Thank you all for your input.
I was feeling guilty about not fixing it myself. The car has been very reliable and still running on its originl disc pads just about due for replacement now all the bits are original . It has towed the old caravan to North Queensland and across to South Australia and countless trips to Victoria and down the South Coast . It has been an excellent car and is very solid in construction. So I was not having a bitch about the car it is still a nice car. Having said that did have to bypass the heater. The core or some internal hose started to leak and the fix involved the dash out and the air bags . So who needs a heater was my thoughts.We will be hanging onto it for as long as possible,cannot afford to replace it with a new one . This was 3 years old when we bought it.
Ian's comment about should have bought a Toyota reminded me of something on the Mercedes Forum most of these people have money coming out of there ears with multiple cars including RR's . One post was someone commented on why Mercedes cannot give a longer warranty and have the reliability of a Toyota . One comment in reply was they would have to do something about the air suspension that some have fitted , many were very envious of the Toyota reliability they obviously can't lower their status sufficiently to buy a Toyota . Some may even feel good about what it costs them in service and running costs. I was given at zero cost a down in the mouth 1974 Mercedes 280 SE. It is a nice old thing to drive however I still may have paid too much for it.
Regards Jim.

On car marques and perceived status, oftentimes new 'luxury' vehicles are part of a salary package. They lose the job and they lose the car.

Toyotas do have a reputation for reliability -- especially some of their diesels -- but Toyota has also had plenty of recalls over the years and for some pretty serious defects.

Not sure about the air suspension bit, but a friend of mine's Mercedes 4x4 has horrible suspension. A government bus would have a more comfortable ride. I thought it was supposed to be driver-adjustable, but not in this model.

Mercedes doesn't do rec vehicles well. Their G-class 4x4s definitely don't look like a Merc. The X-class ute is just a Nissan Navara with a Merc engine and dash. They no longer make these.

Mercedes has also cheapened their brand over the years by offering cars that the average Joe can afford, such as the C and A-class. Base model stuff that can be had for little more than the cost of a Commodore or Falcon.

With the demise of local manufacturing, no car maker is making that much money any more and none truly dominate in the way Holden and Ford once did. The year my Commodore was made, Holden were running the factory around the clock and selling 7,000 Commodores a month.

Last month, Toyota sold 12,000 cars - all models included.

With more than 60 brands available and a contracting market, each available model becomes less popular and parts and servicing become more expensive.

As for recalls, there's been a few. The Takata airbag recall is the biggest in history that I know of. The Holden Commodore was one of few cars that weren't fitted with that brand - thank Christ. We've also had Jeeps catching fire, Audis with dodgey fuel tanks, BMWs with dodgey steering, Ford Everest and Ranger with dodgey transmissions, Holden Commodore Diesels with a dodgey fuel hose, Honda Accords with dodgey fuel pumps, Hyundais and Kias that catch fire, Lexus with dodgey fuel pumps, Mercedes with dodgey seat belts, Porsche Cayennes with fuel leaks and catching fire, Subarus with dodgey seat belts, Toyota Camrys with dodgey fuel pumps and Volvos with dodgey emergency braking functions.

The list is by no means exhaustive, it's just a sample of the recalls for the last 18 months. On top of this we've had driverless cars under test in the US catching fire, heading off course, running people over and killing their less-alert drivers.

Toyota's sales numbers, as were Holden's and Ford's, are greatly boosted by big discounts given to fleet buyers.

As for the Mercedes brand, to me it has always been a German taxi.

One characteristic of buyers of 'prestige' cars is that they often cannot afford the maintenance/upkeep. I've seen this first hand via my neighbour at my workshop who repairs electrical and electronic problems on many of those marques. He usually gets his work through dealerships and is leery of getting jobs directly from the owners due to difficulty in getting paid. His observation is, the pricier the car, the more they squeal about repair costs. Occasionally a Ferrari/Maserati/Lamborghini owner will just hand over his credit card and say 'do whatever is necessary'. Those are the guys who can actually afford to own such vehicles.

My experience is that European cars are not that reliable, and are expensive to repair and maintain - if you can get the parts in a timely fashion.

Australian cars, as we all remember, were not very reliable either.

Naturally I wouldn't even consider a Chinese car - I doubt they'd pass any of the safety tests, or even stay together after 5 years.

My car is a Mitsubishi that I bought in 1996, it's done over 300,000 km, and still going strong. No fancy electronics to get in the way, apart from the electronic ignition and central locking, both 100% reliable, so far.

Australian cars aren't that bad. I've owned a few. All cars have their niggles, regardless of where they came from. The reputation of Australian cars comes from the fact that 85% of the cars once sold here were made here. Even the bullet-proof, Pommie over-engineered Land Rovers had their quirks and they were amongst the simplest vehicles on the road.

A lot of peoples' reliability issues comes from two factors:-

1. The way they treat their car.
2. The age of their car.

Some people abuse their vehicles, drive like lunatics and overload cargo areas. This will create problems as the vehicle gets older. Then there is the issue that the Australian car fleet is one of the oldest in the 1st world. People like to hang on to their cars for as long as possible. Mine is 17 years old and everything still works - electric antenna, wipers, washers, the radio, instrument cluster, the lot. Bits and pieces have been maintained and replaced over time but that is just the normal burden of owning any machine. Things wear out and require replacement.

To be honest, for their overall complexity, cars are generally better than average when it comes to reliability. If the engine control module or the body computer in my car were made like a modern television - I wouldn't be using the car for anything more than trips to work or the supermarket. Instead after 17 years I can still confidently drive it interstate.

One thing I have recently installed in my car is an in-car camera system. It includes both a front and rear camera and it catches a lot of things, including occurrences that I don't notice when I am driving. One that I did notice was when I was on the M4 last night - this flip in a ute screamed across all lanes to overtake at leat 40km/h quicker than I was going. Kelloggs should do a recall on his licence but it makes me wonder - where the hell are the police when they are needed?

I'll upload a copy of the film when I can re-acquaint myself with whatever the native movie maker programme in Windows is these days.

Yes, I wonder how long cars last when people rev the guts out of them whenever leaving the lights or a street corner.

My radio has a broken volume control, I know how to fix it, but getting the thing out of the car defeated me, so it stays there, broken.

I have seen comments about some Americans who never change the oil in their cars. Incredible.

I can still hear my motor mechanic grandpa saying to me when I was in primary school (I used to 'help' him in his garage): "Son, the cheapest form of maintenance for a car is a regular oil and filter change" and I've stuck to that advice.

getting the thing out of the car defeated me

Have you searched YouTube for that subject? There are lots of How To videos for radio (and other dash component) removals on a variety of cars and year models on there.

The air cleaner, oil and water, are the engines life blood. Many do not realise that the oil is part of the cooling system.

Modern cars are not as prone to cooling issues as they used to be as most engines will dissolve if you do not use corrosion inhibitor and if its being serviced by reputable people it should always be good. One has to watch the air cleaner. When the baby sit A4 arrived & I checked it on of its air chutes was clogged with Mud wasp nests and The neighbours lawn tractor died last week from an absolutely choked air cleaner.

There is no way here, that an air cleaner will get to the distance they claim. Oils, ain't oils & there are a couple of brands I will not touch. There are claims by some that older engines need thicker oil: Not a theory I ascribe to. Zephyr book says SAE 20 that's very thin, and suggested clearances were very tight. Tractor as noted 1951 & Ute 1958 and just about everything else run Shell & we have been using it on the Farm pre-1930 when it was Bio Co.

All old engines are run on a low spec diesel (not A4 diesel) most at the moment, Helix.15W-40. Tractor has had new rings & valves, Lawn tractor has done 900Hrs, Pistons & bottom end etc in all, including the small four strokes are original. The right quality oil keeps the inside clean & that is important. Dirt from air intake can destroy a motor quickly. Mowers etc doing dirty work here have their air cleaner screens cleaned after use.

Photo and video uploaded to Post 36.

on the M4 last night - this flip in a ute

I am not at all surprised to see that it's a tradie vehicle with a green P on it. I have noticed time and again that the worst cases of bogan driving usually comprises that combination.

Seems these dopes behave themselves while on red P plates and then think it's open season when they graduate to green plates.

The thing is, he's managed to deck out that piece of garbage so that he's safe in an accident. The thing is, I have a hidden secret weapon behind my rear bumper - it is called the mother of all towbars. For some reason, Holden decided that the towbar for the VT-VZ series Commodore wagons would be a much simpler but almost bulletproof 40kg chunk of steel which would bolt on right underneath the plastic bumper rather than be bolted up from underneath like most towbars are. It was a good idea for protection from idiots like this.

The thing is, it doesn't bother me that much. I am more fearful for people whose nerves aren't as strong and would panic if they saw this goose coming at them. The camera is a good-un. On freeze frame the number plates of every car can be seen clearly. It's good for when something is serious enough to give to the police.

I see change lane without indicating (six counts), obscure P plate and overtake on the left.

BTW: I ended up using NCH VideoPad to edit the camera footage. The standard editing programme in Windows is a POS.

The camera is a good-un

Yes it is. What make/model is it?

Navman MV-860. You won't get much change from $600 when you grab that plus a big and fast SD card. It's easy enough to install though. It has a lot of features that I don't use such as lane departure warning, imminent crash warning, speed and red light camera warnings and the like but I have turned them all off because I find the endless beeping more of a distraction than reckless drivers. I bought this model mainly for the camera resolution. I've bought cameras in the past and paid peanuts for them and got pretty much what I paid for - crap. This camera also comes with sensors you screw on the valve stems which sense low tyre pressure. I haven't bothered with them either as they would probably get pinched anyway and I am a regular tyre checker.