vrhaines

AS per my other thread, I will likely pick up a 2011 E350 4Matic today with 40K on the clock. I have only owned GM's and Chryslers and have serviced them myself.

I was talking to a guy on a Camaro Forum(I'm trading mine...) and he said the Benzes are mechanical nightmares and once they are out of warranty will kill me.

It's out in 2016 or 100K (CPO) whichever comes first. What sort of bugs or gremlins should I be worried about? The car just got:

new tires, brakes, rotors, B service, trans service, oil change, etc.

Dealer says I won't need anything but an A service in the next 10K.

HELP!

mleskovar

Read all the W212 posts and come to your own conclusion.

vrhaines

I've been reading all morning. It seems that they are plenty solid cars! I pick up in 2.5 hours....i'm nervous. I will miss my SS i think!

mleskovar

Yes, very solid. First thing you'll notice when you drive away is how solid everything feels and what a great ride they produce. Then you'll notice how well they handle "for a big car" Then you'll be surprised with the performance "for not being a performance oriented model" Take some time to read the owners manual and become familiar with all the features and how to use them. You'll be happy with your choice You won't miss your SS.

vrhaines

Thank you! The Camaro is just such an animal. Raw power, fun to row through the gears, listen to the exhaust. It catches eyes everywhere it goes. Just 100% awesome. THAT is what I'll miss.

petee1997

Why not buy another Camaro. MB may not be the right car for you.

vrhaines

i can see your point. but, i love large sports sedans too!

El Cid

If you haven't read them, the Bulletins and Service threads on this site are most informative. Skip the picture one for now.
However, service costs may be costly compared to what you are used to. I would be especially concerned about what services haven't been done. Usually the transmission has to be serviced at 40,000 miles and this is NOT a normal A or B service.

Dema

I owned E for almost 4 years, car looked solid and gave certainly confidence when drove it. However I had several problems I consider minor
1, Dynamic seat stopped working. It took some time to fix, since dealer needed order parts
2. Battery gone. It took 16 minutes to replace by road side assistance
3. And finally I had fading wood trim I didn't bother to fix tho
No any drive train and other problems related to car functionality, all electronics worked well as well

GregTR

The question is what kind of reliability you're looking for? Short term? The entire platform is only 4 years old so there is absolutely no data beyond that point. They also constantly repair and fix bad initial designs so the newer ones should be more reliable and better than the old ones. Nobody can give you reliability data for up to150k miles because nobody drove their E-class that far, at least not enough people to be statistically significant.

If Consumerreport's initial reliability survery is any indicator then the W212 E-class is generally a safe bet. Whether things will hold up in the long run is a different question that nobody can really answer other than based on speculation or educated guess.

2006_C350

Do you think an extended warranty Mercedes ELW is worth it? What about on a 2014?

Dema

In my experience cost of extended warranty and repairs were equal. Perhaps I was lucky. Difference is that you pay upfront and sleep better.

drsaab

76 k miles. No wrrty.

Needed. Battery under 50k wrrty.

Passenger side Ac display not working but dual Ac still working. Not fixed.

Command control knob rotation stopped working. Fixed myself internally with $5 epoxy

Many DIY guides hopefully will come out with age for most common problems.

Normal maintenance 10k oil change and tranny flush 40k etc.

So overall reliable so far. Adding 3000 miles a month.

vrhaines

Thanks all. Bought the car last night, didn't buy extended but have a few days to add it back in to cover the car thru 2017 and 125K. Currently i'm covered thru 16 and 100K....It's AWESOME don't miss camaro!

GregTR

Depends on model and your risk tolerance. Given that mine has every bell and whistle that could possibly go wrong (multicontour and ventilated seats, adaptive headlights, Distronic, Park Assist, rear seat entertainment) I chose to buy the warranty because I know that any one of those systems can cost as much as I paid for the warranty. I rather pay the money up front and not worry about it for 7/125K. The warranty price was a much smaller percentage of the vehicle than on a base model.

If I bought a base model with no or limited options I would have thought about it a bit harder but in my situation it was a no brainer. Unlike many, I'm not concerned about the transmission or the engine, I'm concerned about the electronic gremlins, small stepping motors and air compressors hidden in small places that cost an arm and a leg to replace.

wun68

E-Class and Camaro is no comparison.. I'm sure you understand now. =)

marvinlee

Money has time value. Consider what other uses you might have for the money. Extended insurance costs money up front, while any payoff will be over a longer span of time. On average, which your car may not be, car buyers pay more for extended insurance than they receive in services.

vrhaines

That. I. Do.

El Cid

Based on experiences with my E and posts on this and other forums, I purchased an extended warranty last month. First time in over 45 years of owning new cars and some driven over 100K and kept over 10 years.
As stated above, the more bells and whistles, the more potential (very expensive) problems.
You might want to go through the manual carefully and make sure all the options are working. For example, you can enable special exterior lighting, etc. You can enable easy exit/entry which moves steering wheel up and down and in and out every time you open the driver's door.

no_mulligan

You get the balance of the original warranty (which is 2015 and up to 50K odometer miles). Then, the CPO covers 1 year or up to 100K. The only way your CPO warranty is out in Jan 2016 is if you drive no more than 10K in the next 12 months. Is that how you calculated it?

Also, at 39K, the transmission fluid should have been serviced. Check it. Have dealer pull up the Vehicle Master Inquiry (VMI).