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Mercedes in its ads claimed that the ridges kept the tail lights cleaner
The headlamp wipers. Many a times people have come up to me and said "my dad owned one of these cars and when I was a kid, I was fascinated by these headlight wipers" See the rear legroom. Mine is a 420SEL where the L stood for Long Wheelbase. The wheelbase was 6 inches longer. You could sit in the back seat and fold your legs while reading a newspaper - no problem. Dictators used to clean their guns there ..haha The side view. The W126 was designed by a legend well known in the design world. His name was Bruna Sacco - an Italian settled in Stuttgart - home of the Mercedes. BTW - dont laugh. THe 4.2 litre V8 produced just 222 hp when new.
Steve thanks for the update and the write up on pro's and con's
with most of us on the lexus forum that are Lexus aficionado's we are well aware that the Mercedes S class is a great world class luxury touring vehicle.
I can not speak for all of us on the site, but pretty sure my sentiments will resonate with more than a few
1) we don't want a 1500 , 2000 car payment
2) if you add on service we don't need a 2000 or 2500 / mortgage to drive around in luxury and share to the world we are better than most
3) Mercedes has done a nice job with reliability but all day long pre warranty expiration and after I would rather be in a Lexus than any German car
4) probably the most beneficial area not discussed is the safety aspect of your series s vs the older designed LS, I don't think they compare close by a far margin the Mercedes would be better in all safety aspects
So, thank you for thoughts and candid review of pro's and con's but ill stick to my $20,000 10 year old vehicle that is 85% as good as a s class in ride quality, safety and older ergonomics for a $0 car payment, 80$ / mo. insurance payment and feel pretty good as you kick down the s560 and pull ahead 1 car length on the highway while I try to keep up with Ls 460 awesome non aspirated v8
Steve thanks for the update and the write up on pro's and con's
with most of us on the lexus forum that are Lexus aficionado's we are well aware that the Mercedes S class is a great world class luxury touring vehicle.
Thesis(title):"Two years in, life with a Mercedes is a lot like life with a Lexus...just a little +$"
Supporting arguements: see post #1
Conclusion(post #1): "So, those who are considering branching out, don't be afraid and give it a whirl. Its going to cost you more, just be prepared for that...but life with a German car is not scary...its plenty reliable, find a good independent mechanic who knows the cars well to save some cost or just stick with the dealer...hell, even my Chrysler Pacifica, this one we have now has been perfect. Not one issue".
Originally Posted by mikesrx350
1) we don't want a 1500 , 2000 car payment
Hell no, me either!
I'm still driving my 2004 RX330. lol
The payment on a new LS is not much less, my LS460L was $1,250 a month, my S560 is $1,495. You're going to pay within $300 a month for any car in this price category, if you were to lease a new LS500 today it would be $1,500 a month. Not everybody buys used cars.
2) if you add on service we don't need a 2000 or 2500 / mortgage to drive around in luxury and share to the world we are better than most
Lots of passive aggression there. When have I ever shown that I drive what I drive because I care what people think? I drive what I drive because I love this sort of car.
You also need to do some better math there. The cost of maintaining my S Class as per my first post has been $6,000 over 24 months, thats $250 per month, so it doesn't cost me $2,000-$2,500 a month to drive this. The cost to maintain the LS460 was $4,000 over 24 months, so the difference in cost to maintain between the two is only $83 a month.
I also wish I could only have a $2,000-$2,500 mortgage. That'd be sweet lol
3) Mercedes has done a nice job with reliability but all day long pre warranty expiration and after I would rather be in a Lexus than any German car
With the LS460, there are a myriad of reasons that you shouldn't, we've demonstrated in this thread and others that the LS460s have a good many expensive typical issues as they age, both my LS460s even when new had more issues than my S Class up to this point. The LS460 is a lot more like a German car to maintain than older LSs or other Lexus models.
That was the point of the thread, a lot of this idea that a Mercedes is dramatically more costly to maintain and more expensive to maintain than a Lexus isn't really true, at least when you're talking about an LS.
So, thank you for thoughts and candid review of pro's and con's but ill stick to my $20,000 10 year old vehicle that is 85% as good as a s class in ride quality, safety and older ergonomics for a $0 car payment, 80$ / mo. insurance payment and feel pretty good as you kick down the s560 and pull ahead 1 car length on the highway while I try to keep up with Ls 460 awesome non aspirated v8
You can buy used S Classes too.
Not sure what the deal is with the snarky/financially defensive comments. We all pay for things what we want to pay, are comfortable paying, and can pay. I wish I could be happy driving an old car that didn't cost me much money, but I'm not so I dont. This is a luxury car forum and many people here are paying what I pay to drive a car . My thread has nothing to do with trying to convince people who drive old cars they should go buy a new car...the point was to relay my experience to help people who want to try a Mercedes but are afraid of the maintenance costs and reliability realize they will be okay and they should give it a whirl. If you're happy in your old Lexus, keep it.
Mercedes in its ads claimed that the ridges kept the tail lights cleaner
The headlamp wipers. Many a times people have come up to me and said "my dad owned one of these cars and when I was a kid, I was fascinated by these headlight wipers" See the rear legroom. Mine is a 420SEL where the L stood for Long Wheelbase. The wheelbase was 6 inches longer. You could sit in the back seat and fold your legs while reading a newspaper - no problem. Dictators used to clean their guns there ..haha
The side view. The W126 was designed by a legend well known in the design world. His name was Bruna Sacco - an Italian settled in Stuttgart - home of the Mercedes. BTW - dont laugh. THe 4.2 litre V8 produced just 222 hp when new.
Nice pics. I like how the door sills are well protected. No exposed sheet metal. I hear a different reason for the ribbed lights. Something to do with ice and freezing prevention. (But I might be wrong)
Originally Posted by hugo2648
Since I notice a interest in the technical aspects, I am attaching some pictures of my 1990 420SEL with captions below it (if I can)
Above are the relays. See how robust they are. Silver plated cylindrical coonectors.
Drivers side view.Long rectangular thinggy is the ABS pump. The cylinder is the Power steering pump. The yellow hoses are Fuel Supply and return. I have them enclosed in yellow heat shrink tubing to further insulate them. The supply comes from a pipe which is air conditioned to cool down the fuel. You see that coming out of the HVAC insulation.
The central octagonal thing on the left is the fuel distributor. And the round thing next to it is the Air Flow metering plate. THis is the Continuous Injection System (CIS). The Plate is pressed down by flow of Air. That then uncovers slits in the fuel distributor to supply fuel to the injectors. Injectors open by fuel pressure like in Diesels - not via an electrical pulse. THe big black round object with Mercedes logo is the spark distributor. You can see the false firewall. Behind it is the battery and the windshield washer reservoir which is heated. False firewall keeps the battery and other electronics behind it cooler
More coming in the next post.
Great information here. Interesting to see the relays. I guess the model car you have is probably the final model to use them. Would be interesting so look at what Mercedes used on the generation S class debuting after your model.. also, would have interest to compare what Toyota was using in their LS sedan at the time.
I haven't read this thread and not throw it, but I went to the Mercedes dealer today because I have a rear side marker bulb out and they were going to swap it for free but they didn't have the part. I thought that was nice, totally for free. Lexus might or might not do that for free also I'm not sure, it'll be interesting to compare the two service wise.
I haven't read this thread and not throw it, but I went to the Mercedes dealer today because I have a rear side marker bulb out and they were going to swap it for free but they didn't have the part. I thought that was nice, totally for free. Lexus might or might not do that for free also I'm not sure, it'll be interesting to compare the two service wise.
Depending on the dealer Lexus would probably do that for you too.
I haven't read this thread and not throw it, but I went to the Mercedes dealer today because I have a rear side marker bulb out and they were going to swap it for free but they didn't have the part. I thought that was nice, totally for free. Lexus might or might not do that for free also I'm not sure, it'll be interesting to compare the two service wise.
LOL. Like I've said though, there's an Indy Benz shop almost walking distance from my house. They only use OEM parts and are cheaper, and have a sterling reputation.
But yes, I fully expect to spend money maintaining this. It's just part of it. I'm kinda shocked at the 10k service intervals, no way I'm going that long between oil changes synthetic or not. Looks like the previous owner did it about every 7-8k. Dealer almost seems reasonable, cost wise. It costs like $300 per service which for a $100k Mercedes is not bad at all from the dealer.
LOL. Like I've said though, there's an Indy Benz shop almost walking distance from my house. They only use OEM parts and are cheaper, and have a sterling reputation.
This is key!
I fixed the electrical gremlins on my CL500 myself, easy peasy.
But no way was I working on the hydraulic suspension.
A GOOD indy is like hitting the jackpot, pure gold.
Even people who have money to blow doesn't mean they like to spend it when cheaper options exist.
Unless it will void the warranty of course.
01-10-23, 06:44 PM
. My thread has nothing to do with trying to convince people who drive old cars they should go buy a new car...the point was to relay my experience to help people who want to try a Mercedes but are afraid of the maintenance costs and reliability realize they will be okay and they should give it a whirl. If you're happy in your old Lexus, keep it.
