Just about 6 weeks into owning my first MB, which is an 03 E500 67K on it, purchased with about 64K.

At this point I would say yes, I would purchase another, if at the right price, no more than 15k though, and DEFINITELY NO AIRMATIC.

I had woes of the airmatic, because of well, exactly the same reason everyone else does. IT SUCKS.

I knew I wanted the E Class, and that is what I got, but I also knew I needed the 350, because it has no airmatic. But could not help myself and picked up exactly what I really wanted. A white 500, what did I get with that, the same thing everyone else gets. **** stick arimatic issues. Right front went out sat, needless to say, not real happy.

My folks have a CLK430 that they swear by and have had for years. It has 217k on it now, and no major problems. One small AC issue, about a $600 repair, that I suppose is prone to that model from what I have read.

Doubt ill have the same success with mine, as it seems it is going to crumble before it hits 75k.

My A4 was much more dependable, more simple to work on, and flat out cheaper. Had real good luck with it, and def would purchase another, which was what I was looking for until I stumbled upon the E class that is a surprisingly nice mid size to commute in.

(A4 was totaled by 90+ year old man driving down the street on a cell phone)

 

I would say most of the W211 owners who have the airmatic, gas odor issues, and the SBC unit, especially the earlier models owners like myself who have spent a lot of money and time with their cars are reluctant to buy another MB. There are choices out there and they don't have to be German cars either.

 

Color is black. Need to Decode VIN.

 

Hi, picking up a new CLS on 28th Sep. My 04 E class now has 131k miles on it and decided to change. It has not been bad except for the airmatic which is my biggest regret as an option. Unreliable and ridiculous cost to repair, how Mercedes have got the gaul to charge so much for their own crappy design faults I do not understand, u would think they would do it at cost. I did come very close to buying another make this time, but believe that they have sorted their quality issues and I so liked the design of the new CLS. I like the exterior of the new E, but hate the square bland interior. I really hope I do not regret buying another Mercedes as I plan keeping it for 8 yrs or so.

 

That damn airmatic..good when it works. Sucks when you have issues, but there is a much cheaper alternative, Arnott and have an indy to install. Arnott even offers coil-over kits for many models now to move away from airmatic.If you do stay with airmatic, the struts are warranted for lifetime from Arnott unlike the 12 month warranty from MB with nutball prices for parts and repair.

On my R, both struts on the front were replaced and installed for around $1100 (PARTS AND LABOR) by using Arnott and an indy. The dealer? Well over 2K...just for the struts.

Yes those areas are killing MB, and other QC issues that keep popping up.

See my section above on Arnott. BTW- They give discounts to MBWorld members too, 10%.

 

..."...and then his luck ran out."

That's why you should listen to these people and their many horror stories.

Then go visit a Lexus forum and see if you read the same number and kinds of horror stories...and then ask yourself "just how lucky do I think I am, anyway?"

- nopcbs

 

I read extensively about the E before I bought mine, and you're right, I KNEW that I DID NOT want airmatic.
Truth to be told, the E350's were difficult to find, and I got my E500 for 13k and didn't think it was a bad price with 60k on it. So I jumped at it.
Am I kickin myself in the *** for the airmatic, sure, but that was to be expected.
And tbh, arnott was not too bad on price at $450, then 10% off brought it right to about $400.

So, even after repair to the airmatic, I have the 500 with the V8 and still came out way ahead of the 350's and 320's that were 17-19k +

Overall im in the car about 13,500 and I can say I'm comfortable at that price.

 

If you do decide to buy another one guys, please contact me! I just started working at a Mercedes dealership :-) I can hook you up and we ship all over the country. Thanks!!
My 2003 E class with 124,000 has been near perfect. I hope to be able to buy another Mercedes some day.

 

I had an '04 E320 wagon I bought CPO in Dec '07 and sold in May of '11. Loved it. Worst problem was when it stopped running while going 75 on the freeway. Took my mechanic two tries to fix what was actually a simple issue. LOL. Don't remember it costing that much to fix, other than the towing bill.

Just bought a low mileage '05 E500 wagon and so far so good. Good to know what all issues to look out for. I have a great indie mechanic (dif from the one referenced in the last paragraph) who is very reasonable. Would love to learn to do some stuff myself, sounds fun.

 

This is my 1st post and I will more than likely sell the car and never again purchase a M-B.

I'll explain.

Over the 2012 Thanksgiving weekend, I went to Dallas, TX to pick up a 2007 E550. The Saturday I took delivery and even BEFORE I got out of Dallas, the check engine light appeared and the car overheated.

fast forward 1 1/2 week later and the car was delivered to me via truck courier. The VERY NEXT DAY, it left me stranded at a busy intersection during 5 o'clock rush hour! The pisser is I was going to the stealership to buy another tri-star hood ornament to replace the broken one the car came with.

The car is now at Jackie Cooper Mercedes here in Tulsa. Sooooo, in 2 weeks since purchasing the car, I have driven it for about 1.5 hours. The rest has been at Park Place M-B Dallas that came with a $900.00 bill & now Jackie Cooper Tulsa, which will be around $2,400.00 (ECU replacement, MAF & CPS).

The car will go back to Dallas where it came from and I will go back to Acura or to a v-8 Genesis.

 

I'm a new member and also a new owner of a low mileage 04 E55. I've had the car for a month or so and it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. I'm 61 and have been a car fanatic since I could walk. I've owned just about every non exotic brand of car that you could think of but this is my first Mercedes. Reliability and maintenance costs are my greatest fear with this car although the last 2,000 miles have been trouble free other than a TPS issue and an occasional warning about the SOS malfunctioning.

I currently own two Lexus' and have put a combined 140,000 miles on them without either one missing a beat, both were 7 years old when I bought them. They have been truly wonderful cars. Until I got the E55, my DD was a 97 SC300 with a manual transmission. My wife drives an 04 LS430, and it is impressive even after just driving the E55, although for obviously different reasons. I'm here to tell you that Lexus quality and reliability is no wives tale. I bought the Mercedes recognizing that it is a high performance vehicle and that that comes with a price of higher maintenance costs. I'm hoping for the best and I'm a pretty good mechanic, so time will tell.

On a closing note; this SOB runs strong.

 

I had 04 E320 (bought brand new) for 3 yrs. I bought it to dealer couple times for works under warranty (no cost). It was so too long ago and forgot what I brought it to dealer for.

My wife got in the accident and insurance company total the 04 E320. I bought an used 07 E350 to replace it (30K miles). Now the E350 has 55K miles on it. So far, it costs me regular maintenance (oil changes, tires, brake) and $21 to fix the cam plugs. I fixed the cam plugs myself. Dealer wanted $250 to fix it.

Hopefully, it will not come up with major problem. I will get the Lexus F next time.

 

The E55 is my third...I think that pretty much answers the question.

On a serious note, I've always done a fair amount of research on what I'm buying and have insisted on only purchasing cars with a full maintenance history and prefer those which look like they were maintained with an open checkbook. So far so good. I think other than wear and tear I've only had one major issue which was on my original C240, the trans circuit board and connector had to be replaced. Even that wasn't terrible $$.

 

Wonder if there is poll with the same quesion...

I would have had said Yes on Wednesday, but Thursday my tranny went. Just never heard of such things, I am used to american crap cars which I have never blown a tranny on...(maybe just lucky to this point but keep hearing w211s losing tranny with 40/60/80k miles.

Ohh well... I did knowing take the gamble w211 and no warranty so no worry but I would NOT buy another one. Just don't like driving on eggshells or borrowed time.

 

Flash I see you had the 03 E500, same as mine. I bought MB for reliability. I was totally disappointed at the results after owning the 03 E500 so I bought a new Chrysler 300C 5.7 V8 Hemi. You are right there are other choices. I truly had planned on staying with MB as a brand but will never put $65,000 with the reliability I had on the E500.

 

You don't think that MB can build a transmission that just "goes"?

I have less faith given that the fuel tank seal on my 2006 E320 cdi just "went" after just 30,000 miles last summer. If they can screw up a fuel tank seal, they can certainly screw up a transmission so that it just "goes".

Not just mine, on the seal, by the way. Lots of people had same problem and NHTSA is looking into it.

 

...he realizes that 10 years ago (1998 to 2007) Daimler (i.e. MB) owned Chrysler (and Dodge) and he's had enough bad experience with Daimler products.

Fiat owns Chrysler now, and remarkably...and I really mean REMARKABLY, the design and reliability of the products seem to be improving from what they were when Daimler owned Chrysler, granted not a huge feat.

Good thinking on his part.

 

I would buy another MB tomorrow! In the process of looking for a 2011 E Class right now actually to replace my 131k miles E320. I had over 12 Mercedes from a 240D to a SL600. I only had one "Lemon" car and that was a C280. Everything broke on that car but still it never left me on the side of the road and it always started. Drove home on 5 out of 6 cylinders when one was misfiring.

Its funny how this was posted in the W211. Most W211 from 03-06 where known to be issues and well...Junk. It was just not a good time to own a E class then hence why I kept my 02 E320 for such a long time. If the quality was good I would of traded for a E320CDI back in 06 but too many issues ocured.

 

If you can't design a fuel tank seal that will last 30,000 miles (6 years), why should anyone think you can design a transmission that will last?

Transmissions have no business failing at 10 years unless someone is using a car to pull an Airstream or some such. I just sold a 1992 LS400 that we had for 20 years and the transmission was working just fine, thank you. The OP's experience may (or may not) be common for MB transmissions (I hope it is not), but I certainly understand him not wanting to buy another Merc to find out.

I don't recall anyone asking for a warranty on a 7-13 year old car and one is not called for UNLESS the manufacturer screwed up the design or manufacture of the product. It is fairly common for German manufacturers to offer 10 year extended warranties for "free" on aspects of their car that were poorly designed/executed. MB does that on the electro-hydraulic braking system on W211s that are prone to fail and BMW did it on the rear shock towers of the E46 (too thin metal used).

Sometimes they don't back their bad design (like BMW with the mis-conceived SMG transmission that are prone to very expensive pump failures at even low miles) and MB which has a problem with the fuel tank seals that I myself experienced (I was still under CPO warranty, fortunately).

Is it your position that when one experiences an expensive to fix failure that should not have happened in an out-of-warranty "luxury" car bought used, one should shrug their shoulders, say "my tough luck", keep quiet about it, and then start saving for the next big repair? Or maybe save to buy another car of the same marque and see if he/she has better luck the next time around?

Not me. We are repeat (3X) CPO Lexus buyers because we have never had reason to regret our choice. I bought the E320 cdi because I wanted a diesel and Toyota sells none in the US. If this thing proves reliable (I cut it some slack on the fuel tank seal because it was covered by warranty), I'll buy another. If it does not, I dump it, make my displeasure known on a forum, and never buy another one. I call that very reasonable.

 

You do realize your 300C is pretty much a 220/210 underneith right? I own one Chrysler product at the moment(2011 Caravan) I use for a work beater. So far only some rust on the inside door and one broken window regulator.

 

No.

 

Two thoughts:
- I have no qualms about buying pre-owned. In that light, I think it's best if you target "final build year" or "facelifted" vehicles in any Mercedes lineup. As many of us have observed, these are vehicles with all the bug fixes, service packs, and patches applied, not to mention final build years typically are optioned up to emphasize value in the impending body change the following year. I would LOVE to purchase a 2013 S350 Bluetec 4-Matic....in the year 2015.

- If you have any inclination to save money and try to do basic repairs yourself, I think you should factor the cost of a Star Diagnostic unit. Without getting in to the issues of getting a "clone" vs. a "genuine" unit with support, the initial cost is going to be high. But every repair, every service code, every fault I've diagnosed and repaired myself, gradually helps "pay for the unit". Small things I've replaced include:
- Camshaft Position Sensor
- Rear Window Switch
- Two external keyless go door handles
- Being able to reset engine air filter adaptation when replacing the air filter
It can be argued that these items /could/ have been fixed without an SDS, but oh how nice it is to be able to ask the passenger door module to raise and lower the window through SDS, to isolate the issue to the switch, and confirming that by looking at the fault code "Window Switch Shorted OR Held closed (Tamper protection)" - and being able to clear that code. And I'm able to offer up advanced information on issues I care not to / can't fix and need to bring to the dealership.

 

I have had Mercedes, Porsches, BMWs and Audis................Porsche seems to have the best engineering, materials, reliability (except for 996/early 997.1).......I would say Porsche is my next purchase........

 

Huge opus? Not sure what ya mean but only info is that mine busted on a launch with some wheel spin. Then it stalled on the 2nd gear shift. Not anything that hasn't been done before by any who isn't an old lady from Pasadena. Not just revs in D and R.

 

I had a Cayman S that was very good! Failed to start one time due to battery drain but it still very good to me. Looking into a 996 or 997 in the next couple years. I hear they tend to be solid. Only Porsche I hear lots of bad from in the SUV's.