MBs aren't that expensive in Europe, pretty competitive with the upper line Ford and GM products, and they are luxury cars. Weight for weight, though, the only difference is design and assembly. MBUSA used to mark them up 100% -- it was cheaper to take delivery direct from the factory AND take a two week vacation in Germany than it was to buy one off the showroom floor! My brother in law priced one in 1983 -- list price at the dealer in Evansville was almost exactly double for an SD -- $19000 in Germany, $38000 here.
MB makes cars from stampings just like everyone else. May have more metal where it counts, but a W124 or W115 chassis weighs the same as an 85 Buick Century and is almost exactly the same size, so it's gotta be how it's put together, because the Benz, even the W115, is vastly safer for the occupants and doesn't have any more material in it. American cars, in my experience, are very poorly engineered for low cost assembly. I remember a friend's story about when Ford bought Volvo and was going to "fix" their assembly cost problems. Found out real fast that it cost Volvo less than 2/3 as much to assemble a car IN SWEDEN than it cost Ford in the US since Volvo designed for easy assembly instead of "stick a million screws in it". I suspect Ford learned a lot from that experience, and I know that Chrysler did from being part of Benz. GM still can't put a car together without a billion hours of awkward hand labor, that's why they are in financial trouble. Fifty screws run in with a power tool by someone lying on their back is no substitute for thinking for a couple minutes to find a way to make all the dash parts interlock so that a couple bolts and a dozen screws hold the entire thing in properly, without rattles and squeaks. I had to replace the wiper assembly in my 740 (actually, I fixed it but had to take it out anyway) and wasn't looking forward to the experience after putting a new washer pump on my sister-in-law's Buick which took several hours. Funny, on the Volvo all I had to do was pull the wiper arms, remove ONE screw and lift off the cowl cover, then unplug the wiper motor and take out the retaining bolts, out it came. 10 min max time. You tell me who thought about assembly and who didn't. And don't forget, the Chinese car is nothing like a Benz, and they cheat terribly on both materials and exchange rate. One of the same quality would be much more expensive, just like high quality Chinese or Japanese machine tools. Peter _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
