Whose car has actually worked fine without any problems?
I'm curious if it's just a few people who have very problematic cars (dare I say lemons?), or whether it's alot of people with very problematic cars, or somewhere in between the two.
Last edited by harperb; May 25, 2006 at 12:27 AM.
JK
(108,000 miles)
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Problems:
.. drivers head rest stopped working; replaced headrest motor
.. one of the horns would not work; replaced horn
.. cup holder would not flip up; replaced cup holder
.. noisey wiper blades; replaced blades - did not fix problem; Zaino'd windshield - that fixed it.
That's it. Four minor issues.
But, I need to take it in to for service B and recall. Also, want them to
replace driver's arm rest where it is showing wear - it's buckling (material looks loose with waves in it).
Problems:
Bigger issues:
After the first day I brought it home there was a leaky ring seal on the front right drive axel that was immediately replaced by the dealer. There was no real leakage, but there was some seepage that would get progressively worse if not addressed right away. I only caught this because I made them lift the car when I bought it to inspect it.
Power lock on driver's door acted funny when it was cold outside (I later saw a service bulletin for this issue).
Minor issues:
When it got to -24 degrees F I got a hairline crack on the front passenger door wood trim (replaced under warranty).
Front right fog light has a loose internal trim piece (the little silver cap that you can see from the front). This will be fixed at next service.
Other than these three things, nothing has actually broken or malfunctioned. I am totally happy with the car's reliability since nothing was anything that caused any real inconvenience or caused me to loose confidence in the car.
Steve
1. Noisy/chattering wipers, fixed by new arms/blades.
2. Radio constantly "rebooting", fixed by firmware update.
3. Sticky front ashtray door, replaced under warranty.
4. Bad rear wheel speed sensor, which should have been a quick warranty fix, except that it took two weeks to get the part from Germany.
5. Hard-to-pull driver's seat belt, replaced under warranty
That, plus two SBC recalls, is about all I can think of. That doesn't strike me as all that bad for a very complex car built in its first few months of production. I've got some issues with the E500 - I think it's noisy and rough-riding on anything but perfect roads - but I don't consider it unreliable.
FM reception affected when rear defog activated - short in rear winshield thus replaced.
Keyless entry would not operate with smart key - amp installed along with new smart key [took 2 weeks to diagnose, had to contact Germany]
Driver's head rest quit working - replaced
Phone acts up sometimes - updated but still not perfect
KeylessGo does not recognize key - repaired but recurring problem
Glad to report nothing major mechanically speaking, but just annoyances that may become expensive once warranty expires.
upon delivery, the check engine light came on right in front of the salesman. Turn out to be a defective fuel sending unit. Went back later to have it replaced.
Bad vibration, engine mounts replace.
Car would not start in the garage. Towed to the dealer and replacee battery
and associated parts because the battery was losing charge.
A few days later, alarm engaged by itself in the garage, got it off, came back on. This went on serveral times and it was late in the evening. I was going to disconnect the battery. Finally the alarm did not engage. Took to the dealer to get it fixed
CD player was acting up and finally swallowed my CD. Took to the dealer, no parts, had to go back again to have the control unit replacec.
SBC recalls.
What's next.......Now you tell me whether I am happy with the car!
I think there is a real correlation to build date and problems. It seems that those of us that have/had the '02 build cars have suffered more problems than the owners with the newer ones.
Full price beta testers, I guess.
Full price beta testers, I guess.

All of us should also remember that people tend to be very vocal with negative issues, but it is likely that it represents a "small" percentage. Glad to have this opportunity to report a clean slate to date.
Windy in San Francisco






