What got you into a Mercedes Benz?

[Ron240]

I've had 13 cars in 37 years of driving, with 7 of them being in the past 9 years.
To have privately owned "well over 200 cars" regardless of time is quite astounding!

 

[Paul Garrett]

I've had 13 cars in 37 years of driving, with 7 of them being in the past 9 years.
To have privately owned "well over 200 cars" regardless of time is quite astounding!

Must have changed cars when ash tray was full!! Hehe!!

 

[A.J.]

I've had 13 cars in 37 years of driving, with 7 of them being in the past 9 years.
To have privately owned "well over 200 cars" regardless of time is quite astounding!

I would say it was bluddy close to being impossible. Having said that when I worked for a major player in the Vehicle Contract Hire industry back in the late 80's and 90's I used to cover 50,000 miles a year and had two new cars a year. Their attitude was that it was easier to sell a car at six months old with 25,000 miles that it was to sell a car 12 months old with 50,000 miles.

We were part of a large Motor Group so it had to be a car that the group held a franchise for so in 12/13 years I probably had around 25 new Audi A3 and A4's, mostly all A4's.

 

[Blobcat]

I probably had around 25 new Audi A3 and A4's, mostly all A4's.

I feel your pain...

 

[00slk]

It beats my count!! Mind you I'm still adding, only another 20 to go and my telly will be a match

 

[Perutz]

It's really strange that buying a car can be one of the powerful memories of a lifetime, but it is for me. I was 30 years old - 31 years ago - when, in a luxury dealership in the 16th arrondissement in Paris, I saw my first Mercedes, a blue Tanzanite W124, 6 cylinders with velvet and rosewood interior but no air conditioning. As it had been in an accident, but repaired by MB, it was the cheapest car in the garage, the only one I could afford, 140,000 francs, about 15,000 pounds. I travelled with it all over France, with wife and children. This car had a soul. It protected us like a faithful and powerful animal. Later I had a 930 turbo, a 993 Targa, then some beautiful old cars, a BB 512 and a 365 GT 2+2 in particular. But I had never found the feeling that these cars give, rightly or wrongly, that you can count on. Until a fortnight ago, when I went to Hannover to get my indigo blue A207 V8 5.5 L.

 

[Hotspur]

Im around 70 cars and aged 52 now, not going to get close to 200+ but nevertheless my total is embarrassingly high enough for me to occasionally consider all the money that could have been put elsewhere...having said that with 98%+ of those cars being German, and the majority of those from either Mercedes or BMW, I can at least say I have had some wonderful motoring experiences with some absolutely phenomenal cars. Can't help but keep checking Autotrader and the classifieds for one or two of the older models I had to recapture my youth and also re-familiarise myself with some of those icons of the (recent) past.

 

[harrye500]

It's really strange that buying a car can be one of the powerful memories of a lifetime, but it is for me. I was 30 years old - 31 years ago - when, in a luxury dealership in the 16th arrondissement in Paris, I saw my first Mercedes, a blue Tanzanite W124, 6 cylinders with velvet and rosewood interior but no air conditioning. As it had been in an accident, but repaired by MB, it was the cheapest car in the garage, the only one I could afford, 140,000 francs, about 15,000 pounds. I travelled with it all over France, with wife and children. This car had a soul. It protected us like a faithful and powerful animal. Later I had a 930 turbo, a 993 Targa, then some beautiful old cars, a BB 512 and a 365 GT 2+2 in particular. But I had never found the feeling that these cars give, rightly or wrongly, that you can count on. Until a fortnight ago, when I went to Hannover to get my indigo blue A207 V8 5.5 L.

Perutz, the 5.5 V8 in the A207 makes for a lovely car, I have had mine for 5 years. It is pretty rare (in the UK) in this model MB. We should all enjoy these large engined MB's while we still can, they really are the last of their sort, the like of which will never be built again. We are probably the last couple of generations to have had the pleasure and experience of being able to drive such outrageous machines! I do hope you are enjoying your new car.

 

[Noddy 99]

Always wanted one; never thought I could afford one, either to buy it or run it. Now I'm retired and not 100% dependent on having reliable wheels every day, I did a few calculations and realised I could get an older one for the price of a nearly-new blandola-machine. I'm tickled pink to have the 3-pointed star on my bonnet as Car #19 (in 37 years). I've joined this forum, subscribed to Mercedes Enthusiast magazine, bought some big coffee-table books and watched every Mercedes video on YouTube. I'm in.

 

[Perutz]

Crossing Germany from north to south gave me the opportunity to discover how easily this V8 takes you close to its top speed while the steering remains extremely precise. With the top down, the silence is surprisingly quiet and, if you want to talk about costs, at over 200 km/h, the fuel consumption is 12 litres per 100 km (sorry for the French metrics). Everything works perfectly, from the hot air expelled by the headrests, to the heating of the seats, to the progressive lighting and the automatic wipers. For a 2010 car I think it's pretty good. I'm glad I left the forums where only the victims of the most vicious breakdowns participate to join this forum where there is an optimism that I think this exceptional brand deserves.

 

[outsmartsmart]

I got into Mercedes via........ a spreadsheet! Bear with me......

I had been in company car scheme for about 20 years (Rover/BMW/Volvo/JLR group). Having left Aston Martin I needed to spend my own cash on a car

I knew what I wanted and didn't want but used 'business tools' to do attribute lists, rankings and weighted scores. Top of the list came Mercedes. Not what I expected (or wanted truth be told as I 'never really liked' Mercedes). I fiddled with the scores and........ it was still Mercedes, hmmmmm.

Spent my hard-earned on a Mercedes C220d Estate and it just clicked, I 'got' Mercedes. After that, over a number of years CLK convertibles, Coupes, E-Class saloons and (one of my favourite cars ever) a CLS. Apart from the C220d I think they were all 320 engines in Petrol and Diesel variants, all auto's.

Went back into having two company cars and then always had a convertible as my own car for sunny days after no more Jag' XKR's or F-Types on the scheme; MGF, MG-TF, Mazda MX5, Fiat 124, Fiat Abarth, BMW and then a bit of a dream car the Merc' SL. That went when I dropped to two cars again and I couldn't face using the mint SL for 'popping to the shops' so a 'more sensible' Audi A3 convertible found its way into the garage instead.

I'm now back with two company cars as part of my "pensioner" deal so the 1995 Mercedes E320 cabrio' happily sits in my garage and I'm loving it

 

[SL63 Mark]

"Company cars" ? Anybody remember them ? In the UK everybody I know used to have a company car. Great perk. Nowadays ? Anybody still have one ? I think the tax man killed them off. My other half's company had a huge fleet department which owned the cars and sorted out all the problems. Tax, insurance, servicing, Great. Nowadays ? Nothing.

It was a great way of experiencing different car models (e.g. Mercedes) which is why I have a Merc now. If we hadn't had a company Merc, I probably never would have bought one. We had an Alfa company car at one stage, that kept going wrong, so never would have bought one. One time I was accelerating onto the motorway and the wierd semi-auto transmission changed down a gear, so into second gear at 80mph. That was interesting.

 

[Rockron]

Two fat German cops in Berlin.!

 

[Hotspur]

I used to have a Company Car - last one was a BMW 520D before that I had a MB E250 CDI - but moved jobs since
Brother just sold his AMG c63 he had and has a Porsche Taycan on order as a Company Car - Electric cars dont attract much tax at the moment - next to nothing compared to > 40% of the CO2 value percentage of the RRP for a Diesel/Petrol car - makes a huge difference.

 

[Botus]

I wanted a solid dependable, reliable, rear drive automatic car with a big engine.... what I got is a rear drive auto with a big engine... the other points stopped in 1990

 

[123 & Away]

What got me into Mercedes was a complete suspension rebuild of my Volvo Amazon which made the car unliveable with. Every time I went over a ramp I told myself to search for a classic with great suspension. Enter the W123……

 

[Ursicles]

Never owned one before and wanted something a bit different in the estate car format and the CLS Shooting Brake always looked just so right to me!

Plus figure i should own one before we all end up driving automotive washing machines in a few years time!

 

[Submariner1]

A van advertised close to home at the right money and a fecking con man

Loved this :
If its got wheels or a skirt its always going to give you trouble

 

[Submariner1]

Had 3 company BMWs 3 series … joined another Company.
Was given a temporary 2 year old BMW 525. When it hit 3 years old was told by HR BMWs were only for Directors (by orders of new Sales Director). You can have a new Rover 825 or something.
It seemed to breakdown every other month. Final straw .. taking a £870,000 contract to a client for signing and it broke down on the way. Nearly lost the contract!
Left the Co. Car scheme the next day!
The chairman lent me his personal S 560 to go and get the contract signed. Swung that with an obscenely expensive Lunch.
The clients Chairman was impressed with the car!
Next day walked into Mercedes Hampstead and saw a Met. Black 190e 2.6 Auto prepped to go, Bankers draft and drove out at 5.30 … never looked back.
Best MB for reliability … 45,000 miles in 3 years and only 1 fault … a failed sidelight bulb! Fixed on the spot … £0 Goodwill.

 

[Tony sirett]

never wanted a Mercedes, but in 2016 my Jaguar xk8 was written off and i needed a car desperately to get to and from work, the cheapest nastyest car i could get at short notice was a E320 Avantgaurd estate with one months MOT on it, it was purely to get me to work and back and see me through until my insurance paid out, unfortunatley the insurance took a little longer than expected to pay out so i had to stick the mercedes through the MOT, and surprisingly it only failed on a couple of bushes and a tyre (if i remember rightly) i kept that car for two years until my eldest daughter needed a car when i gave it to her, so i bought another Jaguar this time an XF, that unfortunately was stolen off my drive, i saw the E220 estate i have now advertised cheap so i thought why not try my luck again.....