BRL

Hi all, long time lurker and finally took the plunge last night and registered with the site. Lots of great info here!

I'm considering purchasing a 2011 ML350 Bluetec (non-CPO with 40,700 miles). Over the past few days I've spent many hours online researching this model but I'm not convinced I've learned enough about any known problems with this particular year and model.

I'd love to hear from owners of moderate to high-mileage 2011 BlueTec's about their vehicle's reliability and pain points. Anything at all you want to share... I'm all ears

I'm in the northeast USA (snow belt) and this would be my first MB, third German car, and second diesel vehicle. The MB I'm looking at has 40,700 miles and costs $30k-ish. It does NOT have the Bi-Xenon lights.

I need this car to last me at least 100K miles without any major problems.

As always thank you in advance for any replies. They're greatly appreciated!

STLML350

We purchased a 2010 last year with 38k, first cost, tran flush, MB Dealer h $600, Euro shop $400. Brakes/rotors, $600 MB Dealer for just rear, Tire Rack, new rotors and ceramic pad and local shop installing total COST $600. Oil change will run you $110, do the Addblu yourself, walmart sells the ISO RATED product. Had trans issue, fixed under warranty before 50k, if out of warranty would have run $450. Diesel fuel filter at 50k, cost about $300. When i purchased ours I purchased extended warranty to 100k, worth the cost. Next major cost tires, 2010s dont have spare, so you should have run flats unless you have AAA. Oil cooler is a big cost, they put bad orings and you could have issues around 70k.I hope to get 200K. Love the ride for an SUV you cant beat, but i should have look at Japanese product. I owned 2004 Z71 Tahoe, best overall i have ever owned, it did ride like a truck, curse the day I got rid of that truck, but will not own a government motors GM now, quality has dropped drastically. I have threatened to go buy a 2004 06 and redo, I would be dollars ahead.

BRL

Thanks for the great info, STLML350. You mentioned that you should have looked at a Japanese product. I am in that predicament too. I'm considering a new 4Runner which is about $8,000-11,000 more than the used 2011 BlueTec. I'm finding very few of them locally that are only a few years old, so I'm almost forced to buy new. It's the huge depreciation hit in the first few years that I'm trying to avoid.

For others reading this thread, I have been conducting searches on here. I haven't seen too many complaints about the 2011 BlueTecs, but I can't determine if that's a good thing or not, hence my thread.

5hundo

So, we bought a 2008 CDI, which is a little different but all-in-all, we're fairly happy. I have had a few issues, though. If you can work on cars at all, your ownership experience will be much better. The fuel filter replacement is fairly straightforward, and the thing sits right on top of the engine, so access is a cinch! Recommend you do that yourself. Oil changes are also easy but it helps to have a dipstick drainer. Otherwise, you have to pull the skidplate.

We did have a "gremlin" in the system that caused the vehicle to go into limp mode but it turned out to be a sensor. $200 and the vehicle was flawless once again. At first, it was an intermittent fault, so it was pretty annoying but once it finally broke, it was an easy fix.

Having owned a VW, I think my expectations are much lower; its been smooth sailing compared to my B6 Passat!

FWIW, Japanese manufacturers haven't really kept up their "Kaizen" lately. Just look at the news, and you can see the myriad of issues they're having. If you want a reliable, new car instead of the Bluetec, consider Kia, or Hyundai. 10 year/100K warranty, good prices, and rock-solid reliability!

STLML350

I was looking at VW also but my neighbor had issues with his eating tires. I agree on japanese issues, honda seems a little better. I like the Darango but cant get the wife back in one, I had one of those years ago, very reliable, old school beast, road like a truck also. We had a friend with a BMW X5, she didnt like the ride, stiffer, more German like. If you can work in having fuel filter, trans service, and brakes done with ceramic pad you would be good. I went with the ceramic pads due to long life and low dust. They had to bed themselves but once that was done they grip great.
find a euro shop near you, your overall cost are higher then American, my dealers in STL are last resort for work due to cost.

BRL

If I could hijack my own thread for just a moment, how did these brakes work out for you? I've always been afraid to change my brakes from OEM to something else after I had a pair of fronts warp on me within days of changing.

STLML350

After doing some research, it appears that MB suggest replacing not turning there disk, so I purchased new rotors front and back, 330mm, Centric, Rotor and their ceramic pads. I was going to do the work myself, but a shop that was on Tireracks site did the install for $100 front and $100 back. I did watch, the pads come with new sensors, I purchased extras, I did not know they were shipped with the pads. It did take a few days to bed the pads, normal driving, I noticed and my wife noted it took harder pressure and a longer stopping distance, but after bedding, few hundred miles, I like them. No dust compared to the stock pads. So far I am very happy, I figure if I do not like the pads after a few years, I can go back to stock pads. My old Z71 Tahoe had stock ceramic pads, when I traded the truck at 100K still had the same pads and rotors and were still in good shape. Knock on wood, no warping or any other issues. As I noted earlier, I hope to get this truck to 200k before looking at a new drive, I have kids getting into college soon and wanted something that in theory would last that long. From my research, it appears that if you get 40k on stock brakes on MB your lucky, they are heavy SUVs. I'm now looking into tires, that is the next major item, and I am having problems there. With no spare due the addblu tank, for security sake, you should run Runflats, but they are a stiffer tire wall, ride suffers a little, more expensive, and tire life is no better. Thinking I may buy second set of wheels and get more of an all season tire for the winter, the Duelers that came on the truck were terrible in the snow last year, from what I could tell, my tires are more of a rain, summer tire.

N_Jay

Slight hijack, but do you have the part number for the sensor?

5hundo

I'll have to dig around for the invoice but it ended up being the pressure differential sensor. Here's the thread I had going about it:

https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w...ind-fault.html

DANSBENZ

None of them have a spare tire the DEF tank takes up the space where the spare would go. So you will need to maintain run-flat tires on the vehicle.