I had to explain this to a co-worker who was taking his 7+ year old Merc to the shop about once a month. Nevermind the overall cost on those repairs was higher than a car payment.
Basically these luxury brands and purchases are a flex. They’re supposed to be a dubious and conspicuous fiscal move. The engineering is absolutely not intended to outlast the loan period, and will actively punish you for every breakdown. You’re also supposed to basically throw it away for another one at the 3-5 year mark. As a bonus, this insanity ensures that there are few old, scratched, dented, beaters on the roads, which adds to the overall optics of the situation. It’s all intended to be expensive, exclusive, and therefore highly desirable*.
The expense is also not just parts, but labor. Back on r/justrolledintotheshop, BMW “front end removal” was practically a meme because it’s the first step in a good number of maintenance procedures. These perfectly working luxury cars basically generate dealership labor hours, like clockwork.
/rant
(* Unless you don’t practice conspicuous consumption and aren’t taken in by advertising. Then this this all looks like pants-on-head crazy talk.)
No joke Mercedes tried to pass off the wiring harnesses rotting out of their cars made in the 90’s as the wiring harnesses being “biodegradable”
I know this because my dad bought a couple Mercedes from the 90s and I watched him remake and change the harnesses in both, insisting they were well engineered, quality cars
After he had to scrap one of them he no longer insists they are quality cars
This guy’s videos are only slightly lower pitched and slightly less annoying than the sound of a smoke detector. But the smoke detector tells me something I actually need to know.
Okay, so I haven’t followed Kilmer since his very early years, and back then he made really great how-to videos…like, absolutely the best. I am getting the impression that something went wrong because he got monetized and had to start making “content”.
Currently looking at some series 1/2 SLK 200s even tho I really shouldn’t… why are other cute little 2 seater cabrio roadsters with metal folding roofs so rare to find at that price racket…
Posing the question is answering it; because the quality is so-so. These things require regular maintenance and after 25 years, there’s a change that the 5th owner didn’t care that much.
Scion was only available in the US and Canada. The same cars were available as Toyotas in a bunch of other countries though. They just have a lower resale value here in the US because of the “brand”.
I like how they keep me dry in the rain, warm in the cold, and protected from knock-off military murder wagons being driven by underinsured middle school drop outs with a cellphone in one hand and a tiny dick in the other.
I had about 260k on my 2012 nissan rogue. It was a decent car for New England weather until it needed ball joints every 4 months and started getting 17 mpg (it was supposed to get 25-30 mpg).
To anyone who needs to know, this is a 100% true fact and you should listen. If you can't afford two Benzes, you can't afford one Benz. Meanwhile you can take a twenty year old Honda, pack the engine compartment completely full of peanut butter, throw it in the ocean, and it'll fire right up once you fish it back out again.
And in the case of a Toyota Helix you can set it on fire and set it atop a building that’s being demolished then demolish the building along with what you said and it will keep working.
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