So I go out to my garage this morning and I notice something odd with the car and the way it is sitting. The rear end looks like I have a few pallets of rocks in the trunk, I'm not kidding it is 2-3"s down. Looks like a ricer. I have not drove the cars for 4 days, I guess the air suspension leaked out?

I guess I will add this to the many problems I have had with the car. Oh well 38 months to go...

 

I can't believe that's happening already. Did it just leak out or did your system fail?
P.S. your garage and car are hot.

 

1. Don't panic )
2. You're lucky it's a leased car..
3. What happened after you started the car...did it go to normal position ?
4. Drop your car at your local dealer, get a loaner...they will fix it whatever is wrong....

Good luck..

 

I don't know yet, just happened this morning, but I did not notice it over the weekend. I started the car just now and it said "just a moment vehicle rising" on the dash.

I don't know what to say other than I wish MB had the build quality of a 20 year old kia at this point...

 

Aw man that sucks. I really feel bad for you, just bad luck after bad luck with your car. Good thing you Leased it!! That's very weird the Airmatic would already be giving out.

 

I am very frustrated, my 211 was awesome! I figured this car would be better here and there. I'm not looking forward to the dealer, I would think they are going to need to see the car for the better part of a week to see the problem. If I could get out of this car I would, maybe get an 07 S550...

 

Yeah but an 07 S550 has airmatic as well.

 

Don't know what the lemon law in NY is..... (here it's a specific number of attempts at the problem with no satisfaction)

They should be able to put it on Star and see if the suspension system triggered any codes.

The cars do sit lower (if left in C) after shutting the car off for a while. But yeah, not that low.

New models always make me nervous, but that Airmatic system should be the same in the rear as in the W211. Maybe not(?)

Good luck, hope it works out okay. Nothing worse than driving loaners....

 

What other problems have you had? I'm thinking of a E550 4Matic as well but buying instead of leasing so it is much more of a commitment. It seems Airmatic was a known problem on W211. Anything else?

 

1. Wiper chatter, BAD wiper chatter.
2. Quite a few rattles, mostly from the pano roof (3 different distinct ones) one from the dash, one from the rear deck.
3. Thud in the truck like a large object is bouncing around over certain bumps (commonly referred to as "dead body in the truck" on the 211 forums)
4. Airmatic as you can see. Never once had an issue w/ my 211
5. Homelink has lost all three garage door codes twice now (know how much of a PIA it is to reprogram 3 rolling codes?)

These are the known problems in the first month of ownership.

Gripes:

My gripes come from my experience w/ my 211. I would have thought the car would have evolved and most things improved over the 211.

The opposite is true.

The climate control system is the only thing that I feel has improved from one model to the other (maybe the headlights too). Everything else is worse.

The stereo cannot hold a candle to the 211. The 212 is louder and dynamically better, but the imaging comes straight from the side view mirror. I have never in my life heard imaging so bad on a car. Chevy pickups image FAR better than this car.

The gas mileage is down quite a bit over the old car. I drive the same trip everyday and always averaged 18-18.4 mpg. Now I'm lucky to get 15.5, even if I baby the hell out of it. My average MPG on the reset is 14.9 with an average speed of 32 mph (I am not heavy on the gas, maybe once or twice a week the pedel gets floored!- and usually for 3-4 seconds)

The steering is WAY too light at speed!! I mean it is TWITCHY. The car can hold the same G's in a corner give or take, but you have to be spot on to look good. The slightest mm of movement in the steering wheel mid corner results in a large movement on the car (as you know in a hard corner its impossible to keep the wheel perfectly still). The wheel needs a little resistence to makes things more fluid. Thay may have did it to make the car more responsive, but they missed the mark.

Tranny kick down is still as lethargic as a school bus. Floor the pedel and you can imagine an icon on the dash saying "wait please my coffee is brewing". Upshift with the paddle shifters takes 1-1.5 seconds which negates the whole purpose for the shifters in the first place. The tranny itself is unbelievable in every other way, except shifts take so DAMN long under throttle. When downshifting with the paddle as you are slowing down- by the time the tranny downshifts you are already asking for the next lower gear or even two away- I'm not kidding!

The car is much heavier than the old one, which takes the bite out of the engine. The 211 is FAST, I mean "holy smokes this car rockets" fast, this car is fast, plain really quick. This could be because I only have 1500 miles on the car and I just started getting into it in the last 500 or so miles, it might need more time to open up. Could also explain a mpg here or there, but not enough to make up for the difference.

The placement of the tel-aid buttons are terrible, they are right next to the map lights, which means you have to look to see what you are pressing. Only problem is it is dark which makes it hard to see what you are pressing. I have on several occasions hit the tel-aid (or whatever it is called) buttons on accident. This may sound ridiculous, but being forced to look at buttons on the ceiling, sometimes while driving is just not right.

Brakes are great overall except for the extreme levels of dust which were also present on the 211.

The car farts everytime you get out of it or open a door. I am not joking, 212 E550 owners know what I am talking about. It sounds like something out of a sci fi movie, all of the psst's and puff's coming out of the rear makes me think the car needs some Beano. They can last up to 10 seconds. The worst part is you need to explain it to people b/c they WILL ask. (What's wrong with your car? Is your tire going flat? What the hell is that noise? etc.)

Ipod hookup in the glovebox. Why put it in the glovebox? Everytime I want to hook up my Iphone to listen to music I must reach over, open the box and plug it in, it's a pain. All other comapnies I know of put it in the center consol, it's easy and right in arms reach. Worse yet the wire is rigid and faces down so you must hook up your phone upside down which is counter-intuitive. Try doing that while driving- forget it. I used to often hook up my Iphone in my other car while driving, my eyes never left the road. The wire was right there and hookup was easy.

Music register is worthless. You cannot load your playlists from your ipod etc. What's the point of only being able to load CD's? WHO BUYS CD'S? might as well make it only cassette tapes!!!

Sorry, I know I am rambling, but I could go on and on. Anyone who gets this car as their first 550 will probably like the car, maybe love it. But if you come from a 211 you are not going to be happy. I LOVED my 211 it did most things beyond my expectations, blew me away quite frankly. This car has underwhelmed me significantly. I have owned 60-70 cars. I have NEVER wanted to sell one 3 weeks after I bought it.

I'm sorry, but I have to say- Stay away from this car until they get it right.

 

I've got E350, not E550 and my previous car was 350 as well, but RWD. This time I've got 4matic.

I can't agree with you. Must admit, some things are not as good, as in previous model. Stereo system - agree, I think W211 was better...or ..may be it had another concept of sound. The main sound went from the back of the car, so the way you hear the music was different. This car main sound comes from front..and I don't like it, but..I'm getting used to it.
Steering - I think it's good, but a bit lighter than W211
My car does not have any strange noises either from the back or front ...
Ipod - yes...you put it face down...but I did it once and forgot it. You have Iphone and you must connect it and disconnect it each time you get in to the car...
Music register - as I understand it is designed to rip only audio tracks..not mp3 files, but I may be wrong...Anyway – who buys CD’s today ???
A big surprise for me is 4Matic system...I used to hate it in W211..and I had two of them - 4Matic and RWD. 4Matic in W211 was terrible (I had 2006 model) This car - you don't feel 4matic at all...
I would say - this car drives more like S class... overall – I like it.

 

Most of the other issues I have seem to be 550 related. Do you have the pano roof? That seems to be where most of the rattles comes from. The dealer said the thump in the trunk is from the air suspension...

 

I had the panoroof in my previous car, because it was white - and pano looks perfect with white. I had the same sounds like you have now and sounds will disappear if you close the shades ( at least that was in my car). This car is black - so no need for panoroof.....
I understand your anger about air suspension - but i'm sure short visit to your dealer will solve the problem and you'll be happy again....
At least I wish you that ..
Good luck

 

Just to shore up the reputation of the 550 4matic - I haven't had any of these problems, with the exception of the hollow sound over the speed bump, but it doesn't seem to be as annoying (or loud) as others have stated. My Pano roof doesn't make the slightest bit of noise.

This car seems very solid. It drives and rides great.

Sure, I would put the iPod interface cable in the center console instead of the glove box for easier use with the iPhone. That being said, I solve that issue by just using an iPod in there. I upgraded the interface cable to the version that charges - just leave the iPod in there and forget it.

The airmatic noises don't bother me either. I also have an Land Rover LR3 which has air suspension as well that hisses after the car is parked. Maybe I am used to it, but it really doesn't bother me. The car is doing its thing.

Gas mileage isn't great on the V8. My LR3 is a major gas guzzler, so again maybe I am viewing this from a different perspective. Don't know what else to say.

Emilner - I hope these issues are fixed by the dealer. Once your annoyances are fixed, I would imagine that you will fall in love with this amazing car again.

 

Hold on...you wanna tell me that original Ipod cable doesn't charge it ?
Do I have to buy another cable which does the same like original plus charges Ipod ? Could you clearify it ?

 

I know the one that comes with the car will not charge your iPhone - I didn't try a standard iPod before I changed the cable out, so I don't know if it will charge it, but my guess is that it will not. MB does sell a cable that will charge your iPhone/touch, etc. for about $60. There is a thread in this forum about it.

 

Thanks ... I noticed something strange with my Ipod, but now you clearified it for me. I gotta get this cable too......

 

Wow I feel bad for you dude,Sorry to hear. I have the same E550 and i have not experianced any such problems, I couldnt be happier with the car. It rides smoothe and handles better than any non AMG E i have ever driven. Car is awsome. Hope you get these issues worked out soon!

 

Very glad to hear that you haven't had any of these issues. Got to be honest that I was starting to get worried about the E550 I have on order. Never having driven an MB other than the test drives of the E550 at the dealer I would hate to think I was heading towards 39 months (lease) of headaches.

I had an Audi A6 4.2 that sounded like the one that emilner has - nothing but problems that couldn't be fixed. They seemed to pop up non-stop. The owner of my company is German and he said that in Germany they call this a "Monday Car". Never could figure out why they call them that but it's basically a car that has an unusual amount of problems that are atypical. It does turn you off towards the brand - I would never buy another Audi after my experiece.

 

Wow, that's insane. Sorry to hear that. New 5'er is around the corner! If they can pull off the non aesthetic details, looks like I might not be the only convert.

 

My problem is mostly that I am coming from a 211 E550, which was spot on and nearly flawless. If this was my first 550 I would probably chaulk most of this up to 'different car quirks'. But I can't b/c they are new from the old model. I also seem to have a VERY early build car- april, which might be some of the problem. I don't know, just venting...

I like the new 5, I hated the last melted block of cheese one. I don't know about the hood, looks like a bit wavy- but I will reserve judgement until I see it in person. They also fixed the other thing I could not stand about BMW's- the drab 80's interiors. Just judging from the pictures MB is going to get pounded. hard.

 

sorry to hear about all the problems your having emilner... i know what you mean by saying the w211 is nearly flawless. ive put 13k on mine already with only 1 poroblem(tranny software needed to be upgraded).

 

Agreed. I love my W211, and although it's just a 350, am really happy with it, as long as it stays reliable, and as long as I don't get tired of the Maintenance prices, I'll probably keep it around for a long time (with the depreciation I might not have a choice ).

I agree also about the previous 5, not a nice looking car IMO, so far I'm digging the F10, but I know what you mean about the hood, the whole front end is questionable to me, but I think in person those small details will hopefully either get swept away due to the other-wise pluses, or come together nicely. Agreed also about BMW interiors of the past, however so far the pics of this one to me look like BMW might finally get M-B's number inside... If so M-B indeed is in trouble. Either way, hope your car starts shaping up for ya.

 

Thanks for the follow-up. I've been trying to decide if I should swing for the W212 b/c of all the new electronic toys or if I should get a W211. The dealer is giving me lots of incentives to take a new car now. Otherwise I'd wait until my lease is up in the spring and make the decision then.

 

Looks like they sold you a lemon, try to return it.