Jchungster

Nice man, good luck. Let us know what deal they are able to work out for you! Hopefully they have worked out all the kinks and there will be 0 issues!

BrianC6H6

Stan - Thanks for your vote of confidence that MB is listening and correcting issues with 2015 models. I have a 2015 C300 on order with a June delivery and I was seriously considering deferring my order until the 2016 models come out, with the hope that first year production issues documented in this forum would be corrected in the next model year. Did you consider waiting until the 2016's are out?
Also, I think your dealer is pulling strings with MB to get a delivery so quickly to you. My dealer in the SF Bay Area told me that orders with rear view cameras are coming slowly due to third party supply issues.

kellens

As poorly as MB-USA has acknowledged and responded with early build issues (EVERYthing is 'normal' to them). I doubt a car made now has much better build. Yes, it will have updated software. But the risk of noisier build over one that's pretty quiet would frighten me. The wind noise at the A pillar is this cars biggest unresolved fault right now.

StanNH

Right now, the issues with my car and my frustration with it, are a major concern to my dealer. They offered me a solution and asked me to order a new car now. I don't think that deal will still be there in another few months, so I put the order in as requested. This is an accommodation on their part, so I really don't want to push my luck.

If, for any reason, I'm not happy with either the incoming car or the deal I am offered, I have the option of walking away with no hard feelings. They did not ask for any deposit for the new car, and said they would simply put it in inventory if I didn't want it. I will test drive the new car when it gets here, and specifically listen for wind noise, which seems to be the last lingering issue with the 2015 W205. If the new car looks and drives okay, then I take it home. If not, I keep my car and drive it until the new 2016 Audi A4 is available for a test drive and purchase. (I have owned three Audi's and had excellent luck with all of them.)

I still really can not understand how MB has not yet taken care of all these annoying build issues. Poorly fit parts, whether they are body panels or sunroof shades, and excessive wind noise are problems that simply should not be showing up in any new production car ... at any price point. The fact that these issues have been around since the start of production here in July, 2014, and have still not been resolved, is just beyond my comprehension. The other major headache ... the MB-Tex disaster ... was a supplier issue, but still should have been picked up in testing, if there was any in-house testing.

I always reach the same conclusion with this car ... brilliant design and engineering, which make it the most advanced compact sedan in its segment. Now, why can't they figure out how to put the car together without glaring cosmetic defects, and without so many wind noise issues? Flawed excellence.

Patentesq

Stan, I agree with you. I came out of a 2006 BMW330xi and never experienced any of these annoying issues. In my C300, I have not had bleeding seats and wind noise, but the Keyless go did act up one or two times, the bumper is misaligned and my drivers mirror does not sit flush like the passenger mirror does. I plan on getting both issues fixed. I like you do not understand how MB can let cars leave the factory like this.

For comparison, I just bought my wife a 2015 Acura MDX. I inspected that car carefully. All the bumpers and seams are aligned perfectly. The light lens' sit perfectly flush as do the driver and passenger side mirrors. When I drive at high speeds, there is virtually no wind noise coming from the mirrors. The Keyless go feature has never acted up. I do not think it matters that this is the second year of the MDX model run. I can not imagine Acura letting cars leave the factory that are less than perfect.

StanNH

The last car I had that was really assembled badly was a 1995 Dodge Intrepid. That car was a nightmare, and had a misaligned dashboard that crushed the door trim every time the door was closed. Panel fit was awful, trim pieces fell off the car, the heater fan froze solid when I was out in 30 below zero weather, the transmission locked up due to faulty wiring ... I wound up with dozens of repairs until Chrysler gave me a check for $3,000 and told me to trade it in and buy a new car.

In comparison, the issues with my C300 are all minor ... there's just so many of them, and they are so obvious. I am really surprised at how many recurring build errors are allowed to get through the line unchecked. I am also surprised at the lack of corrective action ... the same defects have appeared on too many cars for too long a period of time. I don't see this on any other brand of car right now, regardless of the country of origin or the price point.

Logic would dictate that the company is aware of these many reported issues and is taking corrective action. The goal of any car company is to instill a sense of brand loyalty and generate return business. Right now, with the W205, it looks like MB is losing as many customers as it's gaining. That's just poor customer relations.

Jinzen

Honestly, I think MB really dropped the ball on this one:

1) Buy the Sports model and get the standard suspension?

2) Buy a luxury car and get horrible fit and finish? Buzzing and rattling speakers? Wind Noise?

3) Get no support from MB USA and poor dealership competency

I bought the car because I wanted to drive a mini S-Class. Well, the whole experience would probably have been better in a Toyota...

Done with Mercedes as a brand, my next car will be looking at Porsche, Jaguar, and maybe BMW.

StanNH

Well, at least they did get the suspension right on my order. I just got an updated PO and it now shows the 486 suspension, which the original PO did not.

792 Palladium Silver $720
251 Sport Black Leather
P01 P01 Premium Package: SiriusXM® Radio w/ $2,120
889 : KEYLESS-GO
810 : Burmester Surround Sound System
536 : SIRIUS Satellite Radio
234 Blind Spot Assist $550
318 318 Interior Package: Leather Upholstery $2,300
877 : Ambient Lighting
401 : Heated and Active Ventilated Front Seats
242 : Power Passenger Seat w/Memory
U25 : MB Illuminated Door Sill Panels
320 320 Multimedia Package: High-Resolution $2,690
815 : COMAND DVD CD Single
531 : COMAND w/Navigation and Voice Control
218 : Rearview Camera
U71 : DVD Coding
321 321 Sport Package: Sport Bodystyling, Sp $2,175
772 : AMG Sportline
U26 : Floormats
P31 : Sport Package Exterior
P29 : Sport Package Interior
413 Panorama Sunroof $1,480
486 Sport Suspension
502 Navigation Map Updates included for 3-ye
632 LED Headlamps
736 Black Ash Open Pore Wood $325
782 18-Inch AMG 5-Spoke Alloy Wheel
SUBTOTAL

Patentesq

The particular suspension was not listed on my car either. I looked it up and it turned out it was included.

whkento

Best of luck, Stan. Hope the new one is perfect for ya'.

Glad to know you have a great dealership to deal with.

npa201

Not going to stop you on this one. If you want to switch you should switch.

That said, many auto mfg have seen a step up in issues. So far this year both Toyota and Honda have had to recall several hundred thousand cars for exploding air bags for example. BMW has had issues on the 3 series with the pump brakes (the model before the 2012 refresh). Audi has had problems with the Q7 and brake pads wearing down too quickly. The list goes on and on.

I'm not excusing this. I'm not ignoring that there were launch issues. I was one of the people with bleeding seat issue.

I will also defend MB on this issue about poor handling of the situation. It seems to be a case by case basis. But in my case I was given a loaner for 6 weeks while they waited for the parts to come in. MB USA then decided to work with the dealership and facilitate a replacement for my car at no cost at all (except for a registration transfer fee; i then decided to make some upgrades and pay the difference). My case may have been an exception to the rule as I had less than 150 miles on my car and I had discovered the issue within two weeks. But at least in my case MB USA did right by me.

My new car has a build date of Jan 19th and I've now put 600 miles on it and have not noticed any issues thus far (fingers crossed). No bleeding. Tail light / bumper alignment fine. So far key less go has been fine as well as the door lights. I can't tell if my car has a noise issue. Maybe? I only noticed it because of this message board. Honestly my prior GS300 and my current BMW X5 are much noisier. It is a hell of a lot quieter than my father-in-law's Toyota Highlander that he just bought.

I have never owned a car before that puts a smile on my face like this one does and my last two cars were more expensive than this one (I wanted to downsize given that its primarily a commuter car). Anyway, this board is just full of negativity and I wanted a prospective buyer to know that this can also be a great car to own. I initially went into the MB dealership just to cross this car off the list before going into a BMW dealership to buy a 3 series or 4 series that day. It made the 3 series interior look dated to me with all the plastic and old school moon roof. I used to drive my father's old E series back in the day and could never get over its "boat" like feel (late 90's). Not so with C300. Even knowing that the total cost of ownership would be more with this car than the 328 and I went with MB and don't regret it (except now it has made me more into cars than ever before and now I want that C450!).

gocal73

It's great that MBUSA allowed you a replacement car. For people with greater issues, like Stan, they did not. If MBUSA was doing the right thing for all customers, there would be no "negativity" on this board. MBUSA's inconsistent treatment of customers with legitimate problems is the real problem here. Not the "negativity" of poorly served customers.

npa201

Not sure if I'm interpreting your post correctly or if you are misinterpreting mine. From my side of things, I am not saying Stan is being negative at all. I have followed his story very closely from the get go. I think we all agree he has been one of the most patient customers on this. I think others have speculated (in posts several weeks ago) that Stan's issue may be too public already and MB did not want to set a precedent while the problem was still ongoing. It's hard to say. And let's just leave that where it is until Stan's deal is completed. I wish him all the best and perhaps I'll speak a bit more freely after his deal is done.

I was merely conveying that there are cases where MB USA has done the right thing. It does exist. In other cases we have seen others get their cars fixed for various reasons and it looked good as new.

I was also saying (and non scientifically as it is only one case) that my newer build did not have the quality issues that earlier cars have had. Was it a fluke? Maybe. But its also possible that QC has also begun to improve as the Tuscaloosa plant as it has ramped up. I certainly hope that is the case.

Year 1 of the C300 has certainly been a ding for the car in terms of execution but don't think its a reason to write off the brand.

Perhaps my post came across wrong.

SirC250

Good luck Stan. After what you went through! Hopefully this new C300 is better built than your current (old) C300!

Jinzen

MB USA didn't do you any favors. Your car was undriveavle due to the seating surface. 6 weeks is way past lemon law refund period, all they actually did was save their own face/legal fees.

npa201

I actually had a lengthy discussion with the consumer affairs division in my state on lemon laws and they actually said I had a very weak case.
-a) The wording in my state is 20 days where they have unsuccessfully tried to repair it. Consumer affairs said, that waiting for a part wouldn't technically count. I would have to wait for the repair to happen and if it was unsuccessful, that is when I should take MB to court.
-b) I needed to prove that either the car is unsafe or value was impaired. It would be difficult to prove this is unsafe (until I get lawyers involved demanding that I know the actual formula of the plasticizer used) and so I would have to consider value but then the only way to prove it would be to sell it or show precedence of others selling it or trading it in (this is consumer affair's words, not mine). Consumer Affairs did not consider this undriveable. This wasn't like the engine wasn't working or the brakes weren't working in their minds.
-c) If I actually decided to pursue the case and they repaired it in the meantime then obviously MB would not compensate me for anything. In addition, I only have one shot at this according to consumer affairs and so if the judge threw it out on being a weak case, that's it. There are no second chances.

On top of that, the day that I did the exchange my dealership got ALL the parts for the repair in including the side bolsters that Stan's did not. So they could have done the repair for me. And then I could have asked for other compensation (extended warranty, free maintenance, actual money, etc). It was my choice. That was still on the table for me but they said I could just exchange it as well for no cost.

Based on the documents I have (and without going into actual specifics) I was able to determine how much of the cost that MB USA bore. The dealership did not help out in any such way. I could see all the cost was paid for by MB USA.

Is it cheaper than legal fees? Sure it would have. I would have also had a weak case that would have been thrown out and I would have gotten nothing in return. Instead, MB took the route of retaining a customer that would consider buying another one in the future.

I don't believe MB did me a favor. Its a business. I'm not looking for handouts. All I'm saying was in my case they chose the path of what I consider to be fair.

B737NG

Stan
Good luck to you, I have always found your posts to be reasoned and insightful. Glad to here your dealership is working with you, partly I suspect because of your manner. Hope it all works out for you.
Dan

NYC-Style

Good luck Stan...I think you've been patient and have been willing to work thru these issues and they recognize that. You're right that although you'll get a good deal you're still gonna take somewhat of a hit. I haven't had nearly as many issues but the wind noise alone is enough for me. I'll probably keep it a year or two and trade it in...I put too much of a down payment to try and get rid of it now...anyways...good luck on your new car!!