Hummer

Gotta wait until the little Dodge s-box with 200k gives up the ghost and would stick to diesel Benz and Citroen gas cars.

If you want something to haul things around in, I would stay away from the Military Humvee.. It is huge outside, cramped inside and as slow as a 240D. Unless you are going through a battlefield I would stick to a commercial vehicle like a Diesel K2500 Burban, which I WISH I had bought or just get the bread truck Sprinter. Just my 2 cents

[BodhiBenz1987]

Well, I will say to these women's credit, at least they were proud to have cars that they are sticking with ... as opposed to sometimes when I overhear people whining "oh my car has 110,000 miles, I've got to get a new one!". But it was still funny ... I did really want to register and post the mileages of my MBs ... I mean, I'm not a mom, but I do treat my cars like they're my kids.

[Hatterasguy]

Mercedes will run forever.

But new ones are pretty good too...