I can't say I see all that many vehicles broken down by the roadside. Perhaps I should drive in Scotland more...
Perhaps because so many are sold; nobody suggests they're 100% reliable, just that they are, by and large, the most reliable cars on the road, and Mercedes are, by and large, not. Unless, of course, consumer surveys by such organisations as Which? and J.D. Power get it wrong year after year after year.
Your meticulously-maintained old bangers may be totally reliable, but if they weren't so old, they'd need a hell of a lot more of that maintenance; as time passes, cars become more sophisticated and complex, with more and more to go wrong, and it does. I wish the cars I buy nowadays were as reliable as those of twenty years ago.
I see broken down cars pretty regularly, not unusual to see two or three on a single journey , and I don’t count punctures as breakdowns.
I think this so many are sold thing is a fallacy too , it doesn’t neccessarily represent the population of cars on the road which will be a mix of all cars ever sold . There are oftentimes when I’m out and it seems as though every other car is a Merc ; it is far from unusual for me to find myself driving along in a mini convoy of three , four , or more Mercs ; they really are one of the most common makes on the road , and not the rarities they used to be ; this must in part be due to longevity since models such as 203s are common everyday sights , and earlier models such as 210s , 202s , even 124s and 201s are far from unusual. Where I live now , there are half a dozen 124s , a 126 saloon and coupe , a Pagoda and numerous 201s that I see being driven regularly within a 10 mile radius ; indeed yesterday I saw a lovely BRG E Type , a Daimler Conquest , a 1960’s Alfa Spider ( with black number plates ) and an MGB - that was just in one journey up to Falkirk and Stirling , about 20 miles .
What I NEVER see is Jap stuff more than about 10 years old ; when did anyone last see a ‘Datsun’ ? Yet they were at one time popular sellers .
After Merc , probably the most commonplace cars I see are from the VAG group and again 20+ year old examples are not unusual ; followed by Ford/Vauxhall
Yes there is a lot of oriental stuff running about , but you just don’t see them beyond about 10
years old ; they are definitely built down to a price and designed to last just beyond the warranty period , after which they just fall apart - a walk round any breakers yard will confirm this . We have , unfortunately, a number of such cars at work , and I’ve had the misfortune of having to travel in or even drive them ; the poor bodywork with doors that feel like they’re made of cardboard ; the instrument panels and dashboards that light up like Christmas trees and cause so much glare in anything but daylight ( and can’t be turned off ) ; badly thought out controls : cruise controls being a prime example - we have a very simple intuitive stalk , they have multiple buttons on the steering wheel which only work in a certain sequence and are far from simple to set , disengage , resume . Sadly , these cars are bought as a result of the tendering process where the decisions come down to accountants and bean counters .
These consumer organisations you speak of will be skewed since they tend to be used by people of the mindset who buy cars , white goods , vacuum cleaners etc on the basis of their self congratulatory online reviews and have no real interest in their purchases beyond the ‘ratings’ .
I wouldn’t say my cars are meticulously maintained ; I just do what’s necessary , and while I may spend some time bringing a recently acquired car up to standard , correcting either age related things or the neglect of previous owners ; I do then get into a regime of routine maintenance: fluids , filters , tyres , brakes and other consumable cars .
My 20+ year old cars are quite complex enough , and compared to earlier models have a lot of electronics in . I wouldn’t want a car that needs a computer to maintain it , and if changing again would not want to go any newer for just that reason .
No charge madam.
