Car and driver stated last week, MB cars are fun to drive...............but have too many maintenance problems, this must of been because they merged with Chrysler and slummed it.........I guess the Americans screwed up the decades of image, prestige and utter top class, of course I can't argue as I am having issues with mine, like others.........

 

 

X2.

Who cares what Car and Driver said about MB, they named Toyota Camry "Car of the Year", so I take what they say with a grain of salt.

 

C&D sucks.

 

I kinda agree with you about certain rags........however lately because of my recent electrical problems and MANY more whom have had similar issues are just in my opinion unacceptable from a premier car manufacturer such as MB, they are World known and was presitigious, and I still have mine and love it, but I dont appreciate dealing with problems that I should not be experiencing NOR paying for F(*& the warranty, what about multiple problems that multiple owners are experiencing and nothing is being done, so in this case it appears that C&D does have validity this time sorry to say.

 

I like my MB as well but they do have a valid claim. MB's are fickle and their quality has steadily declined over the years. I've turned wrenches on too many cars and it seems like I'm turnin' 'em all too often on petty crap with my MB. If it was not for the fact that I can fix my own cars I would NEVER own one.

 

C & D is on the payroll of BMW, in my opinion. My car has been absolutely perfect...

 

cmon.... it isn't like they sent a bunch of dodge boys over to run MB...

(and we know that would be a mess)

but the reality is that both BMW, Porsche, and MB have suffered with the advent of new electronic technology... just as your first buyers of the Cayenne/ Tourag could certainly agree too.... and please.... how many friends of yours that have VWs that would swear not to buy another one.
have you seen the resale values of a 12 cyclnder BMW lately... ouch! stories of one side of the engine not running....

for myself... I will take the lumps with my car (in the shop 3 times within a month of buying a certified used 05 E500 wagon with 8500 miles on it that was never titled cause it was driven by a MB rep!!!!) It is just the way it is with a lot of "technology systems" and the fact that most of the people working on these cars aren't the "Werner's who moved from Germany to live a better live in the USA and who use to be the chief tech at the Munich MB dealer".

can I mention about how I have spent a total of 5.5 hours updating my work PC to MS office 07 business contact manager... finally, I got lucky with a tech from Nova Scotia who spilled her guts about how many issues they were having at MS?

Cars, software, or your bathroom tile person...it is really hard to find the stuff that works, the people who can service or install properly, or actually is what it is suppose to be!

the point it is a complicated world we live in and sometimes, you just have to be a little more forgiving of the issues.... or buy a Lexus! it really is that simple......

one last note.... have you noticed the profile of the latest writers for some of these American magazines?..... I question the depth of experience and understanding of the automotive landscape for some of these people who live in southern CA (who have no idea of the importance of "all season tires" ) (or the people who (are they like the same clowns who put summer only tires on a a new S550 4matic? ]) guage how well a car handles by the way it tracks down an arrow straight section of some I-_ _ in the middle of the midwest.

anyway... sorry for the rant..... but when someone makes a comment that the Dodge boys screwed up MB.... I just have to laugh and add my two cents...

sorry if I have offended any EVO/WRX driving magazine drivers, MBworld internet posters driving your parent's S550s, or anyone else who can't change your own airfilter! I am simply trying to put a little smile on your face!

now, about how to change those stupid filters on a W211!!??!! (can I admit that I only ordered one Green filter?? OK... so I'm not perfect here either!! )

 

A very nice post...and I laughed. My brother told me just the other day that he hates German cars (he has a used VW Passat wagon, that I thought drove very nicely). I guess people just get frustrated. Don't we all. I used to have a Toyota Camry (I think it was a 1998)....never a problem with it, but it had no soul...I think my MB has a soul and it makes me feel good to drive it...an SL65AMG might make me feel better, but never having driven one, it might not.

PS I have no idea how to change an air filter, and being from NJ I don't even have to pump my own gas. It does not get any better than that!!!!

 

the new Camry SE is a nice car.

C&D continues to slide down in my magazine to read list anyway. In the current issue they bother to compare the E90 328i to a new G35 and named the 328i a winner. Personally I'd take the new G35 over the 328i anyday. The test should've been matching a 335i to the G35.

 

knock on wood but i haven't had a problem with my car in 1 1/2 yr.

 

I agree with this (after the fact )....even though I can afford to have someone else do the work it's just unnecessarily throwing away money when good (enough) reliable cars are available. I've had more repairs to my C than ALL the other new cars I've bought COMBINED...about 10 cars!!

 

The fact of the matter is - forget your experience, congrats if your car hasn't had problems ever. But C&D (no advocating for them), and all other magazines are taking a poooooool of surveys across the country (10's of 1,000's of cars). You're using your 1 example and maybe the other 2 people you know who have a Mercedes-Benz. But the truth is, yes, they do have problems, they are not No. 1 in the world in reliability. Is this because of the merger between Benz and Chrysler? No. It's not. Benz was kept separate and the leveraging of their business was not in re-using Chrysler parts. Or it doesn't mean the President of Chrysler is dumber than the one at Mercedes, no, it's just different business models that makes Benz more successful.

Camry's, Accord's and those kind of cars will ALWAYS be more reliable than Mercedes, or BMW and so forth. The reason? They're simple cars. For many years they didn't offer the luxurious, the technology, and the performance of complicated cars like Benz and BMW do. Supercars are even worse! Ask Magwheel (guy on this forum), his Lambo's used to squeal when he stepped on the brakes, and that was a brand new car will less than 1,000 miles on it. Go to a mechanic and fix a Camry for something small you'll pay $200 for labor; a Benz? $500 for labor; a Lambo, bring the platinum credit card.

So my point is, usually the more expensive (i.e. complex) a car is, the more it'll struggle with realizability issues. Sometimes you'll find several 1,000's that run perfect and never have a single problem; sometimes you'll find a batch that do. It's just the way of the business.

Take the parts of a cheap pen. Put them together, that was easy and it's easy for it to work (or fix). Take the parts of a pen that can write in 10 different colors... hmm, gets complicate if the blue is using the green ink and the red is using the blue ink and the red is using the green as well ... doesn't it?


Tee_Tz.

 

No offense to anybody with the G35, but honestly, the 328 is a good comparison to the G35. Not a 335. The 335 is nearly the performance of C32 AMG's, and old M3's, the G35 is just not there yet. Throwing in a bunch of horsepower and advertising it on billboards and magazines won't fool me... yeah, 306 horsepower, impressive -- more than the 335, but how much torque?? Oh only 268... so it actually barely keeps up with the C350 (258). And of course the 335 is 300HP/300Torque.


Tee_Tz.

 

I respectfully disagree with you. They are more reliable because they have better quality control. The failures I've had have nothing to do with systems or parts that aren't available on any car...right down to KIA's....bushings, window regulators, wiring connectors, light bulb sockets, seat belt retractors, door pulls, and on and on. Look at the Lexus, would you say it's not as complex as a Mercedes? Without quality control all the engineering in the world will not give you reliability.

 

1. We all love our Mercedes.

2. Toyota/Lexus makes a very reliable car.

3. We still would rather drive a Mercedes than a Toyota/Lexus.

 

Drive....yes. Own...I'm wavering.

 

car and driver might have slammed MB but autoweek wrote wonders about the new S600

 

Good point. I think Lexus, Mercedes, BMW do have better quality control than Toyota, KIA, or Ford, but I think one of the major differences is cost. By that I mean, the Toyota Corolla is very affordable, therefore, when they make this car, they won't 'waste' too much time with quality control because it's probably cheaper to just have a recall if something terrible goes wrong than to have a huge, huge dedication to quality control. Whereas, with luxury brands recalling 1,000's of $35K cars is financial disaster, so it's best to ensure the quality is right. So I think as the costs goes up, the quality control must also go up. Another is volume - the Corolla obviously sells triple of even four times the amount as the C-Class, therefore, quality control becomes somewhat more costly and harder at that scale.

It's like saying I wouldn't add a warranty $200 on a computer that costs $500; might as well let it break and buy a brand new one. But I would add $200 warranty on a Flat-panel that costs $2,000, at that costs it's justifiable.

Would you agree?



Tee_Tz.

 

By the way, C&D might slam the C-Class but praise the S-Class, so it's not the entire Mercedes brand that they hate, they just report information on specific models. The S-Class is not made at the same place as the C-Class, it's not made by the same people, it's not made in the same way. It's totally different. I can see the C-Class having much more problems than the S-Class, it's rare that an S-Class has problems, I think Mercedes will always work overtime to ensure that.

That being said, yes, I'd much rather have a Mercedes then a Toyota (unless it's breaking down every 5 minutes, which it's not, and most don't -- it's not that bad). But when my car has problems over and over it annoys the SH$? out of me. I'm not Mercedes-Benz's groopie and I'm not going to sit here and defend them. When they do good, I fully praise them, when my car breaks down on the highway, I'm annoyed at them. Will my next car be a Mercedes? Maybe. It depends on the customer service, ownership experience, future offerings and competition.


Tee_Tz.

 

there's also the subtle but significant psychological shift.

if you drive a $20k car, you are more willing to accept road noise, random unknown rattles.

when you pay $45k for a car, you make sure that lost m&m is found from the bouncing rattling obscure spot and cleaned up.

 

LOL!! Very good point. Well said.


Tee_Tz.

 

[QUOTE=cyclrder;2062790]cmon.... it isn't like they sent a bunch of dodge boys over to run MB...

(and we know that would be a mess)

but the reality is that both BMW, Porsche, and MB have suffered with the advent of new electronic technology... just as your first buyers of the

the point it is a complicated world we live in and sometimes, you just have to be a little more forgiving of the issues.... or buy a Lexus! it really is that simple......

[QUOTE=cyclrder;2062790]

well said..

 

[QUOTE=ShelleE55;2064296][QUOTE=cyclrder;2062790]cmon.... it isn't like they sent a bunch of dodge boys over to run MB...

(and we know that would be a mess)

but the reality is that both BMW, Porsche, and MB have suffered with the advent of new electronic technology... just as your first buyers of the

the point it is a complicated world we live in and sometimes, you just have to be a little more forgiving of the issues.... or buy a Lexus! it really is that simple......

yah, if you buy german cars, you will have to expect those type of problem to come up.
or else get Jap, like Lexus, Infiniti or Acura.
also the depreciation on Japanese car is usually lower than German cars

 

well... I have heard the AMG boys complaining terribly about the poor resale value of the those cars... so we can't really sit on that three legged stool!

the net net is... the wood I get when walk up to my car.. just the way it looks does it for me (how many wagons look the way the w211 does.. hot!)... tell me a Jap car that can have that effect on you right now?

G35 coupe with the gold Brembos and big wheels...yep..that will do it for me..
S2000 (06 on) with a red interior... that is good too
Toyota FJ ... if I squint!