I'm assuming all those of you defending Mercedes to the death about not needing many repairs, come to this site to spread good cheer about Mercedes? Face it, they have too many problems for what is supposed to be a top quality car. They're a good car, but they're not a GREAT car.

Either that or, I will make a mental note to myself, that cars that break more are better than those that don't.

1991 300d, 94k

you know what they say about assuming.

I just am a candid guy that does all my own maintenance.

Now have 115,000 on my ML320.

I have replaced more parts than my acura's and honda's for sure. But it drives better and I dont see rust over the rear fender wells like my last couple Honda's.

__________________
Steve Danville
what i did myself.
CPS
rear shocks
MAS x 3.
SparkPlugs (twice)
Fuel pump & Filter
Window switch
replaced both failed horns with Honda horns.
Cleaned ERG Tube
Oil changes
Oil consumption Fix
Brake Pads
A/C Recharge
Anti-Freeze change X 2.
Front Shocks. Monroe. $90
Mercedes Warrenty Work:
Harmonic balancer,power steering clamp. Cat converters.Drive Shaft Bearing.s
Replaced Outer Lower Tie Rods and front lower ball joints at 156,000 miles

I am on my first MB and certainly not the last one... The 2000 SLK 230 has 40k miles and what I find with Mercedes Benz is that they are truly a well built machine however they do by all means need to have good preventive maintenace done to them just due to the nature precission machines. I have worked on many German built machines (non automotive) and found this to be true with thoses compared to others. Yes as a Benz owner it will cost some pocket change plus a little more to keep it running well...... ahhh the pleasure of driving the Mercedes offsets that so well.


2000 Black on Black SLK 230 with 5 speed manual transmission (4 years and going)

1996 Black Land Rover Dicovery with 5 speed manual transmission (6 years)

I run a ford fairmont 1997 ad a 89 190e one on fordsure and the other on the merc equivalent.Both have about 138000Ks. The Ford has cost a lot more over time but the Merc has been more frustrating with strange faults which take ages to sort.The roads in New Zealand are tarseal and have a lot of camber which makes setting up the steering and suspension tricky, right onthe limits.The 190 idles far smoother than the ford even though its a 6.Some of the trouble appears to be over complication.
Allen

"I am on my first MB and certainly not the last one... The 2000 SLK 230 has 40k miles and what I find with Mercedes Benz is that they are truly a well built machine however they do by all means need to have good preventive maintenace done to them just due to the nature precission machines. I have worked on many German built machines (non automotive) and found this to be true with thoses compared to others. Yes as a Benz owner it will cost some pocket change plus a little more to keep it running well...... ahhh the pleasure of driving the Mercedes offsets that so well."

MBLR, I'm sincerely happy for you and I wish you well with your car. I always hate to beat a dead horse but I have to ask what you mean. You said it's a well built and precision machine that requires good preventive maintenance. OK, what do you mean? Other then the advertising you read...SPECIFICALLY what makes it a well built machine as compared to an American built truck, for instance. Also, what SPECIFICALLY are you doing to make the preventive maintenance happen? Of course, you have a 7 year old car that has averaged less then 6K miles a year. How do you even feel qualified to answer the question? You have taken a deep breath and drunk deeply from the MB coolaid. You have no way of knowing anything about the current quality control problems that MB suffers from and has even been acknowledged by it's president. Have you read any of the 40 something pages on this thread? Have you seen very many threads that even get this long? I'm thinking that would be a clue. So back to the original question and I've asked it before....

What GOOD PREVENTIVE maintenance am I missing? I have fresh oil and filters in every hole including the tranny which Mercedes promised required NO maintenance at all. What would you tell someone who just spent thousands to replace it? What PM did he miss for that? How about the guy who takes his family to the movie and has the spring perch fail causing him to hit a bridge pillar at 60 MPH. What PM did he miss? How about the sucker who bought into the MB quality scam and was unable to get his sunroof to close causing damage to the interior and forcing him to find an open store that sold tarps until the rain stopped? Did he miss some PM I don't know about? He should have kept the tarp he had to buy on his way to work when his lowest bidder window regulator failed and he had to park it in the rain and hope nothing was stolen while he was at work. See any PM he missed? How about when he had the shop where he gets the car detailed show him the rust that was developing below the trim pieces? That must have been embarrassing. Did he forget some PM I don't know about? I could go on and on but you can just do a search and you'll have plenty of reading. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for you to tell me what preventive measure would cover ANY of the things I've mentioned.

I'll also be waiting for you to tell me how a marque like MB could let this happen to the brand. Again, hopefully you'll have no problems with your car. If you do, I hope you have the disposable income to throw at the problems that will start to creep up assuming you ever start to drive your car. Then your tune might change. In the meantime, I'm preparing to sell my POS. I will not be looking at newer MB's again. In the unlikely event I ever buy another MB it will actually be older then the one I have now and even that is unlikely. Once burned, twice or thrice shy.

One more thing. I don't mean to be hard on you as it might seem reading this. I don't feel like inserting a bunch of smilies and what not. I am trying to take some to task for blindly parroting the company line. That action is counter productive because nothing will change until MB gets it's act together and gets back on course. That isn't in process right now.

Well, Having only owned my 240D for a couple of months, I haven't had any repairs, but it seems like a pretty good deal unless it completely falls apart. Economical- yes: ~30mpg on the highway, $1650 for the car. Manual everything means stuff doesn't break.

If you want a different option, probably the route to take in my opinion if your not wanting a MB, is still not Japanese. I have an old '86 Lincoln Town Car with 180k miles on it. Ford 302 V8. VERY economical, believe it or not. Why? Do maintence yourself: parts on 302's are a dime a dozen, not too bad to work on when it needs it, and in 2 years of driving it, about 12k a year, the ONLY thing it needed besides gas, oil changes and fluids (leaked a bit of everything) was one alternator. I think it was the original one. A car like that will run you 1000 bones in decent condition, and will get 20 mpg on the highway, with decent power, TONS of room inside and trunk, quiet, comfortable (armchair on wheels) and dependable. Started every day last winter sitting out on the street.

Let's see, I have had my 95 E320 for about 2 years, almost 3 yrs, bought it for about $8.5K, 82K miles, all documentation/service/etc, and more.....

Now it has 132K miles...Seems any time I take it to the shop its $400-$800.. When I first bought it I intended to do the work myself, but things haven't worked out that way .

Last I took it in about 60 days ago for no start...it was the coils, bam $759! ... spark plugs and cable included

So i asked the shop to lmk how much I had spent as a customer.... I took that added it to a couple things I did at another shop...

All, including brakes (about $800 each time I have had to take it in for brakes), changing brakes about 2-3 times since the 82K!!!!! ... I have spent what averaged out to about $140/ month in repairs and maintainance....

That's about what I had budgeted when I bought the car , $1K-$1.2K / yrs on service and repair, but the problem is these things occur when you least expect it...

I am entertaining on just selling it, probably about $4K-$5K is what it would og for, i am guessing, with the miles... and just buy a "normal" Honda/Toyota $7-8K vehicle... figuring I am already "spending $140 a month" in repairs.. I might as well, put the $ I sell the MB for as down and finance something cheap and reliable....

Why? Its embarrasing when my g/f, who drives a 00 Ford Focus, with about 70K miles, hasn't been left stranded once in the same time period... total repairs for time period? about $500, including brakes...major problem? yeah, a/c was leaking....she got charged $250!

My other freind...she's got a 1991 Accord with 145K miles... problems in the last 3 yrs? Radiator, and 2-3 no start issues (fuel pump, starter, and forgot the third...)...bottom line her car has broken down less times than my MB!

Third example, 03 Civic...50K miles...no breakdowns...

I am already being eaten by $140 average on repairs... that's sad.....

__________________
1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Got my 93 300E in Jun06 with 140K miles. So far, one head gasket (include valve,and chain cover leaks)$1500, trans line $220, ignition key $219, and brakes $317 (still squeaks). My repair costs is approaching the price I paid for the darn thing. ]
My wife brought a Maxima at the same time, also at 140K miles, all she spent is $400 for a set of new tires.

This thread is still active?

Wow, either there are a lot of people that are having trouble with their MB or people just like to complain. Either case, MB's out of warranty are a costly endeavor. I've looked at all the different options for me personally and financially, it does not make sense. The cost of maintenance plus the depreciation costs will be almost as much as leasing a new car.
I've made the decision to keep my MB experience going after my car was out of warranty and thus have spent an average of $2000 - $2500 per year on maintnenance. Is it worth it? Probably not but I have too much invested in it now to sell it. I have to keep it another 3 years to make financial sense.
I just hope that there is nothing too costly in the near future (knock on wood).

Bottom line, for you guys who:

don't know how to change oil
don't know how to change brake pads
don't know how to jack up the car
don't know anything about mechanics
don't know anything about electronics
don't know anything about tools
don't know how this world works
don't want to learn how to fix your stuff when they break

Forget it.

Go to your Merecedes dealer buy something new, let them fix it for you. Or, buy something else, let this great world rob you.

Stop whining. Life is tough.

By the way, next time when you sitting in your sucker driving by a well maintained old merecedes, show your respect by raising your thumb up out of your malfunctioned window. These old Mercedes owners are the "I have the brain and I can fix it" type, not just your plain "I want it but can't fix it nor have that much money" type.

I just turned 120,000 miles on my ML320. I did every lick of maintenance on it except warrenty work and I admit I paid to have my tires mounted.

steve

__________________
Steve Danville
what i did myself.
CPS
rear shocks
MAS x 3.
SparkPlugs (twice)
Fuel pump & Filter
Window switch
replaced both failed horns with Honda horns.
Cleaned ERG Tube
Oil changes
Oil consumption Fix
Brake Pads
A/C Recharge
Anti-Freeze change X 2.
Front Shocks. Monroe. $90
Mercedes Warrenty Work:
Harmonic balancer,power steering clamp. Cat converters.Drive Shaft Bearing.s
Replaced Outer Lower Tie Rods and front lower ball joints at 156,000 miles

Hahahahahaha .... while I had been reading everyone's thoughts as they rolled in, the thread is much better in toto ... all the comments, when read together, are quite interesting and, well, funny ... I LOVE acehandy's well and topically constructed rant!

I also "feel your pain" when I read the horror stories of poor design, poor quality parts (remember they have to be poor quality parts to break - the OEM has the option to buy high quality - there must be a reason they didn't, right?).

We all know from the events most of us have witnessed since the Japanese got involved in building cars, that their products have increasing improved -even when they didn't have to do so to continue their domination. There are indications they, too, may be reaching a point of diminishing returns - so much so that even Toyota senior management has become concerned about how much of an "applicance" their cars have become.

If I was forced to take a car for service at $1000 a year (not just the odd year with a major repair), I would have to sell the car ...just that simple. Not because of the amount, but because of the amount relative to other brands of car. As a somewhat thoughtful consumer, I would evaluate the "what" of the repair while considering all this ... i.e. repeated electrical component replacements would be FAR more exasperating than something major that had the odd failure mode. Something like evaporators should never fail - if the rate was 1/1000 it would average perhaps for electromechanical components that could be stressed by various factors - it sounds like the rate was more like 1/10 - unacceptable on any product - and, here's the killer point to me - especially on a $100K car. My sense it that MB doesn't really warrantee well in these circumstances ... recently they sound almost evasive on quality issues ... hmmm, maybe what MB needs is a 250K mile end to end warrantee!

My advice when folks ask me about my car? Buy a used MB only if you can and like to work on your vehicles. I have and do!

How about we shift the topic to an adjacency: "How much complexity and cost is appropriate in a product?" (example - electric throttles, rear disc brakes, HUDs, double side glass, electrohydraulic rear suspensions, maytheyrotinhell single stick electronic management abominations, $2000 each headlight assemblies, $2000 brake jobs, etc ...)

__________________
George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg

stuck on the road with the e430, car wont start no matter what.
had it towed at the end. turns out the cps was shot ! people passed looking, honking... embarassing moments of owning a mercedes eh ... When was the last time lexus was stuck due to a sensor malfunctioning ? none that I have heard or read... it gets u home. mercedes... well

__________________
Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

To answer your question; the last time a Lexus was stuck due to a sensor. It may not have been a sensor but I was stuck on the freeway in a 2005 LS430 due to the transmission failing. It seems as though the 2005 LS series had a faulty something or other in their trannies.

Very often, when the CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor) is failing, the car will not operate when the CPS gets hot but will restart once it cools down. Although this is troublesome, had you known, you may have been able to avoid the tow.