I'm genuinely sorry to hear that, but as an MB service advisor I'll tell you that the '07+ is dramatically improved. MB definitely learned their lesson here.

 

I have heard this before and hopefully MB has improved. Systematically a few changes can make a drastic improvement in reliability. (SBC, airmatic,engine mounts,radiator-transmission cooler) There are others but these are the biggies.

I bought a 79 Cadillac Eldo Britz and it had many similar issues. Cadillac assured me their quality was better in 85. That's when I bought my 1st Lincoln Towncar. The lincolns' were reliable and ran well but had no power with only 195 hp in a towncar. I decided to try MB E500 in 03 and paid over $65,000 US for the car. It has had way more problems that I care to list and I have already been asked by PM Email not to return to this board for being negative. I can assure you as an engineer I have only stated the problems as they existed on my E500 for others to have the data. This does not mean that MB hasn't drastically improved quality in the past 8 years.

But I have to consider do I want to spend another $65,000 on a "trust me it's better". MB should consider what and how important it is to keep me as a customer. But will they? The service dept at my local dealer has been the best service of any brand I have owned in the last 40 years. This is saying a lot about service. Perhaps they will sell me a new E class and throw in for free a 100,000 warranty?

But "trust me" in todays market doesn't go very far given the very good competition in the free market. I would love to stay with MB brand as my E500 2003 drives like a new car at 104,000+ miles and I am driving it across the US next week. I just don't know what will fail next. (All Maintenance is completed as per MB and FSS shows next maint in 5000 miles with NO malfunctions). So I just dont' know if the car can go 5000 without another failure. My MTBF is about 6000 over the 104000 miles of driving.

I will leave on this trip wondering which Dealer service dept will see me first and can I get a loaner. This is not what I would call a positive MB experience.

IF MB has made drastic improvement what can they do for me to convince me to buy another? It doesn't show in CR yet? or in other ratings better in reliability than competion.

I am not saying it hasn't improved. But "fool me once".

Sorry for those who don't want me back. After all it is my opinion and your results may vary. My sample size is ONE but it is MY Sample and I wish all MB owners better luck with their cars than I have had with mine.