Recommend MB?

My wife drove the 400E for 6 years. The 96 E320 was bought new and is still in the family with 72K miles. My daughter turned 16 so I made her take it even though she wanted a Honda.....After driving it for 4 mos she loves it. Her friends do to. I got my E500 in December and have 10k on it. So far so good. I've had a CD and phone problem but nothing major.

My Dad trades each time there is a platform change. His are the ones you want to buy used. He puts less than 5K miles a year on them. The dealer usually has a buyer lined up for his cars when they are turned in. He's hot for a new SL500, his is a 97 but with the new styling he's just biding his time for the initial sales surge to drop so they will deal with him.

The rest of the family lease and trade every 3 to 4 years.

Rob

Reply to
Vetluver
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We have driven MBs since 1989. We still have our 1988 560SL and we'll never sell it. It's our baby. Since then we've had a 1994 E320 Coupe and loved it. A 1996 S500 Coupe and loved it, and a 2000 CL500 Coupe and loved it. Recently a local knuckle-dragger failed to get his Jeep all the way into "Park" when he stepped out of his vehicle (could only manage "Reverse") and it propelled itself backwards across the parking lot and slammed into our gorgeous 2000 CL500. Well it turns out there are only a few body shops in the U.S. that can work on these cars so we are currently planning to ship our beautiful CL to California for repairs (from Alaska, and MB is paying for shipping). Bottom line: Of course MBs are worth "it". What other cars turn your head like any model of MB? Are they expensive? Of course they are! But they are worth every penny. We have always purchased Starmark coverage for our vehicles and it has always paid for itself. We just took our CL500 in for the "B" service and MB paid for the entire visit, including a new instrument cluster that was acting up. Buy MB, you'll never go back!!! If you don't agree you are clearly lurking in the wrong newsgroup! Dale (not Camille)

1988 560SL 1996 S500 Coupe 2000 CL500C current negotiat>>do you keep any of your MB over 8 yrs as a daily vehicle ?
Reply to
Camille

Where does that put me?

1993 190E -- curmudgeon? Semi-curmudgeon as it's only 10 yr old?

2001 CLK 320 Cab -- non-curmudgeon?

:-) DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

Not twice, not once, but 'nonce' (unscheduled visits)

(though only 12 000 miles in 2 years).

Once I had to have the computer reset on the electric window as it wouldn't go back to closed position after closing passenger door. (I have a cab.)

DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

Bloody lucky daughter! Can I be your son...?.. A 16-year-old with an E320!

She should get a 3-yr-old Daihatsu Charade to stop her being spoiled....

:-) DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

Full ACK! Unforunately I have made the same mistake with a SLK. In my whole life I have never owned such a shitty car. It's more days a year in the service than on the road.

In this life I will own 2 merc. The first and the last one!!!!

M.

Reply to
Manfred Weber

Reply to
Gerald G. McGeorge

So, what will you have next? A Chrysler Crossfire? ;-)

DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

I think it would be interesting if you named each dealer and how they damaged your vehicle.

Is service this bad in Germany? Maybe the USA dealers should bribe German techs to come to the USA to work?

.
Reply to
greek_philosophizer

greek_philosophizer hat in Betrag news: snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com dies gedichtet:

Since 1989 I have driven cars made by Ford, VW, Mercedes, Renault, BMW and Citroen in Germany. The best service I received was provided by Mercedes, and if I compare the overall performance to BMW and VW, Mercedes was not overly expensive either. By far my worst experiences were with the Renault workshop. One week ago I bought an '94 Citroen Xantia, and I cannot say anything about the service quality here, as I did not have any reaso to bring the car to the shop yet.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Kemper

How are you getting on with your Citroen?

When I went on a trip recently and hired a car I was expecting a Citroen but, when I got there, I found that the rental company had sold its Citroen fleet and gave me a Mazda 323 instead. Drove it for 1000 km. As expected, it was uneventful, as it should be, but the appearance of the car was BORING. The earlier 323s were so much nicer.

The last Citroen I drove was that XM in a test drive some years ago.

I thought Citroens are not very reliable.

DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

Back in the 60s Citroens were imported into the US by heavens knows who (surely the poor Distributor ended up on public welfare). My girlfriend's Dad got her one to use at College. I refused to be seen in the thing unless I was wearing a Nixon mask or other timely disguise.

Someone she loaned it to (who must have been desperate to get somewhere) drove it into a wall or something because it's brake pedal was shaped like a mushroom and couldn't be found by the unsuspecting driver. That was the end of the Citroen and our relationship was back to normal.

We particularly liked the hydraulic "active suspension" that raised & lowered the car.. Decades before its time, it was more likely to do it by itself when you least expected it, or to lift one wheel off the ground for no apparent reason. When it did that I expected it to relieve itself on a tree like any other dog!

Reply to
Gerald G. McGeorge

"Dori Schmetterling" hat in Betrag news:3f697606$0$247$ snipped-for-privacy@news.dial.pipex.com dies gedichtet:

I bought it almost 4 weeks ago (signed the contract), but I picked it up just one week ago, because the dealer was 60 miles away and I had a friend drive me there. Befor that the dealer had two weeks of coroprate holiday (which did not bother me too much, because I bought the car mainly for bad weather and long range trips, so I do not need it in the summer time).

Okay, I got the papers and the license plates, and I finally got the car last saturday. It is a '94 Citroen Xantia 2.0i VSX with a 2 litre 4 cylinder engine made by Peugeot. The engine has 121 HP, the performance figures are approx 11 sec acceleration from 0-60 mph and approx 120 mph top speed. The VXS version has a lot of features which may seem completely ordinary to nowadays US sedans, but were quite rare back then with a smaller middle class car: Power Steering/Windows/Mirrors/Seats, power locks with remote control, 4 speed auto gearbox, alloy wheels, ABS, a/c with automatic temperature control and a nice fm stereo with cassette and remote control buttons in the steering wheel (it even has an Aux input socket, so I can plug in my MP3 player). The condition of the car is very good (almost like new), it has only 85.000 km (some 52.000 miles) on the clock and is one owner from new. The owner is 76 years old, and the service history is flawless. I got the car together with one year of warranty for all major technical components and a set of winter tires on steel rims for 4.300 Euro (4.800 $).

Driving the Xantia is totally different to my BMW E30. The Citroen offers far more room in the cockpit, it has some kind of cab-forward design. Compared to my BMW, the engine is quite rough and not very impressive - you clearly notice the missing 50 HP. OTOH the ride is extremely smooth. The body has a drag coefficient of 0.30, and during travel at 100 mph you do not hear much wind noise. But the best thing with this car is its hydropmeumatic suspension.

DEAR MERCEDES ENTHUSIASTS, PLEASE START READING HERE AS IT STARTS TO BECOME ON TOPIC HERE (thank you for your patience).

The HP suspension, which was invented by Citroen and introduced to market in 1955, has been used also by Mercedes (under Citroen license). AFAIK it was available with the Mercedes W108 300 SEL 6.3, with the W116 450 SEL

6.9 and the W126 560 SEL. The system uses bowls, which are half-filled with nitrogen and half filled with hydraulic oil. An oil pump carries as much oil to every bowl as it is needed to hold the car in an upright position. The susension quality really is outstanding! Besides this you can choose the ground clearance after your needs. I had my old mother in the car, and in order to make it easier for her to enter the car, I simply pushed the car up by five inches (looks funny). Early HP systems (including those used by Mercedes) had the strange effect, that the car sunk to the ground as soon as you switched off the engine. This is the reason why an old 560 SEL often looks like both axles are broken. My Xantia has some valves which prevent the car from sinking too far without engine. My Xantia also has the Hydractive II system, which has more suspension bowls than the usual 4 (for each wheel). This system is able to adjust the damping according to the actual dynamic status of the body. The system is the same as it was used in the bigger Citroen XM. To illustrate the outstanding suspension quality of these cars, this story may be helpful: When the development of the Mercedes W140 S-class entered final stage, Mr. Breitschwerdt, the head of passenger car development, showed up in a Citroen XM. He showed this car to his coworkers and made clear that its quality of ride was the standard to be met by the new S- Class Mercedes. So currently I drive a car with one of the best suspensions of the entire world for less than 5 grand!

Drawbacks? Well, the seat rails are too short and the headrests are also (french drivers are small drivers). I bought some additional upholstery for the headrests, and currently a mechanic is building some longer rails for me. To get them street legal may be a problem, but the fantastic citroen community in Germany provided me with a copy of a certificate, which explains that these rails are legal...

Well, compared to a 1980 Mercedes 240 D, any Citroen of that time is just a pile of junk. But from what I've heard, nowadays Mercedes cars aren't built like tanks anymore, and the Xantia has quite a high reputation of being a reliable car, at least compared to oter Citroens. Well, my new redwine red Xantia has made its first 450 kilometers without any breakdown. I think this definitely is a good start;-)

Frank

Reply to
Frank Kemper

Enjoy the car but drive defensively. It doesn't crash that well... :-(

formatting link
Click on Large Family Cars category.

DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

"Dori Schmetterling" hat in Betrag news:3f6acc2f$0$241 $ snipped-for-privacy@news.dial.pipex.com dies gedichtet:

I assume that the passive safety of this car is a real progess, compared to my E30 cabriolet;-)

Frank

Reply to
Frank Kemper

WHY WOULD YOU ASK THEM? You obviously have more issues then just your car.

The country where you bought the car is the appropriate venue in my opinion.

If you really feel like you were cheated, contact an attorney.

This is nonsense.

That is probably true.

That is bunk. Don't take no for an answer. They owe you something...

You paid for it! Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

Of course if she bumped into anything there will be the funeral bills to consider. :~(

I would also like to add to this thread, that as one of the official "curmudgeons" here, I love my 1986 190e, which I bought over a year ago , with 105,000 miles on the odometer, and have driven a trouble free 10,000 miles since.

It remains a nice comfortable (gutless yes) and SOLID vehicle as it approaches it's 20th birthday.

The Gentlemen who compared his MB to an old Morris, either has memory issues or was joking.

Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

It's nice if someone picks up an almost-two-year-old thread... especially if it's one's own...

:-) DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

Woops, my newsreader was set to sort "unread" to the top rather then by date...

Blush.

This wasn't my thread though, i wasn't yet a mercedes guy when this thread was posted...

Marty

Reply to
Martin Joseph

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