harperb

With so many people here discussing their numerous issues with their W211, I was wondering how many of you have had ZERO problems/issues/etc (or maybe one or two very very minor ones) since owning your E class? What year/model/etc is yours?

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.

DesiBaba

Problems what problems....
i dont' know what u talkin about....problem me ... no...no problem

BzzzBom

I recently attended a meeting of W211 owners with zero problems. We all met in the local phone booth.

jbec.keane

I have not had any problems with my car. Everything works. I have had a couple of items that I thought needed replacing early (motor mounts, ball joints, thrid brake light), but no problems.

JK

(108,000 miles)

mbuskuhl

Nothing major, only minor acceptable problems within reason...knock on wood. My Sport II light does not work right now but that's it, suspension goes into Sport II mode but light does not come on. 20,800 miles 2003 E320

johna1

No problems in 18 months

sosh

Zero issues/problems. 18 months of ownership. 05 E320 4Matic

NCE500

No problems in 9 months. Flawless car to date. 2005 E500.

VBlaster_W211

The newer E Class is reliable. No major problems.

DalBenz

Took delivery in Feb 2004, car was built in Nov2003. Car has 29k miles.
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).

SAguirre

Just over 1.5 years and 16,500 miles. 2004 E320 4-Matic built March of 2004.

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

DWP

9/02 build '03, delivered in 9/03, now with 22,000 miles:

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.

GATLEEVA

11/02 build, now with 30,000.

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.

CALBenzo

No problems yet (knock on wood) since 5/04, although I have only 9K miles thus far.

Flash Gordon

Took deliver in Nov 2002. Here are the issues:

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!

HaZeY

in my honest opinion, the price we pay for this car should not have any problems. i have no problems as of yet. i have a BMW X5 and the only thing i changed was the ignition recoil. on the 325I, the battery just dies after two days of use and had that replaced. BMW and Mercedes-Benz are great cars, but their too damn high maintanence. i just want to know how come lexus doesn't have so much problems. in 18 months, all you need to do is change a bulb on a lexus, not a recoil. i think i'm about to go Jap instead of Euro.

john doe iii

No big problems here... the only thing I needed was a new engine, radiator, and a few brake failures

Jrocket

Yikes...these comments are not what I wanted to read.

lig

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.

Thrillhouse

I saw an even more interesting correlation in build date and problems, look at all the guys who posted here that had some "issues" and what month they were built in..................... month right after oktoberfest..................... note to self dont buy a german car in oct, or nov.........

lig

LOL! uber-hangover quality issues.

larryssf

1/05 build, 9,500 miles and not a thing has gone wrong. While I hoped that a car in this price range would be close to perfect, the complexity of the vehicle makes my result particularly pleasing.

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

Thrillhouse

yeah words of negitivity travel faster than anything else, me being a tech likes 211s they have a few more issues than other vehicles. but pretty easy to work on, and warranty pays well on these cars, but yeah I wasnt joking I tend to notice that most of the problem, wacky, "make me smoke a pack a day" cars were built in or up to a month or two after october, so it REALLY makes me wonder...............

kiwi163

Aprill 2004 E240 28,000km no issues apart from a minor transmission leak repaired in 30mins. Very satisfied.

JRGD4L

I have 56000 miles on my 2005 CDI and no major problems. I had a minor problem with pulling to the right that was annoying. A bushing replacement solved it under warranty. This is my first Benz and no way would I ever go back to that jap crap - Lexus. Plus the driving experience is way better with the Benz.