Fahrvergnügen!

In this post, I finally complete the long journey through all of my car purchases.  This entry covers the German-made cars that we have owned.  I say, "we" because these are the cars that my wife has driven.  

Growing up in Germany, my lovely wife learned to appreciate excellent vehicles at an early age.  We spoke often about cars when we were first together, and she often told me that she wanted a Mercedes some day.  Someday sounded good to me--as long as it was someday down the road when we could afford a premium car.  I should note here that my wife does not suffer from my constant car-buying addiction.  Given her way, she'd drive her favorite car indefinitely--making her desire for a single premium car much more reasonable than my constant shuffling of vehicles.  

She is married to me, which is why this post is not about one car... but four.

In 2000, my wife was happily driving her 1997 Accord.  Despite her compete contentment, she agreed to trade it in as part of my plan to simplify our fleet to a single vehicle.  The vehicle I had planned on "simplifying" into was my much-desired 2000 4Runner SR5 4x4, a vehicle neither simple nor practical for my wife's needs.  She loved me and went with it.  This great plan worked for about two weeks, when I realized how hard it was for two working people (with jobs 15 miles apart) to share a single vehicle.

My solution was to lease a second car.  If you've read some of my other posts, you might wonder why I didn't lease all my cars.  Given the tournover, I'd concede that you have a point.  But I don't like leasing cars.  It feels like I'm driving somebody else's car.  I had never leased a car (and never have since) but VW was offering a sign-and-drive deal, so we wound up with a 2000 Jetta.

As good as it was, the Jetta didn't last.  The 4Runner/Jetta combo was doomed for several reasons.  The 4Runner was a costly and impractical beast that was too high for my wife to climb into and was wasted on my short commute.  The Jetta was a decent car, and my wife enjoyed driving it, but the long rear doors of the Jetta made it difficult to get our infant daughter in and out.  I got out of the lease after just a year and 6000 miles and put my wife back into a new Accord.

The next german vehicle was THE vehicle.  As in, the vehicle my wife always wanted: a Mercedes-Benz.  We had talked several times about the eventual Mercedes purchase, but I didn't think we were at that level.  Truth be told, we weren't.  She had just gotten comfortable with her new Honda Accord when I shot my mouth off and committed us to our first Mercedes.

We were at a car show when it happened.  

It bears noting here that we were AT a car show.  My wife used to go with me to car shows, which I really enjoyed.  That was before she saw my car-buying addiction for what it was.  Today, she would sooner take an ex-junkie to an opium den, or a recovering alcoholic to a bar, than go with me to a car show.  

ANYWAY, we were at a car show, discussing where our next assignment would take us.  As we have been at many times in our married life, we were waiting for the Army to decide what corner of the world we would inhabit.  At that time, my wife (who I later discovered is psychic) began worrying aloud that we might wind up in Fort Polk, Louisiana.  (For the uniformed, Fort Polk is a particularly fantastic garden spot, maintained by the Army to make all other assignments look good.)  

I knew that Fort Polk was a possibility, but because it was at the bottom of my list, I assured her that we wouldn't be going there.  She persisted, and I decided a grand gesture was needed to allay her fears.  Pointing to the beautiful Mercedes in front of us at the auto show, I told her that if we did get orders to Fort Polk, I would buy her a Mercedes the next day.  Two weeks later, after a fateful phone call from my assignments manager, we were headed to the Mercedes dealership...

What a fantastic car.  We bought a black 2003 C230 Sport Sedan.  It had a supercharged 1.8L engine that was good for 191hp, linked to a six-speed manual.  My wife drove it for almost four years... when the engine failed.

The engine failure was not the first trouble we had with this C class.  The AC compressor seized a few weeks after we got it, while we were out on a summer road trip.  The rear window-shade gave us some initial trouble.  The AC unit continued to threaten us by periodically shutting down for a few minutes... as if to remind us who was boss.  There were other little problems as well.  Fortunately, the engine failure happened one month before the warranty ended, so we were covered.  I learned from the shop foreman that 2003 was a particularly bad model year (in terms of quality control) for Mercedes.  Not wanting to risk further issues, I traded the 2003 in for a 2007 C class, this time a C280 in pewter-gray.

This model was a better fit for my wife.  As fun as the six-speed manual was, the new seven-speed automatic was more useful in most driving situations.  The V6 put down more power with less drama, and the overall feel of this version was more relaxed and solid.  She drove it for five years, with only minor problems.

During this time, I discovered Subaru (see my post on the brand) and she had the opportunity to drive my Outback.  Thinking that I might entice her away from premium cars one and for all, I suggested she switch to a Subaru Outback of her own.

Two things conspired to make her listen to my suggestion that she try a Subaru:  the outrageous price of Mercedes maintenance (a new phenomenon for us, as the 2003 C230 had come with a free maintenance plan) and her great experience with my Subaru Outback.  

So, she tried it--out went the 2007 C280 and in came a 2011 Outback.

In the end, though, she missed her Benz.  

So, just last month, I traded in her Outback and put her back in her favorite car...

This time around it's the new C250 Luxury sedan.  With its fuel-efficient 2.0L engine and seven-speed automatic, she gets a nice mix: 201 horsepower, but still 32mpg on the freeway.  

I can't overstate how superior this current generation of C class is over the last two that we've had.  Both the 2003 and 2007 were great cars: smooth, powerful, efficient, etc.  The difference is in quality control and attention to detail.  Interior materials, fit and finish, panel gaps, and other small details are much improved over past C-class standards.

Needless to say, she loves it and loves to drive it.  

If all goes well, I'll stop interfering and let her do just that for as long as she wants!