Mike5215

I dropped the C off for an A service and I like to use the opportunity to play with the new cars on the lot. I like the new E so I was psyched to sit in one. It's a nice interior even in MB Tex and without the all glass dash, but WTF is the deal with this huge misaligned seam? Not only that, the whole filler piece that spans the gap over the steering column is flexible, like it's not anchored to anything solid. I think it would drive me nuts.

LILBENZ230

That's clearly shoddy build quality, but I'm sure it is an isolated incident. I could live with that misaligned seam and that filler piece, what I can't live with is the dash design of the E and S now.

mcbc220

How did build overall quality/solidity/"Mercedes-ness" feel? I ended up getting a 230i instead of a C, but I'm a Mercedes fanboy at heart and I want them to make great cars.

sean1.8t

That's just an oversight. It's not like they would make you live with it for the life of the vehicle. Take it in to the dealer, they'll give you a loaner car and have it done by the end of the day as well as have it washed and vacuumed for you.

Mike5215

You can squeeze it together or even reposition it if you want. It has the consistency of rubber. That whole piece can move a half inch up or down in the middle. It's not attached to anything in the center. I think that's by design, not a QC issue on this particular car.

I could fix the alignment with a drop of superglue. I just hate how prominent the cut line itself is. Directly in the sight line to the gauge cluster.

Adi-Benz

Looks like they ruined the E-class.

Back to Honda!


disclaimer: never owned a honda

Mike5215

I had a Honda. Back when my oldest kid was in high school I paid $4000 for a Civic with 90k miles on it. He drove it until graduation and passed it onto his kid brother, who also drove it until graduation. Then I gave to to my dear old mum and she still drives it. It practically looks new and everything on it works.

I think the E I sat in had the seat completely bottomed out. I'm guessing if it was at a normal height the steering column would block the view of that bit. I hope so because I'm really looking forward to an E400 coupe when the lease is up on the C.

dieseldoc

In my younger days, owned several Honda products, they were great cars. Never had a problem.

ManiacGT

Staggered by the comment someone would spend tens of thousands on a new car and then get superglue out to fix it

Mike5215

Here's how you get to the point where you're using superglue on a $60,000 car:

Me: The bezel on my passenger side vanity mirror has a crack in it. Is that CPO?

SA: Unfortunately no.

Me: Dang! How much is the bezel?

SA: Hmmm, it looks like you can't just buy the bezel.

Me: Ok. How much for the mirror?

SA: Or just the mirror.

Me: Okay, how much for the visor assembly?

SA: The visor assembly for a 2010 S Class is $650.

Me: Got any superglue?

MASSC450

It's situations like these is why I personally never buy used vehicles. To me it's worth paying the extra money buying new vehicles so I have full "bumper to bumper" warranty to take care of things...like broken trim pieces, burnt out door handle LEDs, sun-faded roof rack covers, squealing brakes, rough shifting transmission, and creaking interior parts.

Maybe if Mercedes were as reliable & well made like the past Hondas I've owned would I consider buying a used Benz, but these two Mercedes I've owned recently have definitely NOT been as reliable as my past Hondas...far from it, but that's OK, I bought my Mercedes Benzs for other reasons. One of those reasons is the excellent service I've received from the Mercedes dealership conveniently located just next town over...that and they handout loaners like they were bottled water.

As a matter of fact, my C450 is at the dealership right now getting yet another door handle LED replaced, it's first "A" service, engine bay fuse box cover replaced, and the latest NAV map update...and since I was told the "system" was down Friday when I dropped the car off and they could not perform any updates...they told me I'd be sporting the 2017 GLE 350 loaner they gave me through this coming Monday.

Mike5215

Yeah, new is awesome. Unless A) You love driving $100,000 cars and B) You don't love $2,000 a month car payments. Then CPO makes sense. They'll replace LED lights forever though. My 06 had an ambient light that lived in the rear view mirror housing. CPO paid $1300 for the mirror assembly, which was the only way MB sold it.

My C is an experiment to see if brand new but a C Class beats CPO used S Class. They both cost about the same. Jury is still out. No question the S is better built and a better long hauler. C is more fun.

Mike5215

So I guess that flexible filler piece is designed to yield if the steering column is fully elevated, but drop in to partially cover the gap if it isn't. Still weird.