I've been reading reviews on carsurvey.org of 1995 Mercedes C180 and they are all generally favourable - especially with regard to reliability. This is heartening because this is the vehicle I'm contemplating purchasing.

But I've also read reader reviews panning recent Mercedes vehicles from 2000 on as being incredibly unreliable heaps of junk and long lists of serious problems and issues and that they would never buy another one, after years of being loyal Mercedes Benz owners/buyers. I've also read that Mercedes vehicles are not built to last anymore in the same way as they used to be, without extra care to make them as rust-proof as possible etc.

I remember reading some time ago that Mercedes embarked on a disastrous expansion program that went so horribly wrong that the German government had to bail them out.

Today I read on the internet their luxury car department is barely profitable and they are planning ways to cut costs.

I'm interested to know when Mercedes quality started going downhill and they started going backwards. When did they start skimping on quality to cut costs and stop making cars built to last 20+ years?

Which car is more likely to give me trouble free motoring - a 2003 Subaru Forester or a 1995 Mercedes 180 C?

 

To the bottom question, the subaru will be more reliable, for obvious reasons