SndsoftheSbrbs

Is there a particular third-party warrantor or plan that someone could recommend?

joshd2012

I have Continental. It's worked ok this far. I think in the future I'll just put the cost of an extended warranty in a bank account and draw down on that instead.

rbenedetti

i’m just about to buy a GLE 580 next week, and am thinking the same, i.e. rather than spending $6500 for a seven year 75,000 mile extended warranty, put that money in the bank and draw from it when I need to. Out of curiosity, have you had to get a lot of repairs? How long have you owned your car? Also, have you had any wheel or tire issues, as that is another warranty I am considering forgoing. Thanks much!

Max Blast

@admin, please move to not ancient GL type forum.

what’s a GL580? Like 130 better than a 450?
But just slightly better than a 550?
Was the 550 a hundred better than the 450, though?

Tune in next week to find out.

eric_in_sd

I prefer the term "vintage".

FYI, the GLE580 is actually a thing: https://www.mbusa.com/en/vehicles/mo...e/suv/gle580w4

joshd2012

We owned our GL320 for three years and it was constantly in for repairs. The last straw was that the bearings went in the front differential, and MB only sells the entire front drive system (and not a bearing kit or even just the differential).

Once the warranty was up, we traded in the car for (what ended up being) a much more reliable Acura MDX. Our repair bills were so bad that we actually made out on the warranty- which probably explains why they never asked us to buy another few years.

I really liked that GL when it worked, but I never had so much trouble with a brand. German, Japanese or Domestic - MB was the worst.

eric_in_sd

The diesel motors carry with them a generous grab bag of headaches.

It is difficult for me to assess whether the long term quality of this GL is better or worse than comparables. MB has a tendency to make things nifty but in the process greatly sacrificing reliability. Certainly, if you are relying on MB as sole provider of parts, you make things hard on yourself. For example, you can get a transfer case chain for about $100; MB will only sell you the complete transfer case at some $000's. You mention the differential bearing; there is nothing magic about things like differentials, and Rock Auto sells the bearings for $16 each. Remember that MB buys whole subassemblies; hence these whole-module issues.

I owned a 2005 Honda Accord, and it literally had zero issues in its first ~30k miles. I bought my GL at similar mileage, and my heart sank when I got the dealership to send me its service records. It was a stack of paper a quarter inch thick.

I feel like MB vehicles have worse service performance in the first 50-100k miles, but then settles into a rhythm at moderately better than other makes. The individual parts all seem very sturdy, more so than typical Japanese makes. I'll admit, though, that my experience is very narrow.

My gripes are less with specific reliability than with clumsy design. The swaybar bushings are literally designed to rip apart internally. Carbon on intake valves is enough of a problem it is mentioned in the owner's manual, but the engine computer is incapable of self diagnosis of that problem. MB pretends the transmission fluid is "lifetime, except with one change at 40k miles" and so they eliminate the dipstick. Transmission rebuilders have told me it is quite a nice transmission, very sturdy, but you have to ignore MB's recommendations. And the big one, which is a death blow to many a GL: Water can leak in via multiple points and accumulate in little wells in which sensitive electronics are located. One could argue these things are reliability, but they are a sort of derivative reliability: Design weaknesses drive component failure.