I've talked to a lot of guys who say that Mercedes "golden years" of reliablity are long over. What's the story? What happened? Are todays, say E-Classes, as good as yesteryears?



.

My wife drives a 2003 ML500. No issues so far, and they have incredible customer service. Free road side assistance even if you're not the original owner, service managers that bend over backwards and skip rope if that's what it takes to make you happy... and their loaner cars are Mercedes as well.

Down side: Repairs and services are a tad expensive.

Through work, what I heard was that Daimler bought Chrysler because it needed the cash.

I think Daimler owns Mercedes.

Now, that it's Daimler-Chrysler, well, has been for a few years, the minivan plant has shutdown in Fenton (St. Louis), MO.

Whether lagging sales of mini-vans or 4 buck a gallon gas is to blame or if Daimler was just raiding Chrysler, the true reasons behind shutting down the mini-van side could be anyone's guess.

Besides I heard this at work and....

"I only believe half of what I see and none of what I hear."



I think Mercedes has put out a few models that has me scratching my head... WTF? style .

Mercedes benz (Daimler) no longer owns the Chrysler Company.

My wife drives an ML320. The physical integrity of the car is crap. I won't buy Mercedes again.

I've heard Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti are all better luxury cars than BMW and Mercedes- at least the reviews I've read stated so.

They appear to be on the decline. We have a friend of the family who is a self proclaimed MB nut. He has been purchasing new Mercedes every few years since 1975. He became very dissatisfied over the past few years. I think there was at least one MB tech on this forum who echoed an overall decline as of late.

Mercedes are no longer over engineered. Ever since the cost cutting in the mid 90's the quality has suffered. The modular V engines cannot hold a candle to the inline 6's. I've had a w202 pre-v6 Class (great car), a w163 M class (piece of junk), and 2 S class benzes, sold em all, I will be buying Toyota/Lexus products from now on.

We leased a C230 class 4Matic, 3years back and the damn thing was falling apart at the end of the lease. Eveything from the cup holders, to the suspension, so the door handles. We took it in approx 4 times for other issues as well.

My wife now has a Volvo and loves it. I have my BMW and in the sports luxery catagory, I think it is the best bang for the buck. Had it over a year now and it runs amazing with no problems.

Mercedes quality went down when they started making the ML's. The first ones to come off the line weren't really up to the MB quality. Some people think this was because they weren't built in Germany but rather the US. I know purists balked at the thought. At least they bumped up the quality after the initial launch.

I really don't get the GL and the R Class though. Even the G-Class seems a bit too small of a market in the US. I know all about the G-Wagon but really, does it need to be $89K? For what? A glorified Jeep? Even Land Rover stopped importing the Defenders years ago. Now Merc is really considering importing the A-Class to the US. Just what we need a even cheaper Merc.

I think you'll do better with an E-Class then the cheaper C-class. Now if you could get an AMG 63, you'd be better off still.

Their AMG line is really nice, the car feels solid, with good materials used. It really shows nice workmanship, and the new designs, facelifts and ungodly power is really towards the right direction.

Their basic line is absolutely cheap junk. My mom's 2000 S500 was such a piece of shit. The transmission failed before hitting 1K miles, and the dashboard was all plastic. The trunk was a mess of craftsmanship, using cheap parts.

Their electronics are kinda quirky. The transmission shifts at the most inopportune times, such as shifting to the next gear by itself while going into a corner, or not shifting to the next gear while cruising off the light. The brake light sensor would sense a brakelight failure without an actual failure. The TPMS light would come on and off.

I hate to say it, but buy AMG or buy something else.

quote:

Their AMG line is really nice, the car feels solid, with good materials used. It really shows nice workmanship, and the new designs, facelifts and ungodly power is really towards the right direction.

In my next life I want an S65!!

The quality is awful.

I think the reason was the exchange of bodily fluids with Chrysler. Chrysler is gone now but the basterd child is genetically inferior.

I can see that the only good qualities Daimler on the market today, according to these "pleasant" opinions, are the Actros truck and the Unimog…

quote:

Originally posted by LINVS:
I've talked to a lot of guys who say that Mercedes "golden years" of reliablity are long over. What's the story? What happened? Are todays, say E-Classes, as good as yesteryears?.

The Diesel Mercs were built like Tanks and lasted forever...

-Tom

A friend of mine had two S class sedans. Both were plagued with electrical problems. He now is on his second Lexus since and both have been 100% trouble free. He'll never buy another Mercedes.

I pay a lot of attention to Consumer Reports since they have such a large database.
IIRC Mercedes is very unreliable by their reports. The M series was reported (IIRC) as the most unreliable SUV.

The 1997 E class was the initial problem child and by 2002, it affected all models.

A shame that a once proud marque is killing itself off with problems.

In my opinion, it was never there. I've heard stories about how Mercedes needed to be "tuned" because it was such a precise machine. That, in my opinion, is bull. Mercedes, like just about everything else the Germans make, it over-engineered and breaks down.

Remember the classic Sigs were designed by the Swiss, not the Germans.

German cars overall have a worse repair record than American cars. That's got to tell you something.

I drove my 240D for well over 300,000 trouble free miles before an AARP kamikaze commando in a Buick destroyed it.

Perhaps you weren't around for the quality days.

quote:

Originally posted by blueiron:
Perhaps you weren't around for the quality days.

This is quite possible. I must admit that I have a very low opinion of German cars. You may have also seen my post regarding VW's in another thread.

However, can you explain to me why oil changes in a Mercedes cost so much more than in other cars?

It seems to me that Mercedes require a great deal of "routine maintenance" that other makes don't require.