Stumbled on this while browsing ebay motors. I hope it appropriate in this form. Maybe it's more of the same bashing.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Benz-DEFECTS-are-worse-than-ever_W0QQugidZ10000000001252224?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:3

This issue has been beat to death on this forum and I'm hoping one of the moderators deep-sixes this thread.

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

why would you advocate deep-sixing this thread? is the evaluation flawed, or patently false, or that you just don't agree?

__________________
-- raymond~
47º 34'N 122º 18'W

More like "gee, you just figured that out"

Are you an MB dealer?

I don't think Mike is a dealer. And judging by his signature, he drives an "older" Benz (like a lot of us do).

The "guide" seems to be just the rantings of a very pissed off Benz owner. So what? There are pissed off owners for every brand of car...or just people who are in denial.

__________________
Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

My Gallery

Not in this weather!

heh heh,

The ones in denial are fun. Stuff randomly falling off their cars and happy as ever even when paying the exhorbatant repair bills. I had a 1998 S70 and it was a not so great car. In retrospect it was not as bad as it seemed due to the poor service I got at the next car maker I bought from.

Having a good and trusted mechanic is very important.

I owned a 1991 420SEL that I really loved to drive. My former mechanic basically scared me into selling it by suggesting so many repairs.

The person that I sold it to is happy as punch with it. Other than a rebuilt tranny ($1,500.00) she has not done anything major to the car. The car had over 250k when I sold it to her.

Just for kicks I once asked my new mechanic (Enrique of Mr. M.B. Motors) about all the repairs that the former mechanic had suggested and the "symptoms" the car had exhibited. W/o even batting an eye Enrique told me all that he would have done to have the car running at tip-top shape....the bill would have been a fraction of the cost that the other mechanic had "suggested."

Had Enrique been my mechanic back then, I would still be driving my gorgeous, deep midnight blue 1991 420SEL. sighhhhhhhhhhh

__________________
Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

My Gallery

Not in this weather!

oh, i think i get it. we as MB owners get riled up when someone speaks ill of
"our" car. and, this being an MB board, should be a happy watering hole where
we come to trade info about how to fix them.

but there is also a part of me that thinks that a luxury automobile with a big,
marquee name such as an MB should have proportionally, fewer complaints....
not the same or more than others.

at one time MBs were held in high esteem. so i think of how Lexus or Acura
would be had they (or we as owners) encountered similar flaws with electronics,
reliability etc. we'd be sure people knew about these problems. accordingly,
the Lexus/Acura names would be tarnished.

but for MB, the decades of great and reliable cars seems to be attracting the
client base....not recent track record.

__________________
-- raymond~
47º 34'N 122º 18'W

Just buy a Camry.

Hope it's not one of the million recalled Toyotas.

You can't buy a Nissan right now, as sales are stopped to correct defective engines.

The vehicles are fixed under warranty.

If they can't be fixed, Merc will buy them back.

Nothing to worry about.

__________________
Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

What he said...

And NO...I'm not a dealer.

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

In answer to all you comments:

1. I would expect more complaints or more maintenance on a luxury car compared to say a Neon, because there are more features to fail. This is no excuse, however, for cutting corners and building a POS using Detroit design and unloading it on buyers who have come to respect the marquee after years of top quality German cars.

2. I agree that Lexus would have a tarnished name as well if they had simular problems, which makes this a moot point, because they don't have the same problems as MB. I wonder why that is. Could Lexus be a better engineered and better quality controlled product?

3. I also agree that MB has attracted a following by building a fine car that was out of the reach of Joe Lunch Bucket (me included). Those who couldn't afford one were envoius of those who could. That all changed in 1984 when Mb introduced the first cheap class. That was the W201 190E. It has been down hill since. The cheap class is not a real MB. It is a wanna be designed to sell thousands of units to the proletariat. Just the other day I was driving a 2000 C230K for the day, and I couldn't help thinking I was in a little go kart. It is so cramped. I'll bet there is more room in a Camry for less money.

Sorry I never even read the article on ebay, but if I had to be a professional mechanic again, I'd apply for a job at Lexus. Toyota is now the largest auto mfg in the world , and there are jokes about them buying GM.

__________________
Auto Zentral Ltd.

There are some real problems in post-1993 cars, but a subtle reason for this problem is that you have a rather expensive car with proportionately expensive parts, an increasing number of which are not available 3rd party and increasingly "assembly" oriented (example: rear shock absorber on 86 Oldsmobile: 20.00. Shock absorber assy on mid-90's S500: 700.00, and unlike the Olds shock, it fails fairly spectacularly). Also, the used car market is flooded. MB has had a reputation of building a car that lasts a long time. People buy these cars expecting them to be serviced by the same people who repaired their 1986 Oldsmobile, with parts obtained at a discount at NAPA. Many people who buy older used cars (say, 10-15 years old) have never seen the inside of a dealer's service bay. So, I'm saying that a lot of people who buy these older cars can't really afford them. This is not a "class" oriented statement, because I would consider myself one of these people. If I didn't do the majority of the work I've done on my car, I really couldn't justify the expense of owning it. It would really sting to drop 4-5K on a car per year at a dealership, even if the car were originally a 80K car.

Say what you want about American cars, but in 5 years and 70K miles of ownership, I think I've spent maybe <$1500 maintaining a used, now 145K mi Taurus, with some of that spent at a local, compentent (on domestic cars) mechanic's, with me doing only the oil changes and brakes. Not a classy car, not exactly exciting, but it does what it does reliably and inexpensively, and is fairly comfortable. But when the wheels fall off - I'm getting another SL as a daily driver!!

__________________
86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

Yeah...but try telling that to those who have already made up their mind.

I once a new, POS Caddy Seville SLS.

The car was a POS from new and GM kept giving me the run arund (I love their claim that the high oil consumption in the N* engine was "design feature" to keep fresh oil in the engine).

When the warranty expired I traded it in for a used Benz. I won't buy another Cadillac. End of story for me, no whining, no complaining. Just got out of it when the warranty expired.

__________________
Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

My Gallery

Not in this weather!