Nebraska99

An article from USA Today that refers to Consumer Reports "Most and Least Reliable" autos. Guess what list we made.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...ars-usat_x.htm

z1co

That's some bias Jap guy doing the article. He put all the Jap car in the most reliable section? Something is definitely fishy. Maybe he hasn't driven the European car? That report is just not right. Everyone knows how reliable benz and bmw are.

x-tian-230k

We gotta face the fact tho......we do have reliability issues........i have been to the MB shop countless timess.....doesn't mean i don't love my benz......

JAY500

Pretty odd that all the reliables are Japanese cars except for the one Buick. To make that a little more complete they should have added price ranges.

Ceilca's are very reliable since that car only has 4 moving parts!!

OceanView

Costly doesn't mean reliable
By Earle Eldridge, USA TODAY

His name doesn't look Japanese to me

RJC

MB has been losing points in all the JD Power surveys for years now. Lexus, Acura, Infiniti etc etc have been on top or close to the top of the Jd Power surveys for the same amount of time MB has been slipping, yes everyone knows of a Honda or Lexus etc with serious problems but the sheer numbers of happy customers nationwide don't lie as indicated in the Power #'s year after year. The infamous Schrempp of MB insisted on cheaper parts from his suppliers (the suppliers warned against this) in the mid to late 90's through today and quality has plummeted ever since. MB's used to be built like tanks with Swiss watch percision but no more.
MB is very much aware of their quality issues and a plan has been implemented to get things back up to where they should be...we can only wait and see.

MARK335

zico, you frickin idiot. you sound like some **** dumb s**t. the article lists the "By Earle Eldridge." either your some young idiot, or some old idiot. how many benzs, bmws, hondas, nissans, or toyotas, have you owned??? i have a clk500, had a 330ci, and numerous hondas. as for now all seem pretty reliable. ive owned numerous hondas that were over 10 years old. just hoping that the benz would hold up that long. bottom line, youre just stupid and prejudice. maybe the japanese are making better cars, duhhh.

z1co

dude chill out. I am just saying that the report isn't just fair. I am saying that more study need to be done about this. Don't you find it weird that all the most reliable cars are all Japanese car? I am not saying that Japanese car doesn't hold up well. It's just that European cars are also reliable. My bad for not reading his name correctly.

tampaclk

I read the same article, was surprised, but then I thought about it...
the reason the japo cars are "more reliable" is due to their relative simplicity...

the s class and 745 got knocked due to the massive technology that's packed into those cars. MB & BMW cars use innovative technology...they're on the cutting edge...and you pay for it. I'm sure we all remember back in the '80s, the only cars that had air bags and ABS "standard" were benzs and the like...cutting edge at that time.

Albeit some of the high end cars, like the jag-ford, have basic issues, however, it's not a fair deal to compare a carolla or accord equipped with a 5 speed manual, 4 cyl, am/fm radio and call them "better" than a bmw or benz.

Also, one was quoted in the article that 70% or so of the MBs 20 yrs old or even older are still on the road today. Ask me to show you 70% of the buicks that are 20 years old, and i'll show you a junk yard.

I view the german cars as the proving ground or benchmark, despite the occasional miss, like the 745's overly complex computer.

There is no reward w/o the risk.

My '04 MDX, a $43,000 suv w/ 7,000 miles on it just had to have an entirely new stereo system installed, DVD fixed, plus about 4 other items...nothing major, but still things that should not happen w/ 7000 miles.

tritonx

We've been getting Consumer Reports (the reporter's source material) and if you compare reliability of MB's from the '80's with the ones now, you will notice that they've gone top to bottom in their user-survey reliability scores.. our '85 300SD had no problems until we replaced it in '00 with an S class that's been in the shop over 35 times for repairs; '00 slk230 was in 10 times, '03 clk55 amg has been in 5 times already; most are for electrical problems. And yet we keep buying them; i think our family's hooked ..

calboy

Our family has owned three mercedes in the past five years and they have only gone in twice total for non-maintenance issues. I think that is pretty good.

summer

Another reason for MB and other higher end cars scored poorly in these surveys is due to the fact that we are generally more critcial to our cars. It's perfectly understandable that someone who pays $100K for a car expects a lot more.

The only high-end brand in the reliable column is Lexus. Reliable, yes. Style, no. In my opinion, Lexus exterior styling is generally too conservative as compared to MB. To compare the two, MB is innovator while Lexus is, well, reliable, nothing more.

ima55r2

It’s really inconceivable to me that someone would complain in an independent survey about their new car and expect it to really help them. Lousy ratings equate to bad resale values and bad residuals. If you have problems with a car, keep your comments to yourself and tell the dealership to fix them...it will get back to MB soon enough. If you don't like something, then don't buy the car.