JWS3

I bought my E witrh the extended warranty and desperately hope I don't need it, Can you imagine the STAGGERING repair costs after warranty once the inevitable computer/electronic issues appear? I was at my dealer the other day & heard a cost told that but for his extended warr he'd be out $1700 for a new instrument cluster. Ouch.
So, does anyone intend to keep the car without any protection? If so, why aren't you afraid?

slvrstar

I probably will. I'm the original owner of the car and i know I keep the car garaged and meticulously maintained all the time. Warranty is expiring in a couple of days, still love the car, don't get much money out of it if I trade it in. Don't drive it much 4 years/24k. No accidents and replaced lots of items that could be expensive to fix under warranty(other than engine and tranny).

jameson75

garaging a car and meticulous maintanence does not necessarily keep the car in good running order, during or after the factory warranty. My dad constantly kept his two luxury cars garaged and never really drove them. (infinity Q45 and mercedes 560sel). surprisingly because of this he had more problems than usual. Cars are designed and manufactured to be driven. It needs to be broken in and used. Cars tend to get "weird" it you will, when they just sit there in a dark garage. all the cars that I have had, have been used to their fullest potential. case in point, my other car, 1993 MR2, with over 185,000 miles, it has never had any major mechanical problems. the car was driven everyday. I guess metaphorically speaking cars are like humans too, they need everyday contact to function properly

RHBENZ

I wasn't thinking about keeping the car either once the lease and warranty are up (about 6 more months). But with new trans, ABS controller, slew of other little things, and now new command center, I think I'll keep it for a few more years or until the new-car-bug bites again.

BudC

We drove our 190D for 17 years. I'm still driving out 13 year old 300E. I probably won't drive the E320 for 13 years but I sure won't be trading cars in four years. Besides, I feel I have the best of the W211's (2004 model) which has the bulletproof M112 engine and stronger 5G transmission. So far the car has been just fine.

Why trade? So I can pay over 8% sales tax not to mention the cost for license plates on new cars in Arizona. Taxes and fees on new cars along with depreciation will pay for a whole lot of maintenance and repairs. It's always cheaper to keep a car rather than trade.

DWP

I would expect to keep our E500 for at least 10 years, assuming it stays reliable and the price of gas doesn't ascend to European levels. We drove an '84 BMW 325e for 12 years and would have driven our '97 BMW 528i more than seven years we did if it hadn't been offed. If the E500 starts getting unreliable and expensive after it's out of warranty (9/07), though, I'll unload it without regrets. I haven't bonded to it on an emotional level and don't expect to.

Double Eagle

[QUOTE=jameson75]garaging a car and meticulous maintanence does not necessarily keep the car in good running order, during or after the factory warranty.

I am in TOTAL agreement with this statement. If you only drive a car 3-4K miles a year, you will probably have trouble with it. This is even MORE true with boats. A lot of new boat buyers go after the boat that is ten years old with only a few hundred hours on them and have nothing but trouble. Cars (and boats) are built to be used a reasonable number of miles (or hours per year). In my opinion, you should look for a car that has at least 6,000 or more miles each year and a boat that has been run at least 50 or more hours.

With my current E-500 and earler model, I have put about 9K per year and have the extended warranty. I doubt that I'll keep it much beyond the warranty because I'm a techy and like the new models so will probably get at a 2009 or 2010 after the model change (if I'm in good health and live that long). I have not had any problems with my current car and took it in for its two year service last week. The previous time I'd been in was for the one year service. IT'S BEEN ONE OF THE BEST CARS I'VE EVER OWNED SO FAR!!!

CE750

Good maintenance is the key. Don't skimp on oil changes (I do them 2-3 times more often than MB says) And I use expensive commercial grade Delvac (for my diesel). I also change air filters 2-3 times more often.. fuel filter 2-3 times more often... you get the idea... It's never failed me yet.. of course, I sold off a 2001 Volvo C70 with 80K miles, no problems.. and a 2003 VW Passat with 44K, also no problems in the past two years. I expect to keep my CDI for 3-4 years.. but if I meet or exceed my personal goal for income in the next couple of years, I may get a newer CDI V8 or some other MB. But worse case, since I paid cash for this car, if I take good care of it, and I am down in the dumps in a couple of years... I can drive it to 300K as a well maintained Diesel.

sacguy

I don't plan on keeping my 06 E350 past the warranty. I am a three to four year car person. My 02 BMW 530i is just past the three year mark by two months and has 39k miles and it is about to go bye-bye. Still has 11k left on the warranty and no problems at all. Just get the new car bug after about three years.

BudC

People seldom NEED a new car. We just find an excuse to buy one. The way I avoid it is to think about all the toys I could buy with the money I'd spend on a new car. I recently made up a list of what it would cost me to convert from Windows to Apple and the bill comes to $12,000. That's about what it would cost me to trade my 2004 E320 for a new E350. I'd much rather have those Macs!

If there was some place to enjoy driving a new car around the Phoenix area, it might be different. All is needed is a reliable car with a good A/C. My golf cart could handle most of my transportation needs when the weather is good.

Like that old saying goes, you pays your money and you makes your choice.

Iceman

I have 74,000 miles on my 2003 E500 and I have not had to have it serviced outside of regular maintenence since the warranty expired. I plan on putting about 200-250K miles on this car.

BudC

Wow, that's more mileage than I have on my '91 300E. How much maintenance has the SBC brakes required (pads/rotors)?

Iceman

Two sets of pads and one set of rotors thus far. The current pads and rotors have been on there for 20K+ miles and still look great. I went with Pagid pads and cross-drilled/slotted/plated rotors also.

BudC

I guess SBC really is high maintenance. I've never had to change rotors on a Mercedes before 85K. I still have the original rear pads on the 300E at 68K. Of course it doesn't stop like the E320.

Thanks for the Info.

CE750

A wise choice... sounds like your pricing a dual 2.7 G5 with 8GM RAM and a 30" display for that price... You'll not be disappointed.

BudC

Actually, it included the 2.0 w/23" display. It also included an iMac for my wife, lots of software, a couple of iPods, some money for iTunes Store, etc. That Mac stuff is expensive. I've revised my wish list downward starting with an iMac for my wife (if I can talk her into it). I may have to sabotage her Dell to force her to switch

MBAMGPWR

I'll probably keep my E55 until the warranty is over in 2008. I may just want until the new W212 comes out (I hear 2009) or move to the CLS-Class. One thing is for sure, either option will be the ///AMG version of the car.

cte430

I have an extended warranty and although historically have always battled the new car bug, I plan on keeping this one for a while. The car is a little over a year old and I have 20,000 miles on it, and it is not my daily driver. for that i'm blessed with an '02 Ford Taurus LOL. I'm sure at some point I will have to replace the supercharger (that's what i've been told) and mine may go sooner due to the increased boost my Renntech mods create. That will also be an expensive repair as that mod will void my warranty. Early on I had some of the typical comand issues that have all been fixed. The biggest problem is an intermittent "stalling" that throws no codes hence can't be fixed. I had them change the crank sensor and seemed to do the trick for quite some time. Car shut off a few weeks ago. Also had to replace front pads and rotors at 15,000 miles, which really pissed me off. I do drive the car extremely hard with several high speed runs every time I take the car out. Have hit 162mph once but typically runs to 120-130 and then of course you have to stop!! so the brakes cook. Poor design on these brakes and they overheat way to quick. I don't think the new N/A engine will be any faster than mine (especially with mods), so I don't see any reason to trade. The only thing that would get me to think about trading is off they radically improved the handling/feel of the car.

DWP

Ah, but then it would be a BMW, not a Mercedes.

cte430

I know, i'm greedy I want both.

steph280

My last MB was a 95 C280 and I wanted to keep that car for 10 years. Bought the extended warranty and used it extensively (including instrument cluster replacement, fuel tank replacement, ABS replacement x2, Engine gasket leak x2, and many other issues). If I had to add up all the repair costs, it's probably $15k-20k, literally. I ran out of room in file cabinet to keep all the repair records. IT WAS THAT BAD! At 8 year mark (ext warranty already expired), ABS light was on again, engine was misfiring at times, and gas tank was leaking again. Dealer told me I had to pay to replace a wiring harness ($1400) because MB chose some bio degradable crap that started degrading before the car is in dumpster, causing shorts in electrical system. They gave me an estimate of $3000 to repair all these problems, so I traded it in for much less than a same year Honda Accord is worth.

Lesson learned, I will never keep a MB beyond warranty period. Unless if that car has been trouble free over the duration of the warranty, which is VERY unlikely with MB. My W211 has been good so far, but I suspect with all these electronic gadgets eventually something will go wrong. Where is a good place to get extended warranty again?

BudC

Up through 1992, engineers ran Daimler Benz. They designed the car, it was priced and then sales was told to go sell it. The cost reducing started in 1993 and the product started going down hill. Every single thing on my new E320 has been cost reduced compared to my 1991 300E. The E320 does offer a great driving experience along with safety. It's probably more reliable than Mercedes from the mid 90's and I'm not sure that it's any less reliable than an Accord or a Camry.

Will it truck on for decades the way old Mercedes did? No, it won't. Will any current car last for 30 years. Of course not, not even Lexus. The vast majority of car buyers couldn't care less. After all, the average American buys a new car every 4.5 years or so. The average car bought in the US is in the junk yard in 4.5 years.

Even so, I believe that I can drive my E320 well into the next decade without serious problems. It will be more costly to maintain than my older Mercedes but that's because I can't do the work any more.

I no longer have the urge for a new car. That's partly because of maturity and partly because I now live in a place where I wouldn't be able to enjoy a Z4 or a Boxster much less an E55.

BWL

I plan on keeping my 03' E320 well beyond when the standard warranty expires. Reliability failures typically occur in the first year of vehicle ownership or towards the end of the product life. That's not to say that things can't go wrong in between its just that the statistical probability is low. I'll take those chances.

paulv

I also have an '03 E320 with 43K miles on it now -- 7K miles to go until the warranty expires. I agree with your reliability statement (also know as the "bathtub curve", plotting number of failures against time). I hope to keep my car for 10 years (assuming it cooperates!) -- maybe MB will have their act together by then and I can buy a new MB. Between a lot of competition in the luxury car market and having Chrysler involved (I don't remember Chrysler making anything that was reliable), MB has an interesting future ahead of them. Anyway, MB is no longer in "a class by itself" and I don't expect them to achieve that status in my lifetime!

X72

Already have. 2003 E320. Car has 55,000 miles. Have used it on several long cross-country drives which accounts for most of the mileage. Still on the original brakes, although rear pads are wearing faster than front pads.

Had my first post warranty repair done. Heater valve failed. With the 3 hours of labor was nearly $500 to repair. I didn't get the extended warranty since I am willing to take the risk. I do most of the normal maintenance myself.

I don't have very high expectations of this car. The air conditioning compressor failed just before my warranty expired. Had quite a few problems with the radio (HK radio but not Command). Cancelled Tele-Aid since I get periodic messages saying it is defective. The Tele-Aid unit was replaced three times; did not fix the problem. Had the chattering wipers, ESP light because of defective steering wheel angle sensor, power steering pump and coolant pump both replaced because of leaks as well as a worn suspension component making a knocking sound. Car was misaligned and pulled to the right. I had to pay for that alignment since it was past 12000 miles when I took it in. Oh yeah, and of course the SBC recall. The center console vinyl started bubbling up and was replaced. The drivers side mirror developed a foggy discoloration and was replaced.

Blessedly, I do not have the battery problems many have had. I can leave the car for 2 weeks, and it starts fine.

The service has been good with this exception. Where I take the car to be serviced, it takes usually 4 days for me to get the car back.

It is a nice driving car and I feel it is a very safe car; the safety is worth a lot to me. I like the car, but have already firmly decided not to get a Mercedes Benz for my next car on principle alone. This car reminds me a lot of another car I had; a 1985 Audi 5000 Turbo. I liked that car too; that car had a lot of minor problems too. I haven't bought another Audi since.

Would like this car to last at least to 150,000 miles whick is 7 to 8 total years in my case. Most of my problems have been relatively minor, but in todays market there is no need to put up with this kind of thing. We have two Lexus ES 300's; I don't particularly care for the way the transmission works on those cars, but have had next to no problems with them. We also have an 02 Lexus IS 300 Sportcross which is out of warranty too. While in warranty, that car had one problem; an oxygen sensor failed.

William
2003 E 320