adding features to cars...

[LostKiwi]

What I don't understand is you make this argument in many a thread and yet you have a R230 SL 600 which has to be possibly the most "designed to fail" (or in my opinion more just designed with gimmicks/complexity to a price which means it fails) car ever, from what I hear even a 1990s Bentley Turbo R is cheaper to run than one of those!. If you really spend so much time worrying about all this design to fail stuff why not just buy an old W124/W123/R129/W126 and be done with it. All my W124s including my completely mechanical 33yr old daily driver have done 20k/mile and never ever had a failure that wasn't easily fixed by someone with tools and basic mechanical skills. As I'm a bit of a beginner with no garage (not even a drive) I've had to pay for some of the rare failures they've had but even then have fixed half myself with a bit of help from here. At the end of the day people don't care about this designed to fail stuff but if you do you can quite easily buy some nice 80s/90s stuff that fits the bill.

He sold the SL600.

 

[d215yq]

I’d love to know which cars prior to 2005 you think were longer lasting than today’s crop. Until 2014, manufacturers worked on 5 years with the first owner as a global average. Then, a number of very large surveys were done which surprised everyone- the global average lifetime of a new car with its first owner was 8.1 years. So, OEMs started changing their parts lifetime assumptions. All that means that cars are now designed to last longer than they were before.

I think that's a UK centric view though where rust and 80/hr at a mehcanics makes them uneconomical. Also where cheap credit rules and image is everything so really anything that's not pristine/new plate/premium badge is scrap.

Here in Spain my road is filled with cars that are abused and crashed into each other on the street everyday - as such noone wants a new car for image/prestige. My 33yr old W124 shares the road with VW Golfs Mk2s of the same vintage, an Audi 80 that is older, a BMW 520i of the E28 (I think) shape that is 1983 or earlier. They're the proper old ones, there is of course also many 306s/Renault express vans and endless generation 1 xsara picassos that must also be pre 2000. All these cars move every day to different spots so are in proper use, as is mine. Sure the plastics are all faded on anything over 8 yrs old, the lacquer peeling too due to the hot sun and the bumpers cracked/falling off. Despite that most weekends all these cars dissapear (As does mine) to the mountains/beaches around, which in Spain could easily be 2-3 hours drive and 100+ miles, often fully loaded with family etc

As to reliability, from my friends/neighbours cars I can say that nothign is really more reliable than the others, all cars have problems from time to time but when the old cars have a problem it's generally less likely to a) be ruinously expensive and b) stop the car rather than just be something you fix preventatively or at the MOT. As everything is diesel/manual here the old ones are always more economical in the real world too (though obviously not as refined/quick)

It doesnt really matter what the manufacturers designed the car to do and their "lifetime assumptions", if people use 30 year old cars more reliably in the real world than a 5 year old car then it's longer lasting. If Moroccans use W123s every day and can keep them going (something like 70% of all W123s ever made are still driving somewhere) then they're longer lasting than W210s or wahtever where I'd imagine half are scrapped by now depsite what the manufacturers may have or have not intended.

 

[ajlsl600]

what you perhaps dont understand is, i recently sold the SL600, basically for the reasons you mentioned ,i had it 6 yrs and for the most part enjoyed it but for sure if i kept it it would eventually bite me . however to date it was the best looking ,best driving experience i have ever had and frankly, in pursuit of reasonable economy i have ended up with a vehicle that is still over complex.albeit more practical for me, wife 2 dogs and caravan( not yet purchased the caravan tho ) . it seems that the makers have drifted this over complex. expensive to maintain stuff down from the luxury stuff to the run of the mill. just research nox sensors on here ! tho it would seem not to be the case ,i enjoy some tech,as others do. for instance, i have 2 old "brick" ipods going over 10 and 12 yrs , never had an issue 100% reliable. and if one appears i wont complain as they were obvously designed to last. nox sensors for example ,as reported on here certainly seem NOT built to last and this is just a recent example,there are many. also ref yr last sentence,i agree, you may note from other posts i am looking for an old classic kit car, again for reasons that you seem to be reminding me of.

 

[Botus]

coding toys

https://www.kufatec.com/en/coding-diagnosis/?p=1

note on many vehicles you can do more at home with a phone app (but not on Mercs)
like carly or bimmer pro tool