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Apologies for a long post, but I thought I'd share my thoughts here for anybody who is feeling similarly, or for anybody who is shopping for one of these cars.
Less than a year after falling in love with the carbon fiber waterfall dash and the performance exhaust note of the C43, I decided to trade mine in and end one of the most uneven automotive relationships I've ever had.
I saw somebody in a recent thread describe these cars as rollercoaster ownership--that's a great way to put it. When everything was in sync and I was on a smooth, empty road with the PE popping and crackling this was one of best cars I've ever owned. But in daily ownership the car ranged from disappointing to downright frustrating. Fragile ride quality and questionable assembly led to a new round of rattles every week. The transmission clunked and surged in traffic, especially in S/S+. The fancy Burmeister stereo was dull and muddy. The paint quality would be embarrassing on an economy car. The backup camera never worked consistently despite repeated "fixes". An intermittent steering wheel vibration showed up at 5,000 miles, resulting in a shoulder shrug from the dealer.
I know a lot of this sounds like whining and sour grapes. The C43 is a good car, and even a great car in some scenarios. But many of shortcomings are so apparent and so baffling (why couldn't Mercedes spend another $50 in parts to put in a premium stereo made from something other than Chinese scrap? how can Mercedes not figure out rattle proofing when even Hyundai can make a car that is quiet as a tomb?). Repeated visits to dealers were met with either no fixes or bandaids that lasted for a few weeks. I've been looking to cut my losses and move on for a few months now. I'd expected to pick up a Macan GTS when a nice example popped up used. But out of the blue I found an incredibly clean example of one of my grail cars for sale locally--a D4 Audi S8 with the 520hp V8TT. I don't want to suggest that this remotely the same class of car; but it's an interesting next step nonetheless.
Hopefully these ramblings are helpful to someone here. IMHO, Mercedes came so close to building a great car in the W205 that it's important to understand where they fell short.
Cheers, and I hope you all have better luck with your ownership than I did.
Last edited by Lionel_Hutz; 08-16-2017 at 10:24 PM.
I seen the post you were talking about, it was in a thread I started with some concerns about the transmission. In the end it didn't turn me away from the car. I looked at everything else in the same class and nothing pulls me in like the c43. I'm getting the coupe though, I've heard there's more rattle problems with the sedan. Let's just hope bc the coupe is built in german there's less problems. Sucks you had such a negative time with the car .. best of luck with the Audi man.
Last edited by SkitsversuS; 08-17-2017 at 08:09 AM.
Good luck with the Audi... I'm glad my car is solid as a rock.. no rattles...and the ride is more comfortable since getting rid of the run flat tires.. I guess it's the luck of the draw.. I have the sedan... I did have a c450 before my c43 and I can see what your talking about though... luckily the c43 seems to be built much better... it's definitely like buying a scratch ticket though.. some are good and some are bad.. the consistency of the build quality vary a lot
I just hit 4,000 miles, and scheduled my 3rd service appointment.
My first appointment was to address a hot AC, rattles, a fouled auto-start, and the backup camera.
My second visit was to address the AC, again. During this service reassembly was less than ideal, so I have the dash rattles again.
This 3rd service is to address the rattles, and now Bluetooth connectivity.
This morning my car would not connect to BT. I have two iPhones and tried to connect both, even restart the system. The phone was showing connected, but car was not showing connectivity.
As much as I love this car, and it's quite possible my favorite of many fun cars that I've owned, my patience are wearing thin.
Apologies for a long post, but I thought I'd share my thoughts here for anybody who is feeling similarly, or for anybody who is shopping for one of these cars.
Less than a year after falling in love with the carbon fiber waterfall dash and the performance exhaust note of the C43, I decided to trade mine in and end one of the most uneven automotive relationships I've ever had.
I saw somebody in a recent thread describe these cars as rollercoaster ownership--that's a great way to put it. When everything was in sync and I was on a smooth, empty road with the PE popping and crackling this was one of best cars I've ever owned. But in daily ownership the car ranged from disappointing to downright frustrating. Fragile ride quality and questionable assembly led to a new round of rattles every week. The transmission clunked and surged in traffic, especially in S/S+. The fancy Burmeister stereo was dull and muddy. The paint quality would be embarrassing on an economy car. The backup camera never worked consistently despite repeated "fixes". An intermittent steering wheel vibration showed up at 5,000 miles, resulting in a shoulder shrug from the dealer.
I know a lot of this sounds like whining and sour grapes. The C43 is a good car, and even a great car in some scenarios. But many of shortcomings are so apparent and so baffling (why couldn't Mercedes spend another $50 in parts to put in a premium stereo made from something other than Chinese scrap? how can Mercedes not figure out rattle proofing when even Hyundai can make a car that is quiet as a tomb?). Repeated visits to dealers were met with either no fixes or bandaids that lasted for a few weeks. I've been looking to cut my losses and move on for a few months now. I'd expected to pick up a Macan GTS when a nice example popped up used. But out of the blue I found an incredibly clean example of one of my grail cars for sale locally--a D4 Audi S8 with the 520hp V8TT. I don't want to suggest that this remotely the same class of car; but it's an interesting next step nonetheless.
Hopefully these ramblings are helpful to someone here. IMHO, Mercedes came so close to building a great car in the W205 that it's important to understand where they fell short.
Cheers, and I hope you all have better luck with your ownership than I did.
[IMG]https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbworld.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/80-img_0719_1__8df07ed9110779560762f823914f6c959eba0f 3f.jp/MG]
I think you're talking about me. I feel very similarly and have expressed such in the past.
I still feel the same way but will endure another ~20 months of ownership as I don't actually have any money invested in the car. I had rattles and the steering vibration exactly as you mentioned - which was from bent wheels and a bad alignment.
2017 C43 AMG, previously 2015 Jeep Wrangler JK, 2007 BMW 335i, 1995 Civic SI
Too bad about your experience with the c43. During my limited ownership, I've only run into problems with the transmission, and the RFTs are loud. The ride is somewhat harsh, but I used to daily drive a Jeep Wrangler JK, so this thing is like an S-class in comparison. I find that the car is easily upset in the switchbacks, way more than my 335i. No rattles or squeaks yet (fingers crossed).
Told myself that if Mercedes can't get this transmission issue figured out, I would be trading it in. Just wondering how much the car depreciated since I've had it. AMG vehicles are notoriously bad for that but I've also heard that it's mostly due to the finicky nature of the hand built engine. The c43 doesn't have that problem.
To the OP, good luck with the Audi, beautiful car. Also, can you tell us your mileage, and if you feel comfortable about it, % of depreciation? Would be greatly appreciated.
Too bad about your experience with the c43. During my limited ownership, I've only run into problems with the transmission, and the RFTs are loud. The ride is somewhat harsh, but I used to daily drive a Jeep Wrangler JK, so this thing is like an S-class in comparison. I find that the car is easily upset in the switchbacks, way more than my 335i. No rattles or squeaks yet (fingers crossed).
Told myself that if Mercedes can't get this transmission issue figured out, I would be trading it in. Just wondering how much the car depreciated since I've had it. AMG vehicles are notoriously bad for that but I've also heard that it's mostly due to the finicky nature of the hand built engine. The c43 doesn't have that problem.
To the OP, good luck with the Audi, beautiful car. Also, can you tell us your mileage, and if you feel comfortable about it, % of depreciation? Would be greatly appreciated.
To the OP, good luck with the Audi, beautiful car. Also, can you tell us your mileage, and if you feel comfortable about it, % of depreciation? Would be greatly appreciated.
I traded in with about 6k miles and the car in ridiculously good shape. Got bids from a few people, but I took a bath on the car. Used car market is soft, sedan market is soft, and used Benz market has always been soft. It doesn't help that dealers are now discounting brand new C43s 10-15% off MSRP just to move product. YMMV but I wouldn't recommend expecting that the C43 will hold value better because it isn't the full-fat AMG.
Fortunately for my deal as a whole, the depreciation on German executive hypersedans is even more brutal.
Originally Posted by Vincent Aiosa
What issues are you having with the tranny?
Some people are seeing a very violent jerkiness/rocking back and forth in 1st and 2nd. My best guess is it's a combination of driver input and tranny/throttle mapping--the throttle is jerky, which pushes the driver's foot off and on the throttle, which makes things even worse. It's almost like a harmonic resonance effect. I'm sure this could be programmed out of the car but MB hasn't done it. I only saw it every couple weeks but it is downright dangerous when it happens and the transmission update actually made it worse. Basically have to take your foot completely away from the throttle until the car calms down, which is not great if you're trying to get through an intersection.
Last edited by Lionel_Hutz; 08-17-2017 at 12:51 PM.
Basically have to take your foot completely away from the throttle until the car calms down, which is not great if you're trying to get through an intersection.
That is not the only way. You can just press the shift up pedal and it immediately goes away.
By the sound of it though Lionel it might be that you got a lemon in the sense that there were way too many things wrong with it. Out of all your complaints, mine just has the rattling issues, that too does not sound as bad as yours.
Either way, if you are kinda miserable with your purchase, it is always better to move on! Good luck!
Yeah, there's a ton of torque at low RPMs and in first gear it's gonna be very jerky with all that power. People experience it in a lot of sport cars, esp stick. I experienced it during a test drive, simple fix is to just quickly upshift with the paddle and it instantly stops. I agree it shouldn't even be happening in automatic, hopefully MB sorts it out soon.
Sport + mode. Manual mode on. Take 1st gear to about 6000 rpm, let off the pedal until about 5000 rpm, then accelerate again.
Hey you wrote in the other thread that you got a new controlmodule and got it reprogrammed. Why did they have to reprogram it? Before Ithough the dealerships cannot do any kind of programming.
So how is it feeling now? The problems are continuing?
2017 C43 AMG, previously 2015 Jeep Wrangler JK, 2007 BMW 335i, 1995 Civic SI
Originally Posted by munis
Hey you wrote in the other thread that you got a new controlmodule and got it reprogrammed. Why did they have to reprogram it? Before Ithough the dealerships cannot do any kind of programming.
So how is it feeling now? The problems are continuing?
So it seems as though I've iso'ed the problem to 1st gear, using the method I described above. If it continues for 3 days in a row (on day 2 now), then the car's going back to the dealer, possibly to trade in.
Gonna post the work order they gave me, just gotta edit. Not trying to post all my personal info on here.
So it seems as though I've iso'ed the problem to 1st gear, using the method I described above. If it continues for 3 days in a row (on day 2 now), then the car's going back to the dealer, possibly to trade in.
Gonna post the work order they gave me, just gotta edit. Not trying to post all my personal info on here.
Dont trade! Get them a couple chances to fix it, then lemon law.
I just hit 4,000 miles, and scheduled my 3rd service appointment.
My first appointment was to address a hot AC, rattles, a fouled auto-start, and the backup camera.
My second visit was to address the AC, again. During this service reassembly was less than ideal, so I have the dash rattles again.
This 3rd service is to address the rattles, and now Bluetooth connectivity.
This morning my car would not connect to BT. I have two iPhones and tried to connect both, even restart the system. The phone was showing connected, but car was not showing connectivity.
As much as I love this car, and it's quite possible my favorite of many fun cars that I've owned, my patience are wearing thin.
I had the same issue with the phone and realized it was my phone was the issue. A restart of my phone fixed the problem...
Funny enough I have come to the same conclusion and went to the same brand. Driving around in my wife's Audi is such an eye opener. It doesn't look as luxurious but she doesn't have noises coming from 10 plastic bits on every bump. I like the Merc but it's not a 60k car.
Funny enough I have come to the same conclusion and went to the same brand. Driving around in my wife's Audi is such an eye opener. It doesn't look as luxurious but she doesn't have noises coming from 10 plastic bits on every bump. I like the Merc but it's not a 60k car.
Funny enough I have come to the same conclusion and went to the same brand. Driving around in my wife's Audi is such an eye opener. It doesn't look as luxurious but she doesn't have noises coming from 10 plastic bits on every bump. I like the Merc but it's not a 60k car.
I agree with this. My previous car was a Golf R. While the Benz had better trim material (CF or real wood), the build quality in the Golf was much higher---which has a $19,000 base model!
Welp, glad I'm getting the coupe then, heard there's not many issues compared to the sedan as far as rattling goes.
I think this may be true as well. We have a group chat in the area for C43 owners and it seems like most of the sedans have rattling issues but no reports from the coupes. My cab has no rattling.
Have a 2016 c450 that rattles more than what i can think of
Came from an audi s5 2013 and that was the most quiet inside i have ever been in. Unfortunately the c450 was more expensive....
Good luck with the Audi... I'm glad my car is solid as a rock.. no rattles...and the ride is more comfortable since getting rid of the run flat tires.. I guess it's the luck of the draw.. I have the sedan... I did have a c450 before my c43 and I can see what your talking about though... luckily the c43 seems to be built much better... it's definitely like buying a scratch ticket though.. some are good and some are bad.. the consistency of the build quality vary a lot
**knocking on wood indefinitely**
I swear I must have been the luckiest person on the earth for that day when I chose my 450. Couple slight rattles at first but they've seem to have gone away. And just a slight bump on the 4>5 shift about 2% of the time. Other than that, it's been a great car.
And OP, FAANTASTIC replacement/upgrade
Big Audi fanboy right here so if you would indulge me with more pics of that S, I wouldn't mind at all
Have a 2016 c450 that rattles more than what i can think of
Came from an audi s5 2013 and that was the most quiet inside i have ever been in. Unfortunately the c450 was more expensive....
I came from an Audi too, welcome. Take your car to the dealer. They will fix all your rattles under warranty.
Once I had my rattles addresses, it felt like the car I paid for.
08-16-2017, 10:20 PM
.. best of luck with the Audi man.
