I wonder, if our guy bought a pristine low mile original $$ car that needed zero work then proceed to daily drive it, would those on this list raise a big fuss that he is destroying a museum piece?

Now, OP, post your total hours a month you spend working on it?

That's kind of what we did with our 240D, no one seemed to mind here. I get crap from the local car guys for leaving it out and letting the original paint die a quick death at the hands of my teenage daughters. It was $5,000 for a pristine 240D or $6,000 for a basic clean Honda.

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1981 240D Four on the floor, Orient Red over Parchment, bought with 154,000 but it's a daily driver and up to 180,000 miles, mostly original paint and all original interior.

I'm sure some would. I wouldn't, because I'd daily drive it myself. When its your car you do what you want.

I semi daily-drive the SDL, I'm not being contradictive, I just don't see why it's "ok" to shell out upper range dough for a 33+ year old car then turn around and dump the same amount in every year. If my SDL required $6500 in maintenance one year, it would just sit behind the barn or get sold. I love the car, but I'm not about to sink that kind of money into it in one go.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

I forgot the name of the program, the one with Carilini (sp) as the host. There was a very low mile spotless Toyota PU 4x4 that went for around 13k. Try to buy one for half of that new, so why not use it as it was meant to and save 50% of buying an actually new one and tell all of the complainers, if you think it should be saver pay me 3xs and do it or shut up.

Regarding that episode I would have gone to 18k for that one if I were there. Then run the hell out of it in winter months here.

If he had a PT job paying $10.00 an hour for all the hours spent on a total re-hab, he'd have the $$ to buy a museum piece instead. Just another way of looking at all that time and thou$and$ spent........

"Totaling a car" does not equal "salvage title", in my experience. My 1965 Chrysler has been "totaled" 3 times, by several insurance companies, yet I still have the original title. Last time was when a deer crunched the passenger door. I drove it to the body shop the insurance requested, they looked and thought, "we can't fix a 1965", so insurance decided to go with "total loss". It then becomes "just a question of price", to quote an old dotard joke. I mailed them ads for other 1965 Chryslers, of course many were more desirable (2 dr, biggest engine, ...), but I let them sort that out. They offered $3500, and took $500 off for me to keep the car. No sale occurred, I just got a check. Bought a used rust-free door from AZ ($100), and painted to match the car. Similar deal the other 2 times.

BTW, just because I paid $400 for the 1984 300D, doesn't mean it looks bad. Indeed, probably better than most on this site, especially since I recently replaced the faded grill insert. It could use some small dent fixes and repaint, but looks almost new at 50 ft. I would say that newish cars age faster. Cars don't rust in CA, but the sun is evil.

I paid way too much ($2500) for the 1985 300D, but that was 2001 when OE's still owned them and valued based on the $$$$ bought new. Had I known parts prices, I wouldn't have fallen into the M-B pit. It doesn't look as nice as the 1984, but mostly due to the dumpy dark-brown color.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

I have yet to find a part that was hard to find in any way what so ever once joining this forum. Also these parts are EXTREMELY cheaper than anything newer for example my late 90s Honda and Volkswagen.

And there are so few things that can go wrong and less parts to replace on these cars especially compared to my newer cars.

I'd definitely say that without a doubt my w123 is the cheapest to maintain.

But ya I'd be hurting too if I was paying $170 for an oil change....

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I'd argue controll arm bushings and subframe bushings are the Achilles heel of cost on these W126 vehicles, they are expensive.

However, the W124 suspension parts are considerably cheaper, a complete comprehensive front control arm kit with actuall control arms cost $273. While the bushings alone cost about $800 on a W126.

I know this comes down to the W124 being stamped and the W126 being solid hunks of iron, but at the end, W124's, W210's', and W202's are cheaper to maintain imo.

W124 suspension and steering parts are less than that of a Volvo.

I am rambling, but after owning a car with shot suspension and steering, I now take into consideration the cost of a suspension rebuild when buying cars now. With that being said, I probably won't own another W126.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

For the big money I just dropped into my W123, most of it was work that hadn't been done in 30 years and won't be needed again. The new suspension should last a very long time, the trans should go another 30 years, the timing chain will not be an annual service, etc.

It's not that the money is constantly being poured into it, but without the maintenance then it's guaranteed to be a lawn ornament.

There's a difference between driving a POS that needs work, and spending the money to fix it. We call it hood rich- owning high end cars but no means or desire to maintain them. So you see S500s and such sitting on bump stops because nobody fixes the accumulators. You hear a W123 clickety-clacketing down the street, but the person doesn't care to adjust the valves to quiet it down. Etc, etc.

I love the car. If I didn't, I wouldn't have dumped the money into it. Fortunately, I shouldn't have much to do besides regular maintenance and punch-list items for a while.

It is going to depend on the state.

A total loss = ( at minimum ) car is beyond economical _retail_ repair.

If an insurance co pays out a total loss claim, some states brand the title as salvage. After repairs the car must be reinspected to assure it is road worthy. The title is then branded reconstructed.

Some states add a second level of " non repairable " when needed to further weed out severely damaged cars.

All of this is done in an attempt to protect car buyers from shoddy repairs done to a car that is beyond economical retail repair.

I guess if you assume the car will be in an accident, then insurance and how it pays off on major claims against an old car should be considered in this TCO equation. It's tough to compare predictable to unpredictable. I don't know what kind of insurance he has.

He may be thinking that depreciation is a very predictable loss while accident damage is completely unpredictable - it may be $0 (accident free) or complete (total loss - then you get into the insurance payout issue).

Perhaps it would have been better if the OP said Total Cost of Maintenance, Repair, and Predicted Future Value? If he is not including insurance and fuel costs, it's not TCO as most understand it.

I think step 1 is actually measuring/tracking your TOTAL costs using a tool like the aCar app that syncs to fuelly.com. If you don't document everything (I haven't documented insurance cost on my E300), then you can't discuss TCO.

My wife leased her 2010 Volvo XC60, then paid cash to buy out the lease at the end. It has always been dealer serviced and has about 106,000 miles on it now. I wish I had tracked it with an app like this from the beginning, it would be a great comparison to what I'm doing with my 1997 E300 that I just got in August.

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NOW: 2017 C43 AMG, 2006 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 1966 230SL, 1980 450SL (for sale!)
PAST: 2006 C230, 1997 E300D, 1994 E420, 1994 Neon Spt Cpe, 1984 300ZX, 1983 Celica GT, 1976 Electra Limited, 1984 Honda Nighthawk 650, 1979 Suzuki PE175, 1978 Suzuki DS100
www.mbca.org - www.sl113.org - www.ohio4x4.com

I'd rather pay 2X what many pay for their POSs, with jillions of miles on them, that proceed to need thousand$ and thousand$ in parts AND/OR their owner's labor spent on them to keep them running.

I have spent literally zilch on repairs in the 5-years on the low miles '06 CDI I bought 5-years ago.

I still have a low miled '06 CDI, whereas the ones bought with a jillion miles on them, now have a jillion+ miles & a fortune $$$ spent on them.

If you've been daily driving it for 38 years, I'd like to see all your numbers too, including the total miles driven. Especially the hours you've spent working on it yourself.

LOL, I was not expecting so many responses! haha. Interesting!

Well, I drive 65,000KM pear year, so I was expecting maintenance last year to be expensive. I also have a few major things to do this year so it should be around $4000-5000. These are not things that even need to be done but my goal is to replenish the car to OEM/Factory standards. At the end of this year all systems have been replaced with OEM parts and the vehicle will not need anything. Like I said, most kids in my income/age range buy 60-80k pick up trucks, that's just not my thing. I'd rather invest 10-15k into a old solid rust free W123!

Keep in mind also, that most of these costs are because I buy OEM Mercedes parts from Germeny (through this website) and don't use aftermarket unless the OEM Mercedes part is no longer available. A small portion of these amounts is labor.

Here's an example for you. Last month, I bought 2 engine mounts, 2 engine shocks, 2 engine shock mount kits, new A/C compressor, new a/c drier, 2 oil cooler lines, oil cooler. Guess how much I paid in labor? $1000 cash. Guy did it all in two days, where it would have taken me a week of fiddling around in a driveway and making a mess. I live in a nice area in Toronto and don't have the luxury of some of you with barns, garages, tools etc. If I did, I gladly would do some of the work myself!

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1976 Mercedes 240D (Sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel: 500,000KM
1986 Mercedes 300E (Sold)
1988 Mercedes 300E (Sold)
2002 Mercedes C240 (Sold)
2008 Mercedes C350 4matic

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