JeffNNJ

I recently read in Consumer Reports that the three worst manufacturers for quality were Land Rover, Jaguar and Mercedes. I had heard that Mercedes was having problems but I guess I never considered the severity until last week when my sister bought one. The sticker on her 2008 R350 was almost $60,000 and her 2 1/2 year lease was $490 a month which should have been some indication of how badly they have been selling. When she had the car for three days, it refused to go into drive. She had it flat bedded to the dealer who could not find a problem, but assured her that they replaced enough parts so that it shouldn't happen again. Since then, she has put a total of 730 miles on the car and it has been back to the dealer 3 more times for the same problem. Now, I am no mechanic. Matter of fact I am far from it. I have never changed my own oil or even wiper blades, for that matter, but I did have a thought. Maybe the sensor that tells the transmission that her brake is depressed was not working so the car would not go into gear. I casually mentioned this to her service adviser and guess what, that was the problem. It amazes me that a company who sells such expensive cars can have so many problems and be so clueless on how to repair them. Think I will stick with BMW for a while.

coolguy

Actually problems come often on any high-end cars due to complicated electronics/mechanics invovled.

Ricracing

Daimler-Chrysler finally got now rid of the Chrysler MoPar.

They still own the Smart-car factories and manufactures the stupid A-series.

Mercedes-Benz used to stand for perfect quality - will they ever get their brand back?

BMW and the japs salutes the DaimlerBenz board.

BMWSTL

Check your State's Lemon Law. The severity and frequency of the issue she's facing may require Mercedes to do more than just attempt to fix it.

Lou

madoon

MB have very nice product.... they are some of the best in the world when they work.... unfortunetly... they dont work long...and its not the build quality, its more of an engineered parts reliability issues...

but the worst thing is how bad ALL mercedes dealer ships are.. it seems that every mercedes workshop on earth, lack knowledge, is extremely overpriced, and provides poor service..

tomv

Too bad about MB, they make good products, just not consistently. Talk to just about anyone who owns, or used to own, an E Class and they'll talk your ear off about problems. The word "temperamental" comes up a lot when they describe their cars.

Have not owned an MB but did test drive the E class before buying my E60. The E60 won hands down, much sporty feel
IMO + better reliability.

Iceman

I currently have an MB ML from a good friend and handle the issues on the car after a 15K accident repair.
The accident happened beginning of May, two weeks, right before he left for his vacation, he was able to pick the car up at the MB Niederlassung (MB owns this place). In the last two weeks I have been there three times and the car is still not repaired correctly. They are not able to correct a steering wheel that is slightly off center to the left. It has been perfect before the accident, but they had to do major repairs on the front axle.
After my experience in these two weeks (thank God my friend returns this weekend) I can simply say: NEVER EVER MB!
I really thought service sucks at BMW dealerships, but MB is WORSE!

tachyon

My mother-in-law has had BMWs since owning a 1976 2002. One year ago she went to the dark side and bought a C Class MB. Good for me because I got to buy her perfect 2002 330xi. Bad for her because she had nothing but problems. Last week she traded in the MB for a 2007 BMW 328xi.

info@trinityautosport

we've had a 1990 MB 300 E and barely any problems. was very reliable until this year. it was just giving up and the radio stopped working. recently we had the engine rebuilt and so far after about 3 months no problems driving it, except no radio still. with our 2001 ML320, nothing but problems. it always went to the dealer. some problems that i remember right now at the moment is that the whole center console was replaced twice, the transmission was replaced, multiple power steering fluid leaks, and multiple SRS problems. up to now, after being at the dealer countless times just for the SRS, the light in the dashboard is illuminated. my uncle who has a 2000 ML had multiple problems as well and said that it is the worst car he had ever owned.

EBMCS03

Its sad to hear... I do like the brand... they make nice cars especially the AMG ones... but I hear waaaay too many reliability problems... My parents have a 2006 merc and it has been trouble free so far... Its not bad... really... *knock on wood 545 times*