Tuesday Cruiseday: Mixed up Mercedes.

I admit that on this one I have mixed feelings, because of how much I want to like Mercedes-Benz, which had in the mid to late 1900’s a known name for quality. They are trying to recover from the bad deal that really hurt not only their reputation, but the quality of their products. In 1998 they decided to buy the Chrysler company, which is now owned by Fiat, and created the name Chrysler-Daimler. One of their biggest realizations is that in the 1960’s Chrysler betrayed their customers confidence by putting the bottom line over product quality and getting away with it. This meant that Mercedes bought an inferior company, but like anything when you put bad apples with good apples they all become bad apples. The combination of a bad product that Mercedes tried to restore ended up revealing a deeper issue than they could contend with. The downside is that as I alluded to before it led to Mercedes as a company choosing to cut their bottom line as well. This meant that their previous statement of luxury with performance really became a Machiavellian type performance vehicle. This is why I have heard Mercedes-Benz referred to as die Machiavellian-Bahn, and in America it’s nicknamed the whip. Mercedes has made their motto “The best or nothing”, but in the early 2000’s it was “Always the best”, and the reality was always the best sensors! You knew everything that was wrong and it would let you know, but that’s it. Mercedes will cost you the best portion of your income or nothing, because whenever you replace the brake pads you have to replace the rotors, because the pads are too small… this gives excessive heat, more likelihood of squealing, and a ridge on the rotor. The best things they do is looking good, but are practically terrible for the mechanic that has to repair them and certainly your pocketbook. Mercedes has sold the idea of planned obsolesence to their customers by beginning the move towards “low profile tires” aka sooner replacement of tires, and rims for that matter, are needed. This hasn’t really been improved especially in the American made version as they use easily broken plastic pieces that require the entire front end to be replaced within 1-2 years. Granted, Mercedes Banz is nifty, fast, and tries to outdo the competition in style, but they are the biggest money pits. How does a German car company claim italian style being sold in America? It makes no sense, but we know that it’s probably as good as it is because it has German overengineering behind it. A mechanic did a review of a 2022 Mercedes in 2022 and found all sorts of problems that Mercedes just lied about fixing. Just saying it wouldn’t be me without an acronym, so pick which one you prefer… “Money Eating Reduced Credibility Engineering Demons of Eternal Service” or “Must Encounter Repairs Created Early During Every Sale”. The best or nothing is more like, “Ha! we just sold you nothing and you liked it!” Just remember when buying your $150,000 Mercedes-Benz that it will probably take another 150K every five years to maintain, which means a planned loss of 280K by the time you sell your Benz not counting tires, brakes, etc… Probably twice the cost of the car will be what you need to have in the bank before you buy as opposed to almost every other vehicle, which should be 10 years for that cost to be incurred. How do you like them apples?