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Originally Posted by Jim W.
There has been much discussion of the problems of '98-'02 M-Class but I haven't heard much about the '03-'05's. Are the '03-'05 improved to the point they don't have problems? Especially in the areas of transmissions, struts, rattles, switches and other common early M-Class problems.
We drive an '00 ML320 that has had most of the annoyances debugged except for 3 - the power steering will groan or grind when backing to the right then steering left (backing our of a parking stall), the transmission will thunk when downshifting - especially from 2nd to 1st, and the left rear strut creaks.
I am not excited about the 2006 M-Class but would be interested in a new 2005 to replace our current 2000 if the 2005 MY is essentially trouble free.
Any information?
Jim W.
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I replaced my 02 320 with an 05 500 and the first thing I noticed was that the 500 felt a lot tighter - and i don't think it's the 500's dynamics compared with the 320, because I'd driven several early 500s before I purchased mine. The 05 did feel much better put together. And that's really not that surprising, given the fact that MY06 was right around the corner when I got the 05 500, and Mb must have tested some assembly techniques on the late W163s before plunging into the W164.
As for the problems, I haven't experienced anything major yet (on the 320, had just minor issues except for replacing steering rack and leaky tranny which was diagnosed correctly and fixed). I have the 500 Sport and the round fogs leak a bit - will have it resealed. There's a rattle from the sun roof area and a discolored window trim was replaced just after delivery. I hear MB has a recall on the harmonic balancer, so I'd watch out for that. One very good thing with the 05 (and i don't know when they started this) is that they changed the fuel filler neck angle - it's normal now!!!! In general, I think the 05s have a lot more changes that are not visible, compared with the 02s. They even redesigned the heavy duty floor mat to account for the lack of covering on the dead pedal area. The driver's side seatbelt is repositioned such that as your butt rolls over the seat side bolster, the belt protects that left side of the bolster that sees the most wear - maybe it's just my seat positioning, but at 40K, the bolster on my 320 was beat due to the button on my pants back pocket!!! So, I think that the 05 is a somewhat better truck than the 02.
Forgot to add this: the
PANIC writing on the red pad on the keyfob faded quickly on my MY02 320. It's holding fine on the new teuck - small but noticeable, then again, maybe I'm just well wishing.