Being saracastic everyone. I absolutley love my E350 and wouldn't want to own anything else (well, a s550, s600, any AMG would all be nice).

Just annoyed at the cost associated with everything for a MB vehicle. Am financially secure - think it is just pure principle to me.

I was in the automotive industry for 20 years. I know the company I worked for would sell an OE part to GM, Toyota, Daimler, etc. for let's say $20. Maybe $25 for their aftermarket divisions (as these would be individually packaged...at least thats the excuse we used to demand a higher price).

Then in turn the OE's above would sell them for $100 to consumers in the aftermarket. Nice little profit. But Mercedes has to do it for $500!

Please don't get me wrong. I appreciate the prestige and all that comes with my car. But does this really justify over 1000% margins for MB on their service related parts. I'm telling ya', they'd be better off just giving their cars away at cost to generate more sales. Make their $$ in service and the aftermarket. Put Conti's on every one...that should make them some serious dough every year (note - I am convinced that MB has some weird relationship with Conti...otherwise how could they ever justify putting these crap tires on any car, especially ones that are $50k+++).

Please understand that I don't mind paying my fair share, but they are just ridiculous. Thank goodness I found this forum to help find other means for replacement parts and DIY.

I'm sure there will be many that will provide an opposite opinion. And thats ok - willing to hear a different viewpoint. But don't we all have examples of items we purchased where we just thought to ourselves "holy s**t, you have to be kidding????" Whether you have $$$ or not.

 

You've been in the auto industry for 20 years and this stuff surprises you? Porsche, BMW, Bentley, Ferrari, etc., etc., same thing.

Of course they have a deal with Continental. They also have a deal with Pirelli (OEM for the C63).......
fwiw, the ContiSport Contact IIIs come on E63s, not a bad tire.

 

...especially if you shop on eBay. A driving lamp lens that I thought would cost a couple of hundred bucks was $30, for example. The hitch I bought was no worse than for anything else. Wheels on eBay are like anything else (used ones, anyway). Oil filters are not bad.

- GRL

 

I feel you. I can relate to what you are saying: sure you have the money, it's a Benz, but seriously, did you expect to get raped? That about sums it up?

I don't have conti's on any of my MB's, I have heard some really mixed things about them, mostly bad. Even from Discount Tire, Dekalb Tire, and some other places.

On some parts, you can get them yourself and you would shocked on the prices you can get OEM parts for as opposed to what the dealer will sell them to you for.

 

+1

Raped sans Vaseline.....

 

For the most part, I think MB parts are priced ok, especially on www.parts.com.

That said, they hold some of their plastic pieces VERY dearly.

 

One thing that helps is to join MBCA. My dealer sells parts to MBCA members at wholesale I'm buying a oil filter at the dealer for $12 that parts place above wants ~$10

 

I work in parts and I think they are fairly priced. I get people all the time that expect to pay way more for their parts. Some are way overpriced and I am not really sure as to why, but for the most part they are decent. IIRC the parts on my honda were not that much cheaper my BMW was really expensive and I got my parts at employee prices. MB list prices are only about a 40% markup at a dealer level (if the dealer uses MSRP) and about 30% for accessories/collection items. I think a lot of times certain dealers take advantage of people especially depending on where they are geographically or how far they are from other dealers. I won't mention the dealers, but I know the rips. I had a lady that wanted AMG pedals for her car and they quoted her $700 bucks she couldn't believe it when I told her I would sell them to her for $120 which would still probably seem too expensive of to most people here I would Imagine.

 

Exactly my point earlier. Some dealers are straight rips, I will call one out here in Atlanta. Buckhead Mercedes wanted to charge $800 to install an iPod kit, and I already had the kit.

The guy I talked to was even badgering me about how did I get the kit, it was not supposed to be sold by non-dealers,

RBM installed the kit for around $225 or so I recall. Just one example.

Now, for the Kleeman K1 package, Buckhead offered to do it for $1195. Is that a good price?

 

What do you mean? Like they charge a lot for some of the little plastics?

Is the Kleeman K1 kit a S/C?? If so I find it hard to believe you can get an M-B S/C'd for that incredibly dirt cheap. I'd jump on that if it's the case.

 

The Kleeman K1 is just the ECU.

On those plastics, yes they do charge a lot for some. The dealer that is, online you can find many good deals on OEM parts, anywhere from 20-60% percent off easily.

 

This doesn't just apply to Mercedes Benz parts . . . my dad was in the swimming pool business and it's the same story. The skimmer basket that goes on the side of the pool is nothing more than a little bit fancier colander (sp) that would cost a couple bucks at a kitchen place, but because it's a swimming pool part, it costs 10X as much.

 

Yeah, some of the bigger parts are cheaper than you'd think, but some cheesy interior trim plastic is like $200.

kinda silly.

 

My uncle works on Benzes but he works on this one customer's Bentley Continental GT. After hearing how much some of the parts cost, it was beyond ridiculous.

I had a full brake job done with all 4 pads and rotors. Wasn't bad at all. We needed 2 front pads on our Land Rover LR2 and I wanted to see how much the dealer charges (just for fun) and they said over $500

 

Do you mean the wood trim? Because those aren't plastic in a Mercedes, they are real wood.

 

simple finance. it may cost $25 to manufacture a part but that covers the parts manufacturer's cost, which covers their variable and fixed overheads.
when mercedes sells cars and parts, they have to cover materials and labor costs, but also administrative and R&d costs. daimler happens to spend well over $6 billion a year in R&D alone. the part may cost $25 to make, but how much to design? they charge more for some parts than others, and there is obviously some inflation of price due to the MB name brand, but if you want to drive a well-engineered car, be prepared to cover the costs of the engineering...

my jaw still drops when i mess around with the w124. it boggles my mind how well everything is put together and every part and mechanism is completely thought through. you can't say that for the GM cars, even if they sell their parts for 1/5 the price. that's why it's a mercedes!

 

You lost me when you wrote about how well thought out and engineered everythingthing is in a Merc vs. a GM car. It is simple not true.

A few examples:

My 2006 E320 CDI has plastic door thresholds. Every time you get out of the car your leg touches the threshold and it gives and squeeks lightly. The perception is of "cheapness".

The user interface of the Command and GPS systems is an abomination. The maps in the GPS are worse than any you will find in a $50 refurb TomTom (I know, I have both) and you cannot find major streets that have existed for 50 years. The use of buttons instead of a touch screen means that the driver is more distracted from driving than he should be. The low placement of the screen means that the driver is more distracted than he should be. Our RX330 has it right on ALL these counts.

The ignition key is pontlessly heavy and thick. It uses a replaceable battery that eventually wears out. BMW uses a smaller key that recharges while it is in the igntion.

This has been beaten to death, but the way MB calculates mpg and avg speed is simply incorrect. They seed calculation with 34 mpg and 65 mph so the display is wrong until the seed values are averaged out. I have seen no other car where such a basic error exists.

I like my Merc, but there are plenty of design flaws in it that I have not seen in Toyotas, BMW's, and, yes, GM cars. We will not go into the very poor reliability rating of MB's, as that is just too painful.

- GRL

 

I can't even debate or argue that point.

I have done comparisons with the Tom Tom and my Nav as well. The reliability issues, like you said, I won't start. Noticed the same with the mileage.

What I can say is that the newer models (after 03) are getting better, less problems so far.

 

that's very understandable. i suppose my comments were based on my own car. i drive a W124, built by engineers. you drive a W211, built by accountants. Without even taking into account inflation, my car cost about as much as yours did at the dealership in actual dollar terms even though they were built 10 years apart. they had to cut corners somewhere to make that work...
so you're probably right, your car may very well be engineered about as well as a GM, but i can promise you mine is not!

 

All cars have their plus and minus points. Nobody gets it perfectly right.

I've driven tons of modern cars, from the cheapo's to the big boys, and own what is considered to be the most quality and "best" GM Sedan ever built, aside from its big brother (new CTS), being a new Malibu.

Engineering and quality doesn't come close. Even the CTS, which has a great build quality, doesn't touch the Benz, nor does an Escalade, etc. I used to drive an '08 525i around a lot, the interior feel genuinely "cheap" compared to my cars.

Any new car can have flaws pointed out, and I know my M-B has areas that **** me off and make me thing "WTF were they thinking?" But all M-B's have that.... well at least all modern M-B's. I will say the overall material/build/worksmanship, etc. quality in my W211 is better than almost anything else I've been in. Save for a W221, which doesn't even surpass it with flying colors by any means either.

 

If you're talking about a "plain" S550, then yes, I agree. However, if you're talking about a Designo version or 600/65, then I will have to completely disagree.

 

Yeah just talking about a "plain" (funny to use that word on an S-Class) example.

The build quality on a W221 is top notch, however my point was that the W211 has such a nice interior IMO, that it's really really close.

I will say I'm as nit-picky as it gets when it comes to interiors, and my taste goes more toward overall refinement/attention to detail/luxury, etc. I rarely find anything that really tickles my fancy, but to name a couple, the Jaguar XF has really impressed me, and of course the S Class just has great quality all around.

 

I know that the older MB nav systems were not so good, but anything 2009+ (with the exception of the CLK) has been updated and is top notch. I also have to say that the industry is moving away from touch screens. Even Lexus, who previously advocated touch screens is getting rid of them in favor of their "remote touch" concept--which is similar in operation to the MB COMAND controller or even the dreaded iDrive from BMW. The reason is simple, it is much safer to be sitting upright in your seat with your arm resting on the armrest with an input to control nav/audio etc. that is placed where your hand's natural resting place is. With a touch screen you are leaning forward and have to hold your hand up in the air to use it which is not as good as the newer designs from MB/BMW/Audi and now Lexus.

 

+1
also VC on the 2009+ is excellent, making the whole system pretty close to hands-free.

and touch screens are history....

 

Ah yes, thank you I totally forgot to mention the voice control!