Louie

BMW and Audi also support ADAC. Why would THEY vote Mercedes as the most reliable brand?

All I can reply to this is that I'm quite surprised. Everyone I know here who owns a Mercedes say they'd never buy another brand. Could it be possible that the cars sold on the US market by Mercedes are different than the ones sold here? Are they being produced at different facilities?

Here's another thought: the Americans and Europeans have completely different attitudes when it comes to taking their car to the dealer. While EU owners tend to bring their cars in for the maintenance check every 10,000 km and even the smallest repairs are being done at the dealer's, the US car owners are much more inclined to take matters in their own hands and therefore avoid the dealerships unless some warranty work is needed.
Furthermore, there are far less private garages per car owner in the EU compared to the US. The vast majority here park their cars in the streets and most houses in the suburbs lack garages. This may seem shocking to the average American driver, when even Al Bundy had a garage which by Dutch standards would classify as "huge". For comparison purposes, I've attached a picture of an average Dutch suburban street.



This being said, when it comes to MB and their notoriously high maintenance and running costs, every dealer visit can be perceived as a nuisance.

But is it really possible that the same car manufacturer (i.e. MB) has double quality standards for the two mentioned markets? It would be very wrong to think that they can sell "lemons" in the States just because they assume that Americans regard Cadillacs as beacons of craftmanship in car building and they've never seen anything better. If that were the case, then surely any company who did that would be in danger of losing all its past, present and future customers.

Hollywood_North GT

Well, you just sort of answered your own question: BMW and Audi support ADAC.

Dunno what to tell you. But there are endless articles and posts about it. Below are but a few examples that discuss it. Decide for yourself >>

http://www.autoblog.com/2005/03/31/m...-million-cars/

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/20/m...orts-reliabil/

http://mbca.cartama.net/archive/index.php/t-2434.html

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...1/ai_n15668182

http://www.normantaylor.com/what_hap...lemon_law.html

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jc/benz.htm

On an $80K Mercedes overwrought with technology?! I don't think backyard wrench-turners are going to be mucking about on those cars, no matter how much they know about mechanics.

Nuts4Ford

5 letters:
ML320

Hollywood_North GT

Actually, that's TWO letters...and three numbers.

Of course, algebraically, they still add up to the same conclusion.