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Date:         Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:00:41 -0600
Reply-To:     Kent Christensen <lkchris@OSOGRANDE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kent Christensen <lkchris@OSOGRANDE.COM>
Subject:      Re: Why I love Mercedes Benz but would never own one of their cars
In-Reply-To:  <20130614203009.D290B2B42B@smtp.osogrande.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Re: While MB is marketed as a "luxury" car here in NA, it built its reputation upon solid engineering and reliable transport for folks at a variety of different economic strata. My daily driver is really nothing more than a tarted up taxi cab ('90 300D). That taxi lineage is precisely why I love the 124 models, 'cause they're a wonderful combination of comfort, handling and robust engineering...but luxury, not so much. Classy is a more accurate term (Casey)

It is indeed pretty much "rambling" to talk about 1980s Mercedes, as today's Mercedes are nothing like them and are orders of magnitude better cars. It's apples/oranges. The 1986-1994 W124 (E-class) is indeed fondly remembered, and its chief significance is that it's the final E-class designed before the advent of Lexus, an event--along with the emergence of Jose Ignacio Lopez-- that set the high-end automobile industry on its ear.

As anyone who has compared a final-version VW Beetle to a 1st-generation Golf (Rabbit) has seen, Germans were quite comfortable building their cars "heavy," and when pressure came to build them economically, problems arose. Mercedes' (and BMW's) problems came in the late 1990s/early 2000s thanks I think to pressures attributable to Lexus and Lopez and Bosch's inability to adapt as well, but the German industry has made a fantastic comeback and continues its world leadership.

The today most hilarious aspect of 1980s and early 1990s Mercedes is the diesel engines, which compared to today's diesel technology are indeed laughable. I'd recommend to anyone to look into a 2007-2009 E-class (W211) diesel (OM642), which will be called in the USA E320 Bluetec and which you can find used for $20K. I'd be willing to wager that this will be the highest-performance car most have ever experienced--they are rocketships. These cars make 400 ft-lbs torque and over one horsepower per cubic inch and among other things feature piezoelectric fuel injectors that fire five times per power stroke (and cost at least $1K each) and a turbocharger with electrically controlled variable pitch blades. This in a vehicle that will return 30-35 mpg ... or in my 5000+ pound GL 26 highway. This an aluminum, 72-degree V6 ... the 4-cylinder diesel currently used in Europe's E-class taxis makes that car a faster car than the 1970s 6.9 S-class. You know, James Hunt's car.

It's a different era for sure, and Mercedes and BMW are in a technology race (with Lexus not participating all that much) and words like "robust" are quaint remembrances from the past. As noted, you'd love the car cited, but you will get to pay maybe before 50K miles $1500-2000 to fix the electronic part that adjusts intake manifold runner length that gets ruined by the turbo oil seal leak. Yes, "robust" is now a historical term and of little actual current significance, as sales of these cars continue to be record setting in any event. It's for sure "rambling" to talk of "robust" in 2013.

Kent Christensen Albuquerque '81 Vanagon (and '07 Mercedes GL320 CDI and 3 BMW motorcycles)


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