theagentxero

Hi All, apologies in advance for kind of a long post, I just feel like I need some perspective, or maybe just to tell this story into the void.

Backstory on the car:

I purchased a 2014 CLS550 in late July of 2023 after significant research and waiting for the right example to come around.

I specifically chose a car without the 4Matic system with an impeccable service record, a car from the south east US. This particular car was purchased and spent most of it's life in Boca Raton, FL then had a few years (under the same owner) in Addison, TX, before coming back to Boca Raton.

Carfax had 20+ maintenance records, with oil changes on the M278 every 5k miles. First at the Mercedes Benz dealer, then at reputable local independent shops in both Florida and Texas.

When I purchased this car it had 69,460 Miles on the clock, and I paid $21k for the car at a local independent dealer.

The way I had it figured is that any luxury car will demand between 3-10% of it's original MSRP (adjusted for inflation) in maintenance each year.
At an adjusted price tag of about $100k new, that placed the yearly maintenance cost at between 3-10k per year. A price I was very comfortable paying.

How wrong this estimation was...

TL;DR: I'm just over 10k miles and less than a year into ownership, and I've got nearly $17,000 in repairs into the car... I love the car, but the thought of paying another $7.5k more than that is really killing me.

Up to this point, I took all of this cost with grace and humor.
I've done well to remember that the world has a funny sense of comedy, and to remember to be grateful that I can pay these costs without bankrupting myself.
I love this car so much, it was the gift to myself after many years of hard work to get where I am today, so it's sentimental to me.
It's also my first luxury car, but as much as it pains me to say it, I'm starting to resent the car to some degree. That's a sign to me that my patience is sadly running out.

Is this a typical ownership experience for a C218?
Is there any 80k mile hump where things get bad?
Does it ever get better?


Details on what I have in the car:

• 2023-08-10 (70,230 miles) - 70k Mile Service - $1,754.27
  • Oil Change w/ Filter
  • Cabin Air Filter
  • Engine Air Filters
  • Full A89 Flow Friction (Blue Fluid) Transmission Service
    • Including the whole 9 yards, with the new connector, and the new pan gasket, filter, retraining, etc.
  • Mechanic Noted:
    • slightly excessive play in the suspension bushings causing uneven tire wear both front and rear.
      • This was introduced as a potential reason for slight vibration at highway speeds (a conclusion that I took for-granted at the time)
    • Rear brake pads are looking a little worn, maybe 10%-15% life left, probably fine for the next year or so, but maybe a replacement soon, will need rotors as well.
    • Not all bad news, he notes that the car is immaculately rust free, including notorious rear sub-frame, and engine is running exceptionally well.
• 2023-12-16 (75,494 miles) - 75k Mile Oil Change (and tail-light issue diagnostic) - $1,143.17
  • Oil Change w/ Filter
  • The driver side reverse light had gone out, and it's not exactly simple to change it out so I asked my mechanic to change it out and here's what we found:
    • After several hours of disassembly, diagnosis, and reassembly: the copper trace on the board inside the taillight that feeds the reverse bulb was burned, and the taillight assembly would need to be replaced.
  • After several months of getting nowhere with my local MB dealership on getting a spare key for the car, I finally asked my mechanic about a spare key, and it turns out that he was able to get one and have a locksmith set it up
    • So i got a new spare non-keyless-go key for the car (finally I had a spare key, when I purchased the car only the single keyless-go key was provided)
  • Mechanic Noted:
    • Driver side front tire has a deep cut on the inner sidewall, recommends immediate replacement of the front tires
    • Oil leak from the engine oil cooler
• 2023-12-20 (75,508 miles) - Two New Pirelli P-Zero Tires (Front) - $633.42
  • Turned into my Christmas present to myself unfortunately, as this was full swing of the holiday season, and I wasn't interested in laying down any more cash on this car at this point.
  • Would love to have replaced all 4 tires at this point, but with the worn suspension parts, it seemed like a waste of money, as these tires would be cupped by the time that I did the bushings on the car.
• 2024-03-15 (77,791 miles) - The Big Repair, all the stuff I've been advised +some new problems - $9,200
  • I save my pennies and dimes for this big repair, not wanting to wait too long and ruin my new front P-Zeros, and oh boy is there a lot that needs doing at this point, let's break it down:
    • From notes on the 70k service:
      • Bushings, pretty much all of them (which means the control arms and ball joints) - Constituting about $5k of the repairs
      • Sway bar links
    • From mechanic notes on the 75k service:
      • Left rear taillight assembly replacement
      • Engine oil cooler and gasket replacement
        • The engine cooler replacement ended up taking out a few coolant lines (known collateral damage parts), which also needed to be replaced
    • AND some new stuff:
      • The electric steering wheel adjustment doesn't work up and down.
        • The entire assembly is replaced with a new assembly
      • The rear airbags have started to leak, so I did those as well.
        • New Arnott bags on the rear while the car is taken apart.
      • The 3.5 year old main battery in the car gives out during it's 4-ish week stay at the mechanic. Which I figured I would replace at 4 years old anyways, so why not.
        • This was replaced with an Interstate AGM battery at this time as well
  • I note that my original complaint that the car vibrated at speed is not resolved... in fact to my dismay, it had gotten much worse, now that the worn bushings were gone and new ones had much less give.
    • Looking back I should have been very suspicious of the bushing diagnosis, but I was just too trusting of this mechanic, after all he had a huge amount of experience and was well liked in the local community.
    • This repair was supposed to take one week, but that had spiraled into a 4+ week ordeal, necessitating changes to some pretty big trips that I had planned with my family over 3 weeks out from when I dropped the car off.
    • The car also came back to me with a broken parking brake mechanism, and the steering wheel wasn't aligned properly... SIGH... it was really disappointing that this cost so much, took so long, and it was done so poorly.
      • It's important to note that I never got angry, upset, or frustrated at my mechanic, but I did call to inform him of my disappointment in the work that was done, and I offered him the chance to make it right.
        • After over a month of not hearing from him to make it right, I decided that I was done working with this shop.
• 2024-03-20 (77,896 miles) - The Rear Tires Now - $913.76
  • Thoroughly dismayed by the fact that the bushings had only made my vibration at speed issue worse, I took the car to replace the rear tires on it as well, in hopes that something was wrong with them or the balance on them somehow.
    • I was relieved and angered to find out that this fixed the issue (mostly) and that it was likely either bad tires or bad balance all along.
    • This caused me to reconsider my relationship with my current mechanic, as I dislike the idea of shotgunning parts at something to fix it.
      • Proper diagnosis of the original complaint (vibration at speed) would have identified this BEFORE spending some $5-6k on new suspension components. (after all my complaint wasn't uneven tire wear... it was vibration at speed)
• 2024-05-05 (XXX miles) - Car is backed into at low speed while parked - $0.00
  • Other driver cops to the fault, and their insurance pays reasonably, it's taken to a Mercedes certified body shop, where the rear bumper and crash structure are replaced entirely.
    • Very happy with the results and their work, they were very professional. This takes about 2 weeks to complete, and as I was not at fault, this cost me $0.00, but the cost to the insurance company was about $5,500
• 2024-06-24 (79,878 miles) - 80k Service (With a new shop) - $3101.29
  • I've found a new shop, and it's time for the 80k service, just tipping over owning the car for 10k miles, AND I have a (relatively) short list of work to do:
    • 80k Service, including:
      • Oil Change w/ Filter
      • Brake Fluid Flush
      • Cabin Air Filter
      • Engine Air Filter
    • Full alignment of the car, and all 4 wheels need a road force balance to get rid of the remaining small vibration at speed
    • Parking brake mechanism needs fixing
    • Subwoofer rattles when above half volume on bass-heavy music, it's very annoying.
  • Along with my initial complaints, the shop finds:
    • That the source of the rattle is that the sub has come loose from it's mount, as the plastic is starting to disintegrate.
      • This means the sub will need to be replaced with a new part from Mercedes
    • The driver side front airbag is leaking (can't prove they actually diagnosed this, but the pictures show a very dry-rotted front air-spring bellows, so I suspect underneath doesn't look much better, and it has been playing up recently on that corner)
    • The serpentine belt is starting to show it's age, and needs replacement
    • Rear brake pads and rotors need to be replaced
    • The parking brake mechanism as a whole is seized, and needs to be replaced as an assembly
    • The washer fluid reservoir is cracked and leaking
    • There is an oil leak from the timing cover (this time diagnosed with dye after a thorough engine wash... yay for actually investigating and troubleshooting)
  • I have the following done:
    • 80k service
    • Parking brake mechanism replaced
    • 4 wheel alignment
    • 4 wheel road force balance
    • Engine air filters
    • Serpentine belt
    • Rear brake pads and rotors
  • And to top it all off, when I pick up the car:
    • I drive off and the car is pulling HARD to the left, and the TCS light comes on less than 100 yards away from the shop. (meaning that they didn't test drive the car AND they didn't reset the steering angle sensor after aligning the car... AGAIN, with this kind of work...)
      • I bring it back, and inform them of this issue, the service manager comes out and says "that's because the air suspension on the drivers side is low, that's why it's pulling)
        • When we say low, the driver side is MAYBE half an inch lower than the passenger side, and the pump isn't running at that time while the vehicle is on, and I had just made a turn back into the shop which the suspension would compensate for by dropping the driver side on.
        • I ask if that's why the TCS light is on, and inform him that it was certainly not pulling to the left when it got here, riding on the same airbags.
          • They quickly agree to pull the car back into the shop and reset the steering angle sensor to be correct... which is much better, but now the steering wheel is ever so slightly off to the right (maybe half a degree, but i notice it)
            • At this point I'm so defeated with this car, and disillusioned with the shop that I'm just happy to have my car back.
• FUTURE - What it'll need to keep it in good shape going forward - $7,754.14
  • New Front Struts (Arnott) - $4,414.14
  • New Washer Tank - $469
  • Subwoofer Replacement - $1,353
  • Timing Cover Reseal - $1,518