By way of disagreeing with some of your 123 conclusions, i have to use Fred's phrase, YMMV. On Jan 4, 2015 8:06 PM, "ernest breakfield via Mercedes" < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
> considering the cost of the 3 cars i was referring to when new, i have > higher expectations for the MBZ than either a J**p or a Corolla. > > i'm with you on maintainable; i was trying to make the point that that > *was* true, but is no longer the case if parts are going NLA. > > i'm not into clapped-out cars; spent almost 6 months looking for a 123 > that was up to our standards when i bought our last one over 10 years ago. > we've tried to keep it in as near-perfect condition as possible, and it's > always been our first choice for thousand-mile weekends (as long as they > were completely paved), and even did one just over the Christmas holiday. > nothing quite like ripping the Grapevine up both sides doing over 70 MPH in > pretty old diesel car; you can practically hear the old truckers smiling as > we blow by them. > ours has no rust (lifetime California car), all trim, almost no > rips/tears/stains inside, only one ding near the front turn signal (from an > a**hole that didn't know how to change lanes 8-^ ), the ACC works and Speed > Control even still works eventually after a few tries. working windows and > sunroof, no leaks anywhere, but the paint is starting to show signs of > being tired on the roof and trunk. heck, the factory alarm still works even > and it's the only 123 i've seen for a while that doesn't have any cracks in > the dash; it's because it's in such nice condition that it makes it so hard > to have to consider letting it go! > > > cheers! > e > > On 04/Jan/15 16:39, Curt Raymond wrote: > >> "sadly, we haven't had anywhere near as >> much trouble getting parts for either of those as we now do for the old >> W123." >> Not really a fair comparison, the newest 123 cars are 5+ years older and >> considering their cost when new much less common... >> >> I think when most people say "bulletproof" they mean "maintainable". The >> real killer for me on 123 cars is the inability to find one that isn't all >> rusted out. Most of the cheap ones now have descended to the level of real >> beaters that even I don't want to tackle. I saw a couple on Craigslist in >> the $2500 range with no exterior trim, terrible interiors and many signs of >> neglect like rust, failed paint, leaking windows/sunroof and failed ACC. >> >> Last summer when my Jetta quit on the highway (failed wiring to the >> shutoff solenoid) a friend said "Geez I thought those were reliable..." Its >> a 16 year old car I drove 20,000 miles in a year with only 3 breakdowns. >> One I was able to drive home from, one I could have driven home from with a >> little more knowledge and 2 feet of jumper wire that I now carry. Sounds >> pretty good to me. >> >> >> -Curt >> >> Of course the Jetta is down right now awaiting a new radiator... >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> *From:* ernest breakfield via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> >> *To:* Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com>; Dwight Giles < >> dwight.gi...@gmail.com> >> *Sent:* Sunday, January 4, 2015 7:29 PM >> *Subject:* Re: [MBZ] W123 vs W140 >> >> people seem to love to say this; but the long lists of parts we've >> needed to replace on our MBZs seems to imply that these cars are >> definitely not "bulletproof", as does the fact that there are local >> junkyards that they have so many of them that they won't take them >> unless you tow them to their doorstep and sign them over to them. they >> definitely are not "bulletproof'; the appeal (to us) used to be that >> they were reliable and perpetually maintainable while running B100, but >> the parts availability has changed to where that's not even any longer >> the case. sad, because we enjoyed over 125,000 miles on our 300D running >> almost exclusively BioDiesel (without any troubles related to the >> fuels), and don't know what we're going to get to replace it. >> >> in fact, we have a 20 year old J**p that's done far more severe >> duty and has more miles on it and has been cheaper to keep (even >> including all the modifications) than our MBZs, and an early 90's Toyota >> Corolla with over 325K miles on it that puts both of those to shame >> while still getting over 30MPG. sadly, we haven't had anywhere near as >> much trouble getting parts for either of those as we now do for the old >> W123. >> >> >> cheers! >> e >> >> >> On 04/Jan/15 13:55, Andrew Strasfogel via Mercedes wrote: >> > The main joy in driving Mercedes diesels is that these cars are >> > bulletproof, which is something to enjoy regardless of where fuel prices >> > happen to be. >> > >> > On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 11:24 PM, Dwight Giles via Mercedes < >> > mercedes@okiebenz.com <mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com>> wrote: >> > >> >> Amen. >> >> On Jan 3, 2015 11:23 PM, "OK Don via Mercedes" <mercedes@okiebenz.com >> <mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com>> >> >> wrote: >> >> >> >>> The fuel prices will continue to flip around for years to come. Do not >> >> make >> >>> long term plans, or regret past decisions based on the current >> aberration >> >>> or variations in prices. >> >>> Enjoy the Diesel engine for the technical master piece that it is, and >> >> that >> >>> it is not the same as every other engine on the street. >> >>> _______________________________________ >> >>> http://www.okiebenz.com <http://www.okiebenz.com/> >> >>> >> >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >>> >> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >>> >> >>> All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those >> >>> individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list >> owner >> >>> has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. >> >> >> >> >>> >> >> _______________________________________ >> >> http://www.okiebenz.com <http://www.okiebenz.com/> >> >> >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> >> >> All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those >> >> individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list >> owner >> >> has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. >> >> >> > _______________________________________ >> > http://www.okiebenz.com <http://www.okiebenz.com/> >> > >> > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> > >> > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > >> > All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those >> individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner >> has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. >> > >> > >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com <http://www.okiebenz.com/> >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those >> individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner >> has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. >> >> >> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those > individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner > has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
