W205C43PFL

Dang... that is just sad

zibby43

It is. Approaching a week at the dealer now.

C43HeartBoost

That sucks man!

zibby43

It does. Almost a year ago to the day, my former car began its month-long stay at the dealer for 3+ attempts to fix a noisy rear differential (which also resulted in a PTSS case).

More like PITA case.

Where do they even go from here if they can't clear the code from the ECU? Send it back to Germany for re-programming? Can they do that here? Haven't even bothered reaching out to the dealer since this past Friday. Trying to exercise restraint; would have no problem just letting the clock run on this car and lemon another one.

zibby43

Still in for service. No updates. Over a week now.

Car has less than 700 miles. Not complaining. My fault I got another one after my ‘18.

Question now becomes, what will I replace this car with?

jhpmbusa

what was the lemon process or did benz buy the car back from you? for your 18

places

Unreal, so many of these stories. Hope you get this resolved.

cjaredscott

My friend's C43 just had a wheel speed sensor replaced, it was having the same (or at least similar) issues intermittently. Seems to have fixed the problem.

W205C43PFL

Uh you can try the CLA 45 if you want to stay with MB

stockbmw

All lemons from same dealer? 1x 18, your fam gle, now this?

places

You should be complaining. Unacceptable. They should provide a loner and keep you posted. Reach out to MBUSA.

19’43s

GUYS IF YOU ARE FROM CANADA ESPECIALLY TORONTO DONT BUY CARS FROM MERCEDES BENZ OAKVILLE OR BRAMPTON BOTH OF THESE DEALERSHIPS WILL TREAT YOU LIKE TRASH BUT ATLEAST OAKVILLE ASKS IF YOU NEED A LOANER CAR WHEREAS BRAMPTON HAS A STICK UP THEIR *** AND TRY TO ACT CHEAP CAUSE THEY ARE A INDEPENDENT DEALERSHIP OWNED BY VERSUS A GROUP OWNED DEALERSHIP THANK ME LATER

BOTH OF THESE DEALERSHIPS SELL USED BENZS THAT HAVE BEEN ABUSED TF OUTTA THEY REFURBISH THEM AND SELL THEM TO THE NEW SUCKER WHO WANTS A NICE AMG IM TELLING YOU THEY ****ING EVIL BRO, avoid these dealerships at all ****ing costs I have wayyy too many stories w these ****ers, one of them being me getting my 2019 for free cause they sold me a botched 2018 and I had my lawyer sent them a letter I don’t ****in play if mb wanted it they could’ve taken it further but they just gave me a new 19 and I’m happy w that

zibby43

As an update, I got a call today that the car would be ready at 4 PM.

When I arrived, there was no real explanation as to what went on to eliminate the stuck code and supposedly "fix" the car. The paperwork wasn't ready (it was supposedly 16 hours of work that had to be summarized), and it won't be ready until Monday.

In the meantime, I asked for the key, since both the oil and transmission temperatures were good-to-go when I picked it up (further research indicated that one of the technicians took it on a 40-minute drive prior to my arrival).

Went immediately to an empty highway, and mashed the throttle from both a dig and a roll. Never came close to breaking 300 horsepower and car felt identical to how it did before I took it to the dealership.

Still making boost and the torque output is where it should be, but the car just cannot hit peak power, and that feeling trickles all the way across the rev range, irrespective of what gear I'm in.

Car goes BACK to the dealer next week.

Buyback for the '18. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thank you very much.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Any more details?

This may be the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Everyone in my family tends to follow what I do from a car perspective, as I'm the resident car nut in the family. Fiancee has a GLC300, parents have a GLC and an E, and I have an aunt that has a C300.

And here's the kicker, my father's 1-year-old (leased new) E is having the front bumper repainted because the clear coat started flaking off. 3 different dealers in total.

I'm going to today after what just happened. I appreciate the feedback. Helps confirm that I'm not being overly picky/demanding.

19’43s

@zibby43 if I was you I wouldn’t touch the car Or take it from the dealer till it’s fixed these mb people from North America are *******s and will find every way possible to deny you everything and anything Mercedes Benz has the worst service unless you buy a E class or a S class or the least a 63 amg Bro raise havoc stop being mr nice dude that’s why they treating you like **** be blunt and aggressive cause I’m my opinion that’s the only thing that works w these mb ****s

zibby43

I appreciate the input. You're 100% right that it's time to demand/expect more. I was trying to be patient, especially after how aggressive I had to get with my '18. That fiasco lasted a year and was only finally resolved in February.

But I can't help it that I have a second faulty car.

For those whose cars are functioning normally, how easy is it to hit the max power output on the Engine Data screen? I remembered on my '18, it would hit the max values pretty instantaneously, and it didn't matter if I was going WOT from a roll or a dig. It's a miracle if I can hit 260 horsepower right now.

Torque values are almost there (around 370ish). But the car just doesn't throw me back in the seat at any point, and it definitely never keeps me pinned there for any length of time. My butt dyno definitely isn't broken, either, and my family member's C300 loaner felt massively more powerful.

zibby43

Here’s a video. This is 5-mph rolling start.

Despite it looking/sounding like I’m rolling on the throttle, I’m literally standing on it. Torque hits about 370.

This is the highest HP figure I can achieve. Lots of noise, but no shove. Just feels laggy and uneventful.

W205C43PFL

Zibby, I am very sorry that you have to deal with this dilemma all over again. Once is already so difficult on the MY18 and now a second time on the MY20.

There seems to be a lot of quality issues with the C43 in general, unfortunately. Have a look at the PL, more isssues were reported there for the facelift and it is extremely disappointing how after these years they can't produce a car that functions properly free of issues especially at this caliber.
https://www.mercedes-amg.com/private...0c43-TlEJ.html
https://www.mercedes-amg.com/private..._c43-N5FT.html
https://www.mercedes-amg.com/private...sion-k6Tv.html
Just to link a few, tbh I am going to take back my recommendation on the CLA 45 earlier... cuz if they had all these years throughout this car's life cycle to fix things yet they didn't I wouldn't trust them on just 1 year they had to fix the issues on the CLA 45 for MY21. You are better off with another brand. Do you like Porsche?

To make matters worse you are constantly mistreated and they think it is your fault that their cars are defective and your trust was betrayed once again by MB (you trusted the company by getting this MY20). Just because your car is at the dealership doesn't mean you aren't making payments for a vehicle you can't use yet you are getting no compensation on this not even a loaner??!! This is beyond unacceptable. No apologies and they act like they are right... (What happened to the saying of customers are always right?)

Worse of all, these so called technicians at the dealership doesn't know how to fix MBs they are trained to fix.

Your E Class clear coat defect experience reminds me of a post from the PL on a bunch of issues with their car
https://www.mercedes-amg.com/private...last-Ixcs.html

zibby43

Many thanks for taking the time to track down and organize those links my friend. Going to take a look at them in the morning. I haven't been on the Private Lounge in a while, so I'm very interested in seeing what issues are being discussed there.

The thing that disappoints me is how hard I had to fight on that '18, irrespective of the fact that the car was a dud. When I had a similar problem with a BMW that continuously left me stranded on the highway, BMW ordered me a like-for-like replacement at no cost to me, and I didn't have to even sign a new lease agreement. I didn't even ask for that resolution. They offered it to me! Got a brand new car, factory-fresh, with 0 miles on the clock. Never did I ever think I'd have a "lemon" again, but after 5 trouble-free years with my C63, the '18 C43 happened lol.

Ultimately, MBUSA and the outstanding Sales Manager (he epitomizes everything good about Mercedes-Benz and makes every customer feel special) at my local dealership really stepped up to the plate to help me resolve the issue with the '18. And for that I was grateful. It is what gave me the confidence to go with another C43.

But with how the last week panned out with the C43 (car in for over a week, virtually no updates, and the car was presented as fixed, even though it wasn't), I'm starting to get deja vu all over again.

Never had a Porsche, but if this '20 C43 doesn't get sorted, I may go a completely different route and get a new mid-engine Corvette haha.

W205C43PFL

Here are some links and contact info that was provided in one of the threads:
1-800-367-6372
Mercedes_benz@mailca.custhelp.com
https://mercedes-benz.custhelp.com/app/call
https://www.mercedes-amg.com/privatelounge/en/Help/help-overview/customer-support.html

Loibs

Where were both of your cars built? Germany or Alabama? There seems to be more issues with the C class sedans built in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama vs the C class cars built in Bremen, Germany.

zibby43

Thank you!!

First one was Alabama.

Second one was South Africa.

W205C43PFL

Not to hijack this thread but I personally have a 2017 C43 with tons of issues that is built from the Alabama plant. All E class are built in Germany and all C class Coupés are built in Germany here in Canada.
I heard that there are some C43 sedans that were built in Germany that is sold in the USA but those were never an option in Canada and I do like the sedan more than the coupé personally.

Zibby mentioned that his father's E class has paint flaking issue which should be a German built car... so it is the QA process that is flawed or lack thereof.

c43PDX

I still believe the problems are a minority, although what the OP is going through sucks never the less. I've read these types of posts on every platform I've had (Subaru/Audi/Merc) and people that are on the forums are the minority of owners that are the most vocal.
I haven't been in the community long enough to know all the "known" issues but this issue seems very unusual and have not heard of this issue as a common one.

zibby43

Even though I’m smack dab in the middle of another crappy situation, I definitely agree with you in terms of the vocal minority point.

That said, I do think some of the more subtle issues (like the vibration through the steering wheel at highway speeds, or the whiny diff) go unnoticed by the non-enthusiast public.

Also, there’s probably a large contingent of owners with problems that either don’t know this board exists, or do and choose not to participate as they’d rather let the dealer handle everything and don’t care to understand the issues/troubleshoot on their own.

I think the current generation of cars are packed with so much technology that more issues are inevitable. I also think that the quality coming from the German brands has dipped as model lines have increased, and cost-cutting measures like modular interior layouts have somewhat cheapened the fit and finish of many models (due to the attempt at plug and play designs and utilizing cheaper materials that can be used across model designations).

Just my perception having owned a few Mercs and BMWs across decades.

Recently, the E90 3-Series and W204 C-Class had fairly austere interiors, but the build quality was excellent, and the design features were mostly unique.

places

100%. Quality has been exchanged for flashy tech and brand cache. These cars are now like smart phones, people need the latest and keep them trading every three years.