Originally Posted by: David Dewar 
Why do we think that paying 30/50 euros for a coach is going to give us an exact replica of the original. I agree some maybe better than others but this is a plastic toy that us big kids play with. Locos are a bit different and for what we pay we expect a reasonable if not perfect copy of the original.
Funny what you are stating in here. For a 1:93 or so (275mm length) Märklin SBB Driving Trailer type EW IV (Märklin 42179) you pay about 90 Euro's, according to Märklin. That is the UVP. The Roco EW IV Driving Trailer (Roco 74399) has a UPV of 81,90 Euros. So, the on scale, better detailed, Roco, is in fact even cheaper as the Märklin.
For an average ACME 1:87 carriage, you pay something between 60 and 70 euros. For an average, new series, Märklin carriage, you pay something about 50 or 60 euros.
I'm an era 5/6 user. Specificly the Alps. I decided to change over to 1:87 carriages last year. The variation of carriages is way bigger (Regiojet is only in 1:87, CityNightLine and ÖBB's Nightjet? Only 1:87 Specific service carriages for IC services? Same). When I get the chance, I only use C Rail R3, 4 and 5. I have a bunch of R2 and R1, R1 is almost never used, R2 rarely. Tom (H0) knows how the lay-outs are build during Tischbahning. I'm secretly hoping for a R6 addition as well. That would make it possible to build 4 tracks wide lay-outs with only long turnouts.
And so there are more things I can't understand the way Märklin does. They developed a mould for the Siemens ES64U4, the Taurus 3 Type Reihe 1216/BR183/SZ541/EU44. But, they only made 2 colour schemes: The ÖBB and the Adria. Märklin has the ALEX Sets with an Eurorunner, take 2 pantographs of the roof, change the roof lay out and paint the loko in the Alex Br 183colours. Take a normal 4 pantograph ES64U4 and paint it in SZ541 red or in the Polish EU44 colours. A lot of variations to make. There are 117 locomotives build which are running for 15 or 16 different companies, of which some are often used together: SZ and ÖBB, SLB, Adria, LTE and Cargoserv. Take advantage of it, think more commercially. I was hoping for years for more Märklin Tauri (the Slovenian SZ541 was really high on my wish list, but I only found one last December). In the end, I ended up buying Roco's, which I in fact even better like.
It seems that they have changed this behaviour with the Vectron series, which is good, for both fans and financial reasons.
And I like Märklin, don't get me wrong. They are smart enough. When you are using C rail and really getting know the system, you'll find out that all sizes are not randomly chosen. The C rail system is, in fact, pretty well engineered. It has some gaps, but what is already possible is kinda great. It is pretty nice to discover new possibilities every time.
Laurent