that big gas service station pops up on the display, tic mark on the gas meter glows, and gas is going fast! at one point, it told me i had 0 miles left but went back up to a few miles left. anyone ever run out of gas? did you use teleaid or roadside service?

how about when you get a flat? my salesguy told me to call roadside, but i thought, i could just do it myself (although i've never used one of these pump up donut tires). but at my office lot, i saw MB roadside come to an S500, wearing white gloves, change the tire for the driver (who actually had his secretary wait w/ the car for the roadside service). maybe when its 0°C outside, you can call them

 

Unlike just about every other manufacturer, the MB roadside assistance can cost money even if the problem is covered under warranttee. They provide a few small services for free but check with MB before calling them out, specially if you have AAA. This is one of my sore points I have about MB. They don't stand behind their product as well as some other companies. They made number 10 in the JD Power Service & Dependabilty survey but that was too generous. I callled Infiniti road side assistance when I had a flat and they towed me about 75 miles to the nearest dealer who replaced the tire for free. GMC picked up my Suburban on a flatbed because the door wouldn't latch closed. MB would never do that without charging for it.

 

are you saying that MB will charge for the tire change? or tow for a charge? i thought roadside would cover all that... i mean, that's why i didn't get AAA or my insurances' version b/c the car would come w/ a lifetime roadside assistance. very interesting.

 

While I have replaced the car with a new C, my '98 E320 would not start at all once when it was about 2 years old, died in my driveway, on a Sunday. Called MB, they got the dealer's on-call mechanic on the phone with me, we discussed symptoms and we concluded that a jump would not help. MB then got me on the line with the local tow company, arranged a flatbed, set a time for Monday morning, took the car (and me) 100 miles to the dealer, the dealer immediately took the car in and diagnosed a dead short in the battery under load, on my way in 1 hour after arrival on a busy Monday morning. No charge for anything. I'm convinced.