silberrosa

Mercedes-Benz jumped from 25th (2006) to 5th (2007) overall in the recently released JDP IQS survey. Of note, the all-new S, and facelifted E and SL-Class models garnered best in class awards. The S-Class had the fewest problems in the industry at 72 problems per 100 cars. The E-Class had 83 problems per 100 vehicles. Lexus GS was second with 91 problems per 100

Barry45RPM

I know I answered my 2007 E Class JD Powers Survey with ALL EXCELLENTs & then eMailed MBUSA to tell them I did so and that the car was now worthy of the grade.

It just goes to show you what can happen when you acknowlege that you do in fact have a problem & then earnestly FIX It. No BS. Not "try to fix it". Admit your problem & fix it. And they did.

Congratulations MB. My '07 is GREAT. Well done.

rieger

The only problem is that it took them 4 years to get it correct and the problems they were having were of the major kind like tranny and SBC braking. While the Lexus was having rattling issues with the dashboard. I have both a E500 and a GS350 and let me tell you that I am happy that they finally fixed the problems but it really took a long time and a lot of unhappy customers. The GS350 had horrible rattling issues in the dashboard in the first year of production and it caused Lexus to lose some customers and also lowered their ranking but they fixed the problem in the cars in the first half of 07 so the ratings should improve. But still inexcusable to have such a problem with a car costing $50,000+.
All said and done I will not buy another MB not solely on my experience with the reliability problems of my E500 but more so on how MB handled the problems. We don't have a lemon law in Canada so MB refused to buy back the car even though my tranny went at 23000km and they had to change the torque converter, tranny, radiator and also the control module. Then they also changed the front suspension and also the motor mounts. All in the first 6 months of ownership. Which they had the car for a good 2 months. They only gave me extended warranty.
Add to it that my S430 w220 was a rust bucket. And MB may have improved the car but MB customer service still stinks.

55fanatic

HOLY SMOKES... this is true? Have we come out of the stone age? MB is reliable again?

j_belll

lets hope so.

rjm

Great job turning around Mercedes....I hope it is a sign of the future!

J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Initial Quality Study
June 6, 2007

Defects or design complaints after 3 months of ownership

Nameplate rankings

Brand Problems per 100 vehicles
Porsche 91
Lexus 94
Lincoln 100
Honda 108
Mercedes-Benz 111
Jaguar 112
Toyota 112
Mercury 113
Infiniti 117
Ford 120
Scion 123
Hyundai 125
Kia 125
Industry Average 125
Buick 127
Chevrolet 129
Volvo 129
Acura 130
GMC 131
Nissan 132
Saturn 132
BMW 133
Pontiac 133
Saab 133
Subaru 133
Cadillac 135
Audi 136
Chrysler 151
Suzuki 153
Mitsubishi 155
Dodge 156
Volkswagen 160
Jeep 161
Hummer 162
Mazda 163
Land Rover 170

DerekACS

Isn't this great news to see the E Class on top !
From all of the very postive feedback on the 07s seen on this forum, it does not surprise me that the 2007 E Class has done so well in JD Power's survey for Initial Quality.
Lexus will be pissed to see their much vaunted reputation surpassed by the E Class !!
This award for the E Class is more evidence of why its sales are growing, both in Europe and North America, while the sales of some of its competitors, like the 5 Series, are sinking.

rjm

Not exactly.....Lexus is STILL #2. Mercedes is #5, which is an improvement over last year.

Nameplate rankings

Brand Problems per 100 vehicles
Porsche 91
Lexus 94
Lincoln 100
Honda 108
Mercedes-Benz 111
Jaguar 112
Toyota 112
Mercury 113
Infiniti 117
Ford 120
Scion 123
Hyundai 125
Kia 125
Industry Average 125

lig

That's a pretty impressive turnaround!

I hope they continue to improve the entire lineup.

DerekACS

[QUOTE=rjm;2255562]Not exactly.....Lexus is STILL #2. Mercedes is #5, which is an improvement over last year.

I was not referring to the "nameplate rankings".

If you read both my statement and the article posted on JD Power's website, you would know that E Class won in its category of "Midsize Premium Cars" with a score of 81, followed by Lexus GS @ 93 and all others. So, indeed, the E Class is No.1 in the Initial Quality Survey for its category. This is a remarkable turnaround for the the E Class.

The S Class tied with the Audi 8 for top of the "Large Premium Cars" category.

Unfortunately, JD Power & Asociates does not permit any downloading of their reports; you have to go to www.jdpower.com/articles
in order to read them.

Barry45RPM

Its an absolute shame that it took MB 4 years to address the problems. That in itself is an absolutely stupefying amount of time to let your customers "swing in the breeze". It also will take about 6 years of continued glowing reports to undo the smeared reputation of the Brand. Their management's heads were either so full of powder or so far up their Butts, they should all have been fired.

You won't see any Toyota Managers survive if they let Hundai close the small remaining gap & become an urgent threat.

rieger

Yup took them 4 years to correct the problem and guess what late next year a new model will be out and the corrected problems will be new problems. Thanks MB. That is why Toyota and Lexus is on top of because problems are usually corrected by the second year.

tlbeedy

Correct me if I'm wrong, but once all the die-hard MB fans pass on, Mercedes is going to be in serious trouble if they once again let the quality fail. Alot of people still buy Mercedes based on their prior quality & reputation not truly knowing the problems that have existed recenlty. My parents were true Mercedes customers thoughout the 80's then went to Lexus as a result of problems with their 1998 ML. They recenlty purchased a new ML to give Mercedes one last chance. I too am praying that my 2007 E will be every bit of car that my parents 1986 300SDL was.

Barry45RPM

It will be. The Statistics bear it out.

DerekACS

I think there is good reason to be more optimistic about the turn around in MB's quality. Consider the win for the new 2007 S Class in JD Power's IQS for Large Premium Cars. The S Class, in its first year of production, was found by JD Power's research to have the best Initial Quality in its category, better than Lexus 460, BMW 7 Series, etc.

It is clear to me that new leadership @ Mercedes-Benz has led to this turn around. But, if you think that Toyota/Lexus will forever remain on their pedestal, you are, I believe, mistaken. They have set themselves up as a target by proclaiming their much vaunted reputation and by their quest to become the largest auto manufacturer in the world. In their efforts to "shower the market" with product, the quality of their products has been seen to have fallen.

Mercedes-Benz will, in my opinion, do everything humanly possible to regain their leadership for quality and superior engineering. The just announced wins for the E Class and S Class are testament to this effort.

Meanwhile, Toyota and Lexus are beset with their own difficulties. Consider first the mind bogling results for 2006 when the total number of Toyota/Lexus recalled exceeded the total number of cars built in the same year !!! Then, there is the most recent recall by Toyota for the new Tundra trucks, whose engines have been blowing up.

In the auto business, no brand is forever dominant or immune to challenges from the competition or safe from bad management decisions. Whatever brand is on a pedestal today may well find itself struggling to survive tomorrow. No question that Mercedes got itself knocked off its pedestal, but now they are working feverishly to climb back up.

tlbeedy

I agree that no car or car maker will forever be problem free, it's quickly they correct the problems & learn from the mistakes. I too have seen how Toyota has slowly started to decline on quality as my sister recently purchased a 2007 Toyota Sequoia. Literally 2 wks after purchase, the transmission had to be replaced. Now there are problems with the airconditioning. Another person I know is having serious problems with her new 2007 Camry. I remember back in the 80's that my dad used to say "buying your first Mercedes is the hardest, but once you've paid for the first one, the rest will come easier". He would trade quite frequently & never really lost that much money on them. They had a reputation for being the best of the best.

AsianML

Every company has their ups and downs. MB just went through their down period and they're on their way up again.

Barry45RPM

Its been a hundred years. Its about time for a new champ. Nothing is forever. They'll get their quality ratings back up there across the board, but the darling of the crowd will be the one that is dependable, comes with the latest & greatest, and is priced right. The car game has changed. People used to keep a Benz for 8 to 18 years with few problems. Spending money on a car that will last that long when youre only going to keep it 39 Months is insane. People BOUGHT those cars for big bucks to keep them for a long time. Today, people "rent" their cars for 3 years. Thats why anyone can drive a top tier Luxury car.

Content, Dependability and Price will rule. Mercedes can't compete on all 3 criteria in that arena. Old World, Old Brand, Old Mentality.

Recalling more cars than you built in a single year? ...Did Mercedes recall all of the crappy Es they saddled us with between 03 & '06, no they didn't even admit there was a problem. I'd rather have a car recalled and fixed than ignored... and Toyota is absolutely mortified by the small number of Tundra engines failing. (They were very early production vehicles, not 4 years worth of vehicle production.) They aren't repairing the engiones, they're sending complete new engines on pallets to the dealers on affected vehicles. Those vehicle owners will be SURE that those truck are Fixed. MB wasn't even mildly embarrased, let alone mortified by the total lack of quality in their cars, until it became apparent that they would be out of business in the USA in a few more years.

I love my '07, Its a great car, but here in America, Lexus and Infinity as well as Acura are going to eat away at MB, because they too are being forced to move more upscale by their newly empowered Korean competition.

The rules have changed.

Dema

MB was always reliable car. I do not know why people seriously consider these reports. For example Porsche is topping lists, however ask Porsche owners and you will get another picture. Anyway, it's a good PR, so congrats MB

lig

Huh? Try telling that to the buyers of the first gen ML or a good number of early W211 owners like myself.

Even though I'm glad that M-B is getting back to producing a quality car again they've lost me for a while as a customer.

Ironically my next car is likely going to be a Porsche (997S) but I don't have any illusions of it being more reliable than any other car on the road.

AsianML

Hi. Haven't been to the dealer in two years. The only times we went were for the TSBs, scheduled maintenance, and to replace two items.

lig

I didn't say *all* of them were bad.

Enough of the early ML's were bad that it really gave M-B a black eye.

CanadianDriver:

"But where the ML-class totally flopped was in the reliability department. These trucks were plagued with lots of bugs right from the start. Over the years, the major issues involved fuel delivery (or a lack thereof), electrical and power-operated components (not uncommon for newer German vehicles), suspension and brakes. The sum of all these problems is that you'd better at least have a reliable mechanic who you can count on to keep your truck on the road.

While none of the German car manufacturers are known for world-class reliability, the verdict here is that just about any other European car or SUV will likely be more dependable than the ML. If you love all that the three-pointed-star stands for and you have an incredibly high tolerance for frustration, then maybe the ML's propensity for problems would be an acceptable compromise, but the truth is that the ML is simply best avoided."

How about Jeremy Clarkson:

"The old model was terrible. Designed just before BMW upped the ante with the new Range Rover and the X5, and built in Alabama by people more used to picking cotton than making complicated machinery, it emerged into the world badly built, lumpen, impractical and already old fashioned. Small wonder that in Top Gear’s 2004 motoring satisfaction survey it came home in last place. The worst car money can buy."


That's enough. I'm glad that you got a good one. That doesn't mean that they are all good.

Just for fun - if you google "Mercedes Lemon" you get more ML references than you'll ever want to see.

Germancar1

Great post.

M

Germancar1

Another brilliant post. You're right things have changed. Even the dependability surveys have changed from 5 to 3 years at JDP I think. You're very right about the Koreans too. Thing is though I'd love to see the Koreans stick it to the Japanese just like the Japanese stuck it to the Americans and Germans. If a company like Hyundai can build a Lexus for less money and equal it on quality then Japan INC. is in deep sh*t.

The Europeans will always have their styling and driving qualities to save them to a degree, but duplicating a Lexus is going to be quite easy for the Koreans IMO, because the Lexus itself isn't anything original. Duplicating a German car has proven much tougher, especially when it comes to BMWs. Lexus did build a Japanese Mercedes, but the time when Mercedes needed to fear Lexus' LS is over. They're run too far up in price and they've never got the ride/handling mix quite right, nor the look and feel. Japan INC may find themselves being crushed between the Koreans and the Germans in the next 5-10 years. Germans are masters, especially Mercedes at building big and expensive, and BMW is a master at the other end. Where does that leave Lexus? Out in the wind if the Koreans do what I think they're going to do.

Lexus would have never become so popular if it weren't for Shremp and his bungling of Mercedes' quality and R&D cuts during 1998-2004 or so. If Mercedes does manage to get all their cars in the top 3 of their respective categories in the IQS and more, much more importantly the 3 year dependability surveys, Lexus is going to see some tough times. Reliability is what drove thousands of former MB drivers to Lexus, not styling, performance, or anything remotely car like, it was all dealership treatment and reliability, things MB can fix. Seemingly they are doing just that, but Lexus still doesn't make a single car that drives like a German car, something they either aren't willing or can't do. Anyone can do smooth and quiet.

M

Germancar1

The models that gave Mercedes their quality black eye:

1998 ML (W163)
1998 CLK (gulp!) (C208)
2000 S-Class (W220)
2001 C-Class (W203)
2003 E-Class (W211)

To a much lesser degree the R230 SL did too back in 2003 till about mid-2005. Until all these cars are out of the survey range, i.e. 3-5 years after their last year produced Mercedes, dependability (not the survey we're talking about here) is going to suffer. Watch when JDP releases the 3-5 year dependability survey that this year will measure the 2004 model years, how badly Mercedes does. There won't be any 20 place jump on that one thats for sure!

Also, judging by the new ML and GL boards, these two model are also full of bugs for 2006 and 2007 respectively. The GL320 CDI hose issue is just pure first-generation ML all over again. Scary. They may have cleaned up the ML's problems for 2007 if the JDP IQS survey is really accurate.

M