glojo

Hi krispykme,
It would be very wrong of anyone to comment how an individual cleans, or looks after their car. Our vehicle is teallite blue, with palma grey (very light grey) interior. We have a long haired german shepherd who travels in the rear compartment of his chaffuer driven 'limo'. Three times a week my wife drives out to a very nice walk area were she meets up with some of her friends and they all let the dogs run 'riot'. The interior of the car is cleaned at least once a week and it is immaculate. We have owned it for twelve months and just after a clean it looks as fresh as the day we purchased it. Certainly NOT 'beat up' and very definitely NOT tired???

I cannot understand why you are continually moaning about Mercedes-Benz, yet according to your signature, this is not your first experience. I am having difficulty accepting that your interior is looking beat up and tired after only 15000 miles. Why do you think this is?

Regards,
John

HELL ONA HARLEY

This is nothing new....
He does nothing but snivel about his cars on the e55 board too.... If I were him I'd dump the MBs and buy a couple of BMWs and some Lexus.

rjm

This has been a great thread and points out the rapid decline in quality as a result of the "merger" with Chrysler and their influence on MB . I have been a Mercedes fan for years...since the early 70's when we used to go over to Germany to pick up our new cars....I currently drive a 2001 E-430 which has been essentially trouble free and reliable. Every year I return to my dealer and look at the new ones and am disappointed at what I see, then I read the forums and the reviews and the problems people are having with their new models, so consequently I am still driving my 4 year old E-430. If the quality ever improves at MB substantially, I will buy another one...until then I will continue to buy a new BMW every couple of years. As far as the comments on cheap interiors on BMW in an earlier post, I have a 2003 530i that outshines my MB in every respect. The interior is much nicer...the seats are far more comfortable...the car is more solid and roadworthy, and the drive is substantially more fun by far. They simply make a MUCH better product than MB. Mine has been trouble free. JMO.

glojo

Hi Harley,
It certainly looks like this thread has got some very blinkered contributors. I am sure I have read messages praising the qualities of the new 211??

It is nice to hear adverse comments as well as those from folks like us that really like the vehicle. Barry45 has his usual moan, but I think that 'crisp spy' takes the 'french fry' on the moaning 'steaks'. There's 'food' for thought!!

Bye for now,
John

X72

Perception is important. I see very rough times ahead for Mercedes Benz in the US market. This feels to me something like Cadillac's fall from grace in the US market back in the 1970's and 1980's. I am not saying that Mercedes' quality problems are even close to as bad as Cadillac's were, but the competitive environment today is much more unfavorable for Mercedes. High social/labor costs + unfavorable currency exchange rates are a frightful combination. I think it is not going to be pretty; I hope that I am wrong.
William
2003 E 320

lig

You guys are cracking me up.

It will be possible to find anecdotal evidence of any car being reliable/unreliable. This car was *way* more problematic than any car that had a sticker of 54K should be.

My lease is up pretty soon and while I will certainly miss a few a few things about my E320 on the whole I was rather disappointed in the experience.

It is kind of sad to say this but the best thing about the car was my service advisor. He really worked hard to take care of the myriad little things that went wrong with the car (mostly minor electrical stuff)

For my money - I'm going back to Lexus or I may try an Infiniti.

p.s. my Honda doesn't squeak - despite putting in coilovers with 10K/10K spring rates and our Lexus has 160K on the odo and has been nearly flawless.

I am a usually the kind of guy who keeps his cars for a long time but there is no way I would own an M-B that wasn't covered by a warranty.

krispykrme

As far as sienna goes, they have a slight hesitation issues due to very poor throttle mapping on the electronic throttle. The engine oil issues effected 1999 to 2000 model and since long gone (which for me was not an issue because my toyota with that engine were 1993, 1998, and 2001).

Throttle issue on the toyota has been blown way out of proportion. In fact my E500 also has hesitation from the throttle (actually a too agressive throttle and too lazy/slow transmission shifting in C-economy mode).

As more and more toyota gets fitted with electronic throttle, drivers needs to relearn their habit of driving. IMHO, its simply driver habit not matching with the electronic throttle. Same with Odyssey, just got do a search on the odyclub, and you will also find so called hesitation.

Cars are getting too smart for their own good.

W210

I actually have been very happy with the throttle response on the E55 and Odyssey (both 2002 and 2004 are ok). However, I have been very disappointed with the Audi allroad's tiptronic delayed throttle response.

I guess a lot of it is subjective.

krispykrme

I will be more than happy to post a picture tonight on the right side where my daughter has done her magic work.

As far as experience goes, I bought 2 cars out of my own choices. The E55 was a stop gap solution until the M arrives (hence I am not modding it). The G55 has no other real competitor on the market and i really wanted to have a real truck. The CLK is my wife's car and she is happy with it, so i won't comment on it other than that I waster couple days in getting her car fixed.

The E500 is acquired under speical circumstance, in which my original plan was to get either a TL or G35 as daily beater. But due to some break in my favor i ended up actually paying about the same as a fully loaded TL (which i can't discuss due to NDA between the dealer and me).

I really liked the E500 as it's more than a good beater (the steering response on it is better than E55). However, I am not going to sit here and praise it to god level when it is obviously not. For what I paid, it's a great value to me.
That's why I am modding the car because it's worth while for me and i do plan to keep this car around for at least one to two more year (before the warranty expires).

I can moan all i want because its simple truth. Does this mean that I dislike my car? No. However, my car is not perfect and I am more than willing to state the truth about it. It's a car, not a god's creation. Perhaps all of you guys are easily satisfied with simple star emblem. I expect more from a premium car brand. To me what is not right, is not right and there is no reason to hide it.

krispykrme

Actually the E55 throttle response works very well. My beef is with the 7G and throttle on the E500. The E55 throttle response is quick and transmission responds very quickly as well. I never had problem with the E55.

As far as Odyssey goes, i believe that 2002 and 2004 still has mechanical throttle. My limited experience with 2005 did not have throttle issues as some of the new 05 owner on the odyclub.com has complained. Just more of a FYI.

W210

Yeah, I had the stone interior in my SL500 and it's a higher maintenance interior. I had custom made floor mats of a darker beige as the factory stone required daily cleaning.

My expectation of the MB experience is bang on. I didn't expect a perfect car and ended up with the E55 by elimination. As of now, the debate is still on whether I should take the M5 (ugly exterior and poorly designed interior), or wait a year and get the 997TT.

I couldn't stand the TL (torque steer) or the G35 (cheap interior). For curiousity, I even took the RL out which has been a disappointment (lack of power). Bought an Audi allroad, relatively happy with it, but I must confess the often talked about Audi-best-quality-talk is a myth. The Audi is full of squeaks and rattles just like the Honda, and cannot compare to the solid chassis of the E55.

I don't think most MB enthusiasts here are blinded by the brand, those who buy MB religiously and blindly would not bother wasting time on these forums!

sacguy

I have to agree about the BMW interior, just not appealing. The exterior is growing on me but only from certain angles and in certain colors. Still looks chopped up to me and does not have a nice flow to it.

All this reliability barage in the media can't be doing MB any good in the publics mind. I hope they have good PR people and that their words about new cars coming off the assembly line having good quality are really true.

W210

My mistake, our Odyssey is the 2005 (new body style) and honestly very happy with the throttle. Problem with that van is the squeaks and rattles.

steph280

While people complain about the MB's cost cutting, most forget how much LESS we're paying for these cars compared to say 15-20 years ago. I still remember when Mercedes dealers only had the S and SL in the showroom, and they did not accept walkin customers. You'd need an appointment to even talk to the salesperson. To own the 3 star brand would mean you're either filthy rich, or the boss of a mafia.

By cost cutting, Mercedes has made their car within reach by more consumers. I don't ever recall seeing so many 3 stars on the hood of so many cars. Whether that's good or bad is up to individual opinion. But I am not made of money, did not get the car through mommy daddy, had to work for every penny I spent on it. So I appreciate they fact that Mercedes's cost cutting has made the car within my reach. This is the second MB I bought, and I know I will be dealing with electrical problems sooner or later before I walked into the dealer. Yet like most people on this forum we still went for it. Come to think of it, it is kinda sad that I know what I am getting into, yet I still go for it. Kinda reminds me of that ex...

JimPurdy

I think that much of this is expectation versus reality. If I buy a new car for $10,000, I have an expectation for that kind of money. I don't expect to have any luxury at all and I am just happy that it will run. When I buy an E320, I do expect a lot more from the car than the econobox. Now, when I do buy the $10k car and do the survey, I am just happy that most of the things in the car work and give the car very high marks. Also, most of these surveys are taken within the first few months of ownership. I do not believe that this truely protrays the vehicle. If I only leased the car for 2 years, I would only be concerned about how well the car performed for this limited period. Most of the cars manufactured seem to be designed with the short term lease in mind. I try to find a car that has a longer term reliability/servicability in its design. I want a car that is safe for my wife to drive and one that will be worth driving for over 100k miles. I have not found the perfect car that fits my criteria but hope that my E320 will not dissapoint me too much.

Jim