Or just buy a Garmin for under $100 and you're set. Add it to whatever car you drive.

 

Again, it's not the navigation(maps) that I want. I know where I'm going. It's the trip computer that I want; I don't know why it didn't come standard in this car like it does in so many other 'lesser' makes and models. I know it isn't accurate but it's more psychological. I won't drive so aggressively if I can see the car tell me how much gas I'm losing.

 

Do what you gotta do then. I think there are way better deals out there though. I'm a big believer in buying used, but I try not to ever buy a car with more than 40K on it. Just too much unknown maintenance (or lack there of) history.

 

think about your finances bro... just wait buy a cheaper car and when you graduate or become more stable then you can buy yourself any car you want

 

No offense, but taking just 2 examples, yours with an Acura and a couple with Mercedes, is far worse than relying on empirical data that can be found in many places. A friend of mine has 220,000 miles on his Chevy pickup, but that doesn't mean that every Chevy pickup is going to get to 220K, or even that it's a reliable vehicle. It just means that HIS Chevy pickup was reliable and went 220K.

Consumer Reports is a pretty reliable source, and they've consistently shown Mercedes to be among the more unreliable cars on the road and Honda/Acura to be outstanding. Don't trust anything JD Power has to say because they only look at initial quality and are also heavily sponsored by the auto industry. CR is completely independent. This isn't a hasty decision or a misleading label based on a few random examples, it's based on thousands of cars that were driven millions of miles. And it's not a stigma that European cars have poor reliability, nobody is saying that. BWM's 3 Series is fairly reliable. But Mercedes isn't, and for the most part, European cars are nowhere near as reliable as Japanese. And European cars generally cost much more for the same repair than a Japanese car does. That's not a stigma, that's a fact.

You can buy the Mercedes and hope you don't get a big repair, but don't be surprised if some $875 parking brake repair shows up.

 

The above comment is a fair one, but I think it is important that you compare apples to apples. One can't compare a civic with an S-class, it just doesn't match up. Many more components and complex sophistication goes into an S-class so it is more prone to problems but, following the same logic as posted above, it doesn't mean it will be plagued with problems nor does it mean that all Mercedes models are unreliable.

Personally, I do use Consumer Reports extensively but I do wish that they would broaden their scope of cars that they test. For example, BuckeyeInMI mentioned that BMW 3 series' is a reliable vehicle. To look at CR info, this statement is true. But they only reported the RWD version data. The AWD models actually have quite a few problems that the RWDs don't.

Another source I like is truedelta.com because they take surveys from owners of all makes and models every month and list specific trims (e.g. RWD or AWD) and what problems were experienced. If you go to this website, you'll see that the rate of repair for a 2006 C-class is very similar to a 2006 G35.

 

I report my info to truedelta every month, but they don't have anywhere near as many respondents as CR. If you're looking for answers that fit your theory (Mercedes is reliable), you'll be able to find them. It's a common mistake many people make because they subconsciously ignore data that doesn't support their theory. If you look at the data empirically and then form a theory, you'll find that Mercedes is not that reliable. It's called the Scientific Method. You can look it up.

And I'm not comparing apples to oranges. I don't know where the S Class came into play, but we're not discussing reliability relative to sophistication, we're discussing reliability, and the G35 is far more reliable than a C Class. Your checkbook balance doesn't suddenly get an extra zero added to it because you bought a more sophisticated car. Truedelta may show them being similar, but CR has them pretty far apart, and has a far more detailed breakdown of the various systems on a car than truedelta does. If you can afford more frequent repairs that are much more expensive, then by all means get the Benz, but you're going to have a very hard time convincing anyone here that it's actually more reliable.

 

I concede. My hat goes off to you Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

when you are buying 5 year old S classes you can compare civics to them because you will wish you had a civic because it will actually make it to its destination without having a repair that costs as much as the civic

idk if u are in college and you care about mpg i think you need to look elsewhere, maybe a tsx or something...the fact that you are even considering a merc shows you have no idea what you are doing when it comes to cars