Hey everyone,

Last night, we took the 99 300 turbodiesel into big D for dinner and my rear seat passenger had just cracked the rear door open to get out in front of the restaurant when an immense sound of tincan-hitting-very solid object rang out. We had just been sideswiped by a chevy
silverado. The impact had torn the door out of the hand of my friend, and it was sticking out fully. Judging by the sound, i knew that my rear door was destroyed! Luckily , no one was injured. When I got out to survey
the damage I was stunned to find that there wasn't a single scratch, ripple, dent, warp, misalignment, etc. to my car. The rear door shut perfectly. To my amazement, the panel behind the passenger door on the silverado was destroyed!! Paint scratched. two big dents and a long gouge down the side. I had heard that maybe these newer MB cars were not a solid or well built as previous models, but at least by last nights experience, I think that they are prety good.

Steve
btw--of course the driver of the chevy insisted that it was my fault
because "you hit my truck"!

hehehe, thats amazing. I always knew mercedes doors sounded solid... but I think this case is extreme ;-)

That IS amazing! Not a scratch?

I do hope all is well.

__________________
... Kerry

126 tailed by a 203, 129 leading the pack.

HEHE,
Very cool !!
Im glad no one was hurt.

Allright, this morning in the broad daylight, I backed the car out of the garage for a reassessment. No visible damage at all to the door when shut, but when I opened the door, there it was, on the very edge of the door---a strip of bright red paint about 1/2 in.
long(the other guy's truck color). That was it, nothing else. I'm still amazed.

That is a trip. hehe, I'm not at all surprised at the amount of damage to the tinfoilorado pickup car. I used to own one.

I guess that the driver of the pickup car isn't supposed to watch where he is going in a parking lot?

Here is the picture of the Dodge Ram pick-up after the 40mph offset crash:





Here is the same crash test results for the E-Class:





The Dodge failed miserably. The MB passed with flying colours. Go ahead, tell me again how some poorly designed, poorly made, heavyweight truck POS is safer than a superbly designed lighter car. Make me laugh... (btw, all but the Toyota full-size trucks perform miserably)

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

It's called physics. The offset fixed barrier crash would simulate maybe you falling asleep and drifting into a solid object. This is not a typical real world crash. Pit your car with my truck (3/4 ton by the way, not a 1/2 ton as pictured), and we would both likely end up walking away unscathed. You due to the higher quality engineering, and me due to the heavier mass absorbing MUCH less of the impact.

What you "heard" about decreasing MB quality, is what I've heard since the late sixties with every new major model release. People ALWAYS say "they're not built as well as the last model."

They're indeed always built differently than the last model. Otherwise, why bring out a new model. Things change, and for every apparent change for the worse, there are two improvements for the better.

I'm glad everyone is okay after the accident.

Have a great day,

While it's true that the offset frontal crash test is not a crash involving two cars, it's VERY "real-world", as most intersection crashes involve an offset frontal impact. It's why the IIHS decided to use this type of impact to predict injury rates.

The Dodge performance should be an embarassment to the maker. They rely on people's perceptions of "big=safe" to sell the truck as a safer alternative to a car. Then they use poor design, poor materials, and charge premium prices.

I'll still choose cars for a balance of active and passive safety. IMHO, trucks are for hauling stuff, not families.

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

I'm happy that your E-class stood up to the truck so well. I find the very large size of those trucks to be a 'passive anti-safety" feature - they're so large that many drivers cannot adequately handle them. There are a lot of big trucks running around Plano, and I see many with scraped sides, missing mirrors, or compacted bumpers.

I'm not so happy with my own '98 E300 turbodiesel. My spouse has decided it's a lemon and wishes to sell it. I'm on the fence - but mostly because there's nothing I really want to replace it with. In the 3.5 years we have owned it, it has been in the shop a total of 30 days for repairs to problems which rendered it undrivable. It's had three seperate and distinct failures which took it off the road. I recently had to leave it at a dealer 400 miles from home when it broke down on a holiday road trip. Four months out of warranty it required a near $1000 repair.

So while it has all the wonderful attributes of the 210 chassis sedan, and that's saying something, I can't put up with the downtime. Ten days per year in the shop is too much. Certainly the quality of my E300 isn't what one expects from a Mercedes.

I was so disgusted with my 92 300 SE that two months ago I traded for an 99 Escalade and love it. After 20,000 miles and two yrs. and Mercedes eating over $17,000 in repairs on an extended warranty, I got rid of it at 83,000 miles. It was hard to do and I drive an 82 240D every day (113,000K) in order to stay loyal. I'am not sure anymore what to make of the newer models so I'am interested in this thread if discussion.

There are stories like this to be heard about ANY brand car being built.

Have a great day,

jcyuhn, sorry to hear of your troubles with your car. So far, so good with mine. I bought it used with 24k, and it only had two minor warranty items, none of which made it undriveable(odometer and convenience relay). Some of the things I don't like about it are a few of the interior fittings seem plasticky and very light duty and the rack- and- pinion steering is really hard to get used to. Not that it's worse or better than the recirc. steering, its just not what I expect when I'm driving a Mercedes.
Maybe the bugs are worked out of your car by now--incidentally, how has the dealer response to your problems been?
Steve

Looks like we are going to simply disagree. I've seen such impacts in the real world. The vehicles both absorb some of the energy and will slide away from each other, which in effect absorbs some of the accident energy. Worst one that I saw was between an Acura Legend and an old Ford Econoline van. The driver of the Acura was not moving at all, and had to be cut out of the car. The driver of the van walked. In these offest crashes, the Acura would have easily won and the van lost. I've seen similar pictres of such a wreck between two Dodge trucks - one a 3/4 ton, and the other a 1/2 ton. The 1/2 ton truck lost, but still did not crush into the cab area. The 3/4 ton truck fared much better. Both were totalled.