It is so sad.
After owning 6 Mercedes, 2 brand new and 4 lightly used car, I made my decision to trade in my last Mercedes CLS for a brand new Honda accord.

In two years MB has given me too many problems.
Brand new E350 2010, suspension fail after 4000 miles. Brand new 2011 S550, transmission problem and needed to be rebuilt.

08 GL450, control arm failed at 30000 miles, along with suspension
2012 C300, engine light on at 1200 mile and dealer can not figure out, did software update and it left me on the high way the day after the repair

2009 CLS550, transmission valve body failed, engine actuator failed at 12000 mile

2010 ML 350, engine wont start at 25000 miles, suspension failed, control arm broke. And I did not take my car off road at all.


sad experience
bad that I will never return to MB.

 

Damn. That's a lot of bad experiences, cant say that I blame you.

 

For the two new model, especially for the S, I cannot understand why....

 

Sorry to hear that. I don't understand either why not only MB but most European cars are of low reliability. When everything is working their car is great.

So far my 2011 C300 is just fine. The first time I drove it I was a bit scared of what if it doesn't start after parking?

By the way have you considered Toyota Camry? From reading, Camry is quieter than Accord.

 

I understand why you are leaving, but be careful about where you are going. My daughter's Accord, in the last two years:

Replace the ENTIRE engine (Honda supplied at no cost) for untraceable high oil consumption

Driver seat back broke and rear panel fell off

Power lumbar failed

Warped brake rotors at 12,000 miles

Center console lid wrinkled and split apart with very gentle usage

There are many reasons to buy an Accord, but quality does not seem to still be one of them, based on our experience. Others may have done better....probably just like the variation which happens to Mercedes owners!

 

My neighbor bought a new Accord a couple of years ago. It was consuming 1+ quart per month. The dealership said it was within spec..... Seemed a bit excessive to me. Although, the 2013 redesign looks pretty nice. I've had several Honda's and never had any trouble.

 

I'm skeptical about Honda realiability too...

We got rid of our 2002 Odyssey (which we purchased new) when it started showing symptoms of a slipping/failing transmission. The car had 99,000 miles and the tranmission was serviced religiously at the dealership. After doing some research it turns out that transmission problems were very common for that generation of Odyssey and the same transmission was used in the V6 Accord and Acura TL.

Don't blame you for leaving the Mercedes brand, but also wanted to give you a heads up based on my experience.

 

http://www.fox28.com/story/19943918/...rands-top-list

This shows Honda did well, but is going the wrong way, dropping by one. If you take away Versa and Armada, Nissan did well and has some entertaining choices. Subaru can also be appealing. If you still like the German feel, the new Passat apparently is doing well, marking a possible new direction for VW. If you can deal with the boredom, Toyota still appears to win on pure reliability.

 

As a newer Honda Accord is also in our "garage", about 33,000 miles have been accumulated in the same time period as the 13,000 miles on the 2010 C300 Sport.

The Honda has been relatively reliable, an air conditioning relay, and a warped disk brake rotor were replaced under warranty. The W204 as of yet shows no problems at all.

However the Honda is just plain NOISY, the steering numb and the ergonomics a horror, like doors you will ALWAYS have to unlock manually even opening the driver´s door. Dont even talk about the ugly and confusing radio/air conditioning center panel. The interior materials are poor especially in comparison to the latest Toyota Camry which is almost a quiet as the Mercs. The intrusion of the wheel wells in the otherwise large trunk make the practical capacity small, about the same as the better-shaped W204's trunk.

To its credit the Honda Accord's gas mileage, at least in the 4 cyl., is truly impressive once the engine is broken in. Also rear seat room and headroom is superior to the CLS. But to drive the Accord is a very, very DULL experience, whining engine, hollow clunking noises everywhere, excessive road noise, and a transmission that is... how to describe it, like trying to use a banana as a screwdriver or a wrench?

The car that gets used most by all in the family including two sons with BMW 3-Series, is the Ford Mondeo (the 2013 Fusion is in reality the new transplant of the old Belgian-built Mondeo) with nearly 50,000 miles, and except for oil changes, has had NO problems and is still waiting for its first "B" service.

Good luck with the Accord, hopefully you will hate to drive it less than I do mine, but has proven to be reliable and relatively defect-free.

Although the all-time reliability winner is the Mercedes CDI turbo diesel, with 230,000 miles, and only a turbo replaced under warranty, besides normal service and brakes of course. Just replaced the shocks though, all 4 plus bushings and a steering arm for about $700, this is all that has been done in nearly a quarter of a million miles. The 5G automatic is a fantastic transmission and puts the 7G to shame, what a POS the 7G is, truth be told, as you have found out.

 

wow that is some horrible luck you have. hope things get better for you in terms of reliability

as for the accord, my mother in law has one. decent car to go from a to b. but thats about it... since you are used to creature comforts, you may find the accord to be quite lacking.

 

+1 on Honda quality.

I owned a 2004 Honda Odyssey and sold it late last year at 70K miles. The experience wasn't good at all. For the 7+ years, there were two recalls, one engine failure (luckily when it was still under warranty), one transmission problem (we paid it when it was 5 years old), and three fixes on sliding door handlers. The car was ery noisy. We upgraded it to BMW X5 last year. The driving experience is like day and night.

For comparison, we had a great experience with a 2001 Audi A4 (which I traded in for '12 C300 last year). It only had a minor problem for the entire 10 years.

 

Either OP beats his cars and doesnt maintain well or he is the unluckiest person in the world, im leaning towards the latter lol

 

yes actually the C300 is a very reliable car. Many of my friends have it, and only mine failed. So I guess I just have bad luck.

For camry I am scared of the brake problem lol

 

Definitely the latter

 

Hi Thank you for your info. I remember you.
Well I know I will return to MB someday for sure
but still want to give Japanese car a try, I am planning to buy a lexus LS.
Hope at least I get some luck on Japanese cars!

 

Thank you for your kind word!
Yes MB is good when it doesn't have problem. I guess I will return to MB someday for sure, I hope they can keep improving their quality

 

I find it hard to believe to be honest, maybe your dealers been dosing your cars with cyanide?

I also find it hard to believe you would go from high end Mercedes to an Accord and not at least an Audi, Jag or BMW, especially while in college...

 

Whic is one of the quietest cars.