Personally my cost of ownership for my two is virtually zip, even with the costs of repairs.

My latest for example, those who've been on the board for a while know the story, but for those who don't the short version:

Got it at the junkyard, no history other than it threw the driveshaft. Trailered home, spent 4 months and $4k to get it roadworthy (includes price of admission). Have put 20K miles on it in 1 year and 4 months. Since getting it on the road I have had to replace the alternator and rebuild the front suspension as necessary repairs. I have no qualms about drving it across country right now. Anything else I have done has basically been a "feel good" repair. So far this year it has cost me about $0.20 to operate, includes gas (lots of it), oil, and insurance plus any repairs.

That's not bad, cause I figure if I take it on a work related trip, the pay me mileage to the tune of $0.36 per mile, so I net $0.16 per. Beer money.

Anything I need to fix or tinker with becomes therapy and a form of relaxation.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Wanna buy it? Make me an offer................I didn't think so. It's hard to sell something that doesn't run.

Trade a new experince with a new Lexus for the repair experience of a questionably used 10year old MB. Talk about apples and Oranges.

Why don't we talk about my early MLs (bought new in 1998) experience versus the POS 93 ES300 I got in my shop today. Same difference. I will own that ML for another ten years (God willing) and It will never look like most of the cars I work on. In ten years every system will still work as it does today! It will then be 15 years old and it will amaze people.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Cap'n, as I recall you've been on this soapbox for as long as I've been here.

Please... sell your Benz for a few hundred bucks, use it as a downpayment on a new Toyota.

Go water skiing and mountain climbing. Enjoy life! Don't die a bitter old man with a busted Benz.

__________________
1992 300E Sedan (Sold)
1999 E320 Wagon (Sold)
1995 E320 Sedan
1995 E320 Wagon

Ahhh.... refreshing to find someone with enough self-honesty not to need my 'BS psychoanalysis'!

Steve

__________________
'91 MB 190E 2.3
'08 RAV4 Ltd 3.5
'83 Lazy Daze m'home 5.7

Benz 300 posed the question "Is Mercedes too troublesome?". In my case that is true. When you have to replace the evaporator or transmission or fuel distributor on yours, you may sing a different tune too. Then again, you may never have to replace anything. I was relaying my experiences and nothing more.

Yeah, Cap'n I think your 300E needs to have an *accident* and then collect the insurance and start clean before this car utterly demoralizes you...* just kidding*

My 300E, as I've stated many times before, has been incredible. It's close to 300,000 Kms and it's 14 years old. Still looks like new and no rust. Original tranny and engine - still the original valves, seals, etc. Pretty remarkable. Especially given that those 14 years have seen 14 winters in Ontario, Canada where salt is everywhere on the roads in winter. It truly blows me away. I have not seen many other car makes, if any, last this long under these conditions. You just don't see too many older cars in Ontario that are winter driven - the rust kills 'em young. Many of my friends' cars that are only a few years old are already showing some rust in corners and wheel wells - pretty discouraging.

Sure my car requires regular preventative maintenance, but it returns it in spades with dependable performance. I love seeing people's faces when I tell them my car is a 1989 model with 300,000 Kms on it.

So is my Mercedes problematic? Not at all.

__________________
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

Lol...this thread is like a good, old Mercedes - it won't die easily!

That said, I looked back at my first post on this thread (post #49). It was almost exactly three years ago to the day. I was gushing about my 300E and how it was close to 300,000Km.

Well, I'm still driving that same W124 300E and she now has close to 330,000 Kms on the clock, is 17 years old, and has been through two accidents since then (was rear-ended twice) and the car still looks fantastic. Drives perfectly as well.

What still surprises me is that I've done NOTHING to the engine since that post, other than regular oil changes. It still has all the original valves, valve stem seals, injectors, you name it. Other than some standard maintenance - a ball joint, new muffler, alternator brushes, etc. - I haven't had to do anything major to the car. Tranny is original, shifts perfectly. Interior looks great, no dash cracks, leather looks nicely broken in but hasn't cracked or faded. Only real upgrade I made was to the audio system - I added two amps and a sub in the trunk.

So is my car troublesome? It has been the best vehicle purchase I have ever made and I'm starting to wonder if it will be the best EVER. I'm not sure I'll be able to get a newer Benz to go this distance, with so little work required, but I will try.

I think she'll get a carwash tonight.

__________________
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 also drive a much used C280 and have never spent a dime for repares. Oh, of course oil changes but nothing more than tires. These cars seem to be like the energizer bunny.

Yours may be the most durabile Mercedes ever. It still had the old attention to quality. Also, it had galvanizing. That was the one misssing feature that did in my W126. The rust got it. My W126 had the same engine that is in your car, and it was also a tank. Never had any serious problems with it. Trust me, the new one aren't the same. As my earlier posts states, marketing took over in the early '90's. That is always a deathknell for quality in the auto industry. The marketers quickly learn that you can lower quality for about 10 years before you get into trouble. Most of them consider a success to sell a car at the same price, produce it cheaper, and make more money. Eventually it catches up with you. they are offering $0 down/ $290 month leases here to get the cars off the lot. Brand equity has been burned and it is time to pay the piper aka 1980 for the US auto industry.

Am planning to purchase a new car in Nov. Dealer sells both MB & BMW. What to buy? An E500 or a 540i. Looking for least problems as I don't relish trips back to dealer (75 miles) for warranty work. My 97 C280 has never missed one beat but from reading this forum I get the same feeling about these cars as I do about the situation in Iraq. What say you experts?

It has definately demoralized me. I will NEVER buy another Mercedes.

Unless.... it's a newer one still under warranty...or an SL or a C55 AMG or a W123 with records or.........

It looks like we are all willing to accept different levels of tradeoffs to drive MBs.

Cap'n Carageous, your travails have far exceeded my threshold for pain, and I would have given up long ago. Reading the forums, there are some owners that have more than their share of bad luck. In my very short period of ownership, problems have been minor.

Since buying my used 1991 300CE with 112,250m in June 2002, now with 122,750m, this is what I've done besides fluid changes:

tumbler $90
SRS and horn contacts $50
Horn Hub $80
voltage reg $50
front rotors and pads $165
thermostat $7

I LOVE driving this car. I look forward to my driving everyday. When faced with a new car purchase decision, my choices were a new econobox (i.e. Honda) that would be initially expensive but would have low maintainance and high dependability or this car that looked awesome, drove awesome and cost far less but with potential repair and dependability problems. So far so good, knock on wood.

glenmore
1991 300CE

well honestly I didnt expect such a welcoming reply when I initially posted this out of frustration :-D
I guess I'm not the only one here who seems to think that there's a huge "price" to pay for the "personality" as was mentioned. But honestly, back in the 80's or even early 90's I would've understood this notion. but now with ample amount of luxury cars available, japanese in particular, I fail to comply with the statement that "personality" factor can only be found having a three point star on your hood. It can easily be found with four circles in your grill, taking the bavarian route, or to make life easy going the 'upscale toyota (lexus)' way.
I truly understand what Cap'n has to say about the reliability factor. I've got two 190's and a w124 but I dare not drive them farther than 50 miles from home. because I've been stuck with all three of them numerous times and had to tow them to the dealer. two of them are owned almost new with all histories available.
I would have to sadly conclude that the pre 90's benzes can more or less be categorized as a "mechanic's love" rather than a " personality booster" . Because when you have to stand on the side of the road with your suit on and trying to get under to hood to see what in the world made all that coolant drop on the road and why you see smoke out of your front hood. only to find out later that due to "design flaw" the neck of the radiator gave away... that situation just can't be categorized as the "price for personality" by anyone passing you by on the road or yourself as the moment

I've also heard that Mercedes is single handedly responsible for the rise in popularity of the cellphone, as it is a necessity in an older Benz!!! :p



Note to readers: This is one of those posts that keeps pushing itself down. At least one post above it should actually be below it.