That's the only thing that bugs me about German cars, as well-designed as they are, it seems they purposely make some things difficult (like sealing that battery up like that). I mean, if it had an open battery box, you'd have noticed the crappy battery long ago and gotten it replaced.
My dad's Benz (1997 E320) is the same way; an oilchange is an ordeal thanks to the undertray! The battery itself is 1) HUGE and 2) stuffed under the backseat... Brakes take a while, partially thanks to the admittedly-nifty wearsensors (they're not squealers, but sensors that fit in a slot in the pads...when they get exposed/wear, they complete a circuit and trigger an indicator on the dashboard computer)
I know how you feel, too. My mom's had her 1997 Suburban in for a few things lately...things that should've been covered under one of the warranties (we've got a few on it), and yet they "weren't"...I think she's got a few screws loose or something, but she won't show me the dealer record for what they did regarding the brakes (it DID get rid of some nasty vibrations) and she won't tell me why she didn't use her $50 deductible on both the $600 she got hit with out of the $1000 total it cost when the Dex-Crap clogged the radiator up, or on the what I estimate is well over $1000 of 'brake work'...
...grrrr, between those and what she's getting offa my dad in alimony, that's a ZZ4 for my truck I could've and should've had. dammit, now I'm more pissed than when I started this post.
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Project 1970 - soon to be seen at
http://milhouse.treylis.org:81/