I have had my 240D for only a couple months, but i bought it because i knew mercedes, expecially the older diesels, were an excelent investment, of course my baby is 23 years old and things are going to go wrong, But let me say this, i just replaced the starter in my car, I come to find out, that that is the orginial starer on my car. ITS 23 YEARS OLD!! how many Hondas do u know that can do that? Also my car has abot 238K on it, and starts up faster and better than my 97 Nissan altima with only half the miles. I dont care how much money i have to put into my mercedes, I wanta keep this thing running forever!

__________________
1983 Euro 240D 277K
2016 Mazda 6
Coming Soon, 2013 Mercedes E350 Bluetec
Formers:
2012- Mazda 3
2007 Outlander- complete pile
1995 E300 Diesel 208K
2007 VW Passat 2.0T 63K SOLD
2003 Jaguar X-type 3.0 Sport Sold 04/11 w/88K
2009 Lexus RX350 9061 miles. Sold 04/09
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS:Totaled Sept.,09 @ 24,000
2003 Infiniti I35 58K Sold
1984 300 turbo diesel 222K

If you own both at the same time like a Jap car and German,I tend to agree Jap built car that last longer and less maintenance. I have civic VX 92. That little thing give me 48 m/g and hardly ever need any work on it. Now I own MB E320 1995 I am 2nd owner. I like my MB too but I have to agree that cost of maitainnance is high. But man ! It is worth paying for that cost I look cool on MB

So nkpnkp, are you saying you only have a MB to look cool? I mean, are you saying MB's aren't really better, but they cost more, keeping most people out of them. Are they just for people on low on self esteem?

Some of you guys are scaring the **** out of me! I just bought a 1993 300E from a very reputable MB garage that also sells used MB's. They have maintained the car since selling it to the previous owner in 2001. It has had a full valve job, heah gasket, radiator, wiring harness, brakes, etc. I felt very comfortable buying this car as a daily driver that would give me 100k trouble free miles; after reading some of these posts I'm not so sure.

__________________
1993 300E 2.8 185k miles
2006 Mustang Convertible 4.0 Eaton Supercharged

okay there is really only one thing wrong with mercedes benz and the same thing is wrong with all of them.if you spend two hours in the left front seat driving down the highways and byways you are screwed for the rest of your life you wont want to drive anything else.david poole european performance dallas tx.

"Patience is a virtue enjoyed by few"

Well, I've started going to an independent mechanic because at least when something is fixed and then breaks again within a week he's good about trying again without charging me. I do get concerned that he doesn't have all the computers that the dealer has to solve problems, but after all they weren't able to solve the problem WITH all the computers, nicht wahr? He also says that the W140's are too bloody complicated for their own good (HAL: "I don't understand what you mean Dave").


BTW: as many problems as I've had with my S500 it STILL is light years ahead of the 735i that I had before I gave up on BMW and went with Mercedes-Benz!

__________________
Old age and treachery will allways overcome youth and skill!

1993 S500
1984 380SL

I run a ford fairmont 1997 ad a 89 190e one on fordsure and the other on the merc equivalent.Both have about 138000Ks. The Ford has cost a lot more over time but the Merc has been more frustrating with strange faults which take ages to sort.The roads in New Zealand are tarseal and have a lot of camber which makes setting up the steering and suspension tricky, right onthe limits.The 190 idles far smoother than the ford even though its a 6.Some of the trouble appears to be over complication.
Allen

"I am on my first MB and certainly not the last one... The 2000 SLK 230 has 40k miles and what I find with Mercedes Benz is that they are truly a well built machine however they do by all means need to have good preventive maintenace done to them just due to the nature precission machines. I have worked on many German built machines (non automotive) and found this to be true with thoses compared to others. Yes as a Benz owner it will cost some pocket change plus a little more to keep it running well...... ahhh the pleasure of driving the Mercedes offsets that so well."

MBLR, I'm sincerely happy for you and I wish you well with your car. I always hate to beat a dead horse but I have to ask what you mean. You said it's a well built and precision machine that requires good preventive maintenance. OK, what do you mean? Other then the advertising you read...SPECIFICALLY what makes it a well built machine as compared to an American built truck, for instance. Also, what SPECIFICALLY are you doing to make the preventive maintenance happen? Of course, you have a 7 year old car that has averaged less then 6K miles a year. How do you even feel qualified to answer the question? You have taken a deep breath and drunk deeply from the MB coolaid. You have no way of knowing anything about the current quality control problems that MB suffers from and has even been acknowledged by it's president. Have you read any of the 40 something pages on this thread? Have you seen very many threads that even get this long? I'm thinking that would be a clue. So back to the original question and I've asked it before....

What GOOD PREVENTIVE maintenance am I missing? I have fresh oil and filters in every hole including the tranny which Mercedes promised required NO maintenance at all. What would you tell someone who just spent thousands to replace it? What PM did he miss for that? How about the guy who takes his family to the movie and has the spring perch fail causing him to hit a bridge pillar at 60 MPH. What PM did he miss? How about the sucker who bought into the MB quality scam and was unable to get his sunroof to close causing damage to the interior and forcing him to find an open store that sold tarps until the rain stopped? Did he miss some PM I don't know about? He should have kept the tarp he had to buy on his way to work when his lowest bidder window regulator failed and he had to park it in the rain and hope nothing was stolen while he was at work. See any PM he missed? How about when he had the shop where he gets the car detailed show him the rust that was developing below the trim pieces? That must have been embarrassing. Did he forget some PM I don't know about? I could go on and on but you can just do a search and you'll have plenty of reading. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for you to tell me what preventive measure would cover ANY of the things I've mentioned.

I'll also be waiting for you to tell me how a marque like MB could let this happen to the brand. Again, hopefully you'll have no problems with your car. If you do, I hope you have the disposable income to throw at the problems that will start to creep up assuming you ever start to drive your car. Then your tune might change. In the meantime, I'm preparing to sell my POS. I will not be looking at newer MB's again. In the unlikely event I ever buy another MB it will actually be older then the one I have now and even that is unlikely. Once burned, twice or thrice shy.

One more thing. I don't mean to be hard on you as it might seem reading this. I don't feel like inserting a bunch of smilies and what not. I am trying to take some to task for blindly parroting the company line. That action is counter productive because nothing will change until MB gets it's act together and gets back on course. That isn't in process right now.

Well, Having only owned my 240D for a couple of months, I haven't had any repairs, but it seems like a pretty good deal unless it completely falls apart. Economical- yes: ~30mpg on the highway, $1650 for the car. Manual everything means stuff doesn't break.

If you want a different option, probably the route to take in my opinion if your not wanting a MB, is still not Japanese. I have an old '86 Lincoln Town Car with 180k miles on it. Ford 302 V8. VERY economical, believe it or not. Why? Do maintence yourself: parts on 302's are a dime a dozen, not too bad to work on when it needs it, and in 2 years of driving it, about 12k a year, the ONLY thing it needed besides gas, oil changes and fluids (leaked a bit of everything) was one alternator. I think it was the original one. A car like that will run you 1000 bones in decent condition, and will get 20 mpg on the highway, with decent power, TONS of room inside and trunk, quiet, comfortable (armchair on wheels) and dependable. Started every day last winter sitting out on the street.

Let's see, I have had my 95 E320 for about 2 years, almost 3 yrs, bought it for about $8.5K, 82K miles, all documentation/service/etc, and more.....

Now it has 132K miles...Seems any time I take it to the shop its $400-$800.. When I first bought it I intended to do the work myself, but things haven't worked out that way .

Last I took it in about 60 days ago for no start...it was the coils, bam $759! ... spark plugs and cable included

So i asked the shop to lmk how much I had spent as a customer.... I took that added it to a couple things I did at another shop...

All, including brakes (about $800 each time I have had to take it in for brakes), changing brakes about 2-3 times since the 82K!!!!! ... I have spent what averaged out to about $140/ month in repairs and maintainance....

That's about what I had budgeted when I bought the car , $1K-$1.2K / yrs on service and repair, but the problem is these things occur when you least expect it...

I am entertaining on just selling it, probably about $4K-$5K is what it would og for, i am guessing, with the miles... and just buy a "normal" Honda/Toyota $7-8K vehicle... figuring I am already "spending $140 a month" in repairs.. I might as well, put the $ I sell the MB for as down and finance something cheap and reliable....

Why? Its embarrasing when my g/f, who drives a 00 Ford Focus, with about 70K miles, hasn't been left stranded once in the same time period... total repairs for time period? about $500, including brakes...major problem? yeah, a/c was leaking....she got charged $250!

My other freind...she's got a 1991 Accord with 145K miles... problems in the last 3 yrs? Radiator, and 2-3 no start issues (fuel pump, starter, and forgot the third...)...bottom line her car has broken down less times than my MB!

Third example, 03 Civic...50K miles...no breakdowns...

I am already being eaten by $140 average on repairs... that's sad.....

__________________
1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

We hear a lot about Honda reliability because the majority of owners wouldn't know a defect if it leaped up and bit them in the.......

Ooo, I can't say that here.

__________________
Roger E.

Bravo Steve, I used to hear the same thing about Alfa Romeo Spiders. However, I love the car and found one that had been dealer serviced and not worked on by someone that had no idea what he was doing. That was 8 years ago and it has never hung me up... for that matter, none of them have and I we have a 66 Mustang Coupe, 78 Alfa Spider Veloce, 91 300CE, and, yes, two old Toyotas. Most of the problems with cars are a lack of maintenence. Yes you can buy a car today that boasts no maintenance for 100K but you do not want to be the owner of that vehicle once its owner realizes it is time to throw it away and start all over again. What ever happened to auto makers not making throw away cars? The problem is us, a people who are too much in a hurry to look under the hood from time to time and demand NEW every year rather than staying with something that is proven and works. I fear that Mercedes has jumped on that bandwagon to some extent...that is why I bought the 91 300CE...it is still a real Benz and a classic at that. I would not give it up for a new Camry or Honda. Someone who buys the pointed star, or an Alfa or Porche is buying a piece of history. Can you imagine any Honda or Toyota becoming a classic? My two cents.

I guess that depends on your definition of a classic.
I would say that the Hondas and Toyotas are defining reliability of automobiles today. Many people now compare them to the cars that they talk about. I bet if the new MB models that are available today had the same reliability and of the current Hondas and Toyotas, most people including myself would buy one and get ride of the current MB's that we have.

__________________
2010 W212 E350 Sport
1996 W210 E320 (220K miles)

I can't resist. Words have meanings.

"I bet if the new MB models that are available today had the same reliability and of the current Hondas and Toyotas, most people including myself would buy one and get ride of the current MB's that we have."

Do you really believe that reliability is the only criteria by which we choose the cars we drive? What about style, status, safety, performance, comfort, among many other factors. How can you possibly make the statement that most people including yourself would buy one?
Most new MB's are from $40,000 to $100,000+. The luxury car market will never be for most people.

Steve