I'm spent days researching CLS 400/550 reliability, but I haven't had a lot of luck finding any nagging and or major issues with this car. What kind of repair bills have you faced so far with your own cars? Overall impressions of reliability?

I'm looking to buy a 2015/16 CLS400 with <40k miles and plan on 15k highway miles per year. I'm very nervous about repair bills, esp anything with this car's complicated driveline or computer.

Experiences so far, esp those that have put some miles on their CLS's?

Thanks in advance!

 

I bought my 2012 CLS550 at 42k miles and I'm at 70k now. The only issue I've had was with the Airmatic suspension dropping when parked and locked. I had to have a rear airbag replaced @ $600 + labor. I can't comment on the reliability of the engine/drivetrain on the CLS400.

Servicing/Maintenance will be your biggest cost. Make sure you have some shops around you that can work on these cars too btw. The shop I usually go to have been unable to do some of the work and have said I need to go to the dealership which ended up costing $$$$ ($250 oil change, $550 transmission fluid change, etc).

One thing I will recommend, go for the CLS550 if you can, even if it's pre-facelift. I know the facelift is a lot nicer looking than the pre-facelift but the engine in the 550 makes up for it and won't fail to make you smile

 

Had some major issues with piston misfire when I first bought car new. Fixed under warranty by dealer though it took three visits and replacement of coil packs. No major issues other than that since 2013. Minor stuff like a door handle circuit failure and that is it. Warranty fix there too. Love the 4.7 tt and strongly prefer the 550 to the 400.

 

I agree with all of the above....I've had NO issues thus far with this car (2013 CLS 550) but I have to rec the V8....its an awesome engine

 

The CLS400 has Airmatic as a option. If you find one without the Airmatic it will be one less major thing to worry about.

 

^^Agreed, I have a cls400 steel springs/sport shocks set up. Looks about 1-1/2 inches lower and without wheel gap compared to airmatic. Has been trouble free 23,000 miles. Power will satisfy most ,but if not a quick" tune" will fix that. I went with a 400 because it was the package and color combo I wanted (designo white on red). You can't lose either way both are amazing cars.

 

So I am experiencing similar misfiring issues yet I am being told that the engine is bad. Have yet to replace all of the coils though. Maybe 1 more visit will solve the issue as I have only had 2 lol.

 

About 4 months ago, I went from a 2008 E-350 to the CLS 550 also a 2008 but in superfine (at least excellent) condition. I've only driven it about 600 miles and bought it out of Dallas without having driven one, so I can only peak to performance rather than durability. I have been so impressed with the performance of this car that I'm considering trading up for a newer model if no major changes have been made.
I ran into a guy in parking at H.E.B., who was driving a 2011 E 63 last night and it's a much different car than the CLS 550 but we made some interesting comparisons, such as the 0 to 60 on each car is not that far apart, or at least the 550 is in the game not on the bench. The performance of the car in comparison to my E-350, which I loved dearly, is much more drastic, mostly in raw power the 550 puts at your pedal which kind of makes one feel cocky, until you meet the guy driving the newer E 63 AMG.
The only thing about the 550 that I think could have been done better is the exhaust. You feel more than hear it when you put your foot in it (because you can) and if the car had a bit more aggressive system it would have a few more horsepower.
Overall, in my opinion I would buy the 550 over the 400, barring other considerations affordability and such.
Bill

 

@MonkeyWrench
I do the engine oil change/maintenance at home and it costs ~$60-75 oil+filter and roughly 15-25 minutes. If you can do that yourself, you'll save a lot of $ down the road. Especially with European cars. Yes, trans service can be closer to $500. I understand not everyone has the time and the means to DIY, but definitely consider it and it'll pay off in the long-term.

I had a similar issue with a bad O2 sensor. So what I did was I swapped my coils from left to right, one by one, to see which coil was bad. Swapped it, gave it a little drive, and see if that fixed it. Didn't change anything. But once I swapped them from Bank 1 to Bank 2, all 8 of them, the engine stopped shaking/jerking. After that, I replaced the O2 sensor and the car was running like new.
My mechanic was not able to figure out what was the problem. Once I told him that I have an ECU tune on it, family mechanic, he said my software is fried cuz of the tune and I need new software ($1,200+labor). But the issue was just a loose coil and a bad O2 sensor. Cost me roughly $125.

Try this before you replace all 8 coils. You might be experiencing the same issue I was. And hopefully, you won't have to buy 8 new ones.