Hi,

My family drove a 2004 E320 car until few weeks ago, the mileage was under 194km and went for service check up every couple month from 2006 to 2013 then stopped because it was pricy and just seem to fix a problem when there is one.
We are looking for another relaible and nice car. Do I need to go for a service check up every couple month again if we get 2018 E300 w. 97K KM (60273 miles).
Or am I better off going with another brand for a sedan luxury-ish car if I am looking to save some budget on maintance.

So far all car brands have a similar price point but this one MB car I'm looking at has both auto-intelligence and preminum package and one year warranty so it seems worthy the money.
Very worried that maintaining the electronic features will cost a lot in a long run because MB sensors are overly sensitive based on the 2004 experience. The car owner said his dashboard in the center had to be replaced once because it wasn't working properly.

Edit: Is the engine problem really that common? I read about it on this forum - Spark plug and pistol damaging an engine.

Are MB E-class still made for quality to last long? Some people said they are not the same as used because they are targetting a bigger market group and the quality went down.

UPDATE: The car had 2 maintenence and one oil change within 60K miles. First one at 19K mile and 44K mile
I will still ask my mechanic to check the car very throughly.

UPDATE 2: Electric power steering issue in diagonostic report scan was found. No warming signs from the car dashboard, or from driving. -Should I be worried about this?

 

The 2018 E300 has much more electronics than the 2004 E320. Personally, I would not own a German luxury car without warranty, mostly because of the price for replacement parts. Piston and spark plug problems are rare and for the most part, the E300 is a reliable car but electronic failures are unpredictable. Is Mercedes still built to last 20 years? The answer is yes but you will pay a lot for replacement parts and labor than the old days. Good Luck.

 

It's nothing more than a cheaply built long wheelbase c class with different fenders and interior. Reliability of any MB built since 2016 is questionable.

 

My 2001 C320 is now 21 years old, and I have never thought of bi-monthly maintenance. My 2016 E350 is now 6 years old, and I can't fathom the idea of service check-ups every two months. Something tells me if you were to buy a bullet-proof Lexus or Acura you would adopt the same 2-month check-up regimen. It's not necessary.

Buy the E-Class and enjoy it. If you can't budget a fund to cover an unlikely, expensive repair, then don't buy one (or any upmarket sedan for that matter). Keep in mind that 90-95% of MB owners never see any problems with their cars. It's only those with issues that you read about here.

 

The J D Power 2021 long term reliability survey which looks at 3 year old cars rates the 2018 Mercedes, as a brand, slightly below average. The E300 should be slightly better than average considering it does not have a high performance powertrain and it is a high volume seller within the brand. If reliability is your top priority, stay away from German luxury cars.

https://www.jdpower.com/business/pre...lity-study-vds

 

Piston cracking on M274-engined vehicles (C-, E-, GLC-) is real. How likely it is to happen on a specific vehicle is not possible to predict. I would not own any M274-engined vehicle for this reason.

An E350, E400 or E450 with either the 3.5L NA V6 or 3.0L TT V6 are my suggestions. The W213 chassis (electrical, steering, suspension, brakes, interior, etc.) seems about as reliable as the average MB.

 

Checked Acura TLX 2019 with 37K KM and $1000 damage record from a dealership and the total price was only $1000 difference between this MB from a private seller who used the car for his business.

So hard for me go with Acura when the car price is the same but one has way more nicer features.

 

I read so much about the engine from your replies but they don't even have E400 RN.

 

What do ppl buy these days for reliable and luxuary cars? We don't want a sports car

 

I do have one and two year warranties. I am trying to see if I can extend the warranties.

 

if you look at the trends and the statistics, the Koreans are slowly becoming as reliable as the Japanese. In my opinion, reliability is not as important as the old days. You can buy the most reliable brand and still get a lemon, I have with my Lexus. You could also buy a average reliable brand such as Mercedes and have the car last 20 years with very few problems. Generally, in the last 15 years or so, reliability has improved quite a bit for the auto industry as a whole. The gap between the most reliable and least reliable brands have been narrowed. My advise, buy the car you like, place reliability maybe 3rd or 4th on your priority list. Take good care of your car and perform all preventative maintenance on time.

 

I 2nd that notion. I look very hard at Lexus probably 10-12 years ago because of reliability and ended up with MB because that’s what I really wanted and desired.

Eighteen years ago I sued MB for a G500 Lemon and was awarded a very high % of what I had in it. I vowed I would never drive another MB again. Had company cars for a while so didn’t need to worry about a personal car

My 2017 E300 has had very little issues, just a little over 32,000 miles on it. My 1st car in 30 plus years that I will keep for more than 2-3 years which is when I generally get tired on them and want something new.

My car was a P3 car with just about every option except for airmatic and heated steering wheel, because it was on a lot almost 100 miles away. I was planning on ordering one but received a great deal on this one so couldn’t resist

I have done quite a bit of hardware and software modifications to keep me interested as well 😆. Still love the car very much

 

My 2018 is just 6 months out of warranty but we plan that it will be a 10 year car. Our BMW SUV has gone 5 years out of warranty and except for brakes it has been trouble free. I do the maintenance as scheduled. But the real story is the 10 years that my Porsche has operated outside of warranty. The only issue so far has been batteries. But even that problem went away after I bought a battery tender.

I don't think not needed expensive repairs is as rare as some suggest. I think across the board car makers are doing a better job than ever in making a quality the product. The list of the best might not necessarily include Mercedes, but it just means that the best are phenomenal and Mercedes is quite good. For the ownership experience, I'll take quite good.

 

So, I am not mechanically inclined at all. I drive, put gas in the car, and that's it. Thus, you may think my opinion is completely useless. That said, I've had numerous MB, from the mid-90's up to 2018. You don't have to be an auto-genius to know that with more electronics, any piece of machinery -- coffee-maker, computer, or car -- the more electronic dependent it is, the more potential problems you can have. Potential. Key word. Electronics are sometimes there to make something operate better, more efficiently, more effectively. Other times they are simply a luxury, convenience item. Regardless, there is more that can go wrong. But that doesn't mean it will, Electronics tend to cost more.

I won't own an expensive car without a warranty -- and I look to buy the manufacturer warranty, CPO, extended, etc. No outside or third party. That's just me. I have a 2018 E300 4Matic Sport, and I love the car. I've only had it a year. Is it expensive to maintain or get service. That's relative, but I guess, for the most part. I plan on keeping this car for at least 5 more years. In 5 years it will be almost 10 years old. Who knows what I'll do. LOL. I bring the car in for maintenance as scheduled. Period. I properly maintain the car. Period.

Is today's MB as "reliable" or "dependable" as 10 years ago? 15? 20? Given today's day and age, I think as a whole, automakers are offering a "better" product today. Better too is a relative term. Technology can be a very beneficial variable in quality offered. Will today's E class go 300,000 or 400,000 miles and be cheaper to do so, or have a better chance of doing so than a 2012 E? 2002? I don't know. Could it be more expensive? I think it could be, but I think there might be less incidents as the technology will help with better quality and operation. Just my .02 cents and it's probably not worth that, LOL.

 

Just my $.02:

Doing routine maintenance preserves the engine, oil and filter + spark plugs: the transmission, transmission service: and brakes, changing the brake fluid. The balance of the maintenance are filters.

Everything else that might break, from suspension, cooling, interior parts, electronics and everything else, doing routine maintenance will not prevent any of these parts from failing or breaking.

So you come down to this: is a Mercedes reliable enough so that an extended warranty does not make financial sense?

Everyone who has ever driven a car knows that eventually things break on a car and if driven long enough almost everything will have broken and will have been replaced.

From my experience electronics are either good or bad: they either break in the first six months or last forever.

The rest are mechanical parts whether they are window lifts or suspension or hoses. In today's modern cars those items tend to last 50,000 miles to 75,000 miles.

If you intend to keep your car beyond 75,000 miles, then an extended warranty might make financial sense. If less, probably not.

Last week I started a thread about experiences with extended warranties: To date there have been over 200 visits but only two responses: One was a problem at 61,000 miles with an AMG engine, the other the problem was not described but the poster said he intended to keep his car 100K miles.

This leads me to conclude that most are not buying an extended warranty and are happy with their decision.

Hopes this helps.

 

Our 2018 hasn't crossed 27k miles yet. I think it highly likely I could get to 2027 or 2028 without spending 6k on it. In the case of my Porsche I still haven't spent anything besides maintenance. On the X5 I am just about the have the first real issue -- the dreaded leaking gasket. It hasn't actually materialized, but the dealer assured me that now that I am at 60k I should consider having the work done. This is probably the first project that I'll ask to have an indy do.

 

I am in the same boat as you, I do not drive my car enough.
Porsche spend the last 10 years on top of most reliability rankings. No doubt they are reliable cars, especially if one considers the high performance, but their maintenance cost is among the highest in the industry. $2000 for plugs and $3000 for transmission fluid replacement.
Of all the German luxury brands, I find Audi to be the least reliable. We had 3 Audi with persistent problems and for us, 3 strikes and you are out.

 

For your 2016 E350, how often do you go for a service check-up per year and the cost for each check-up?
I will do 1 service check-up per year since my family work from home, rarely go on highways.

 

Okay, the prices for plugs and tramission fluid replacement are not bad at all given that I would be driving a very nice car within my budget. I see it as one time thing within 10 year.

 

Everything you said, I agree with you and makes a sense. I don't think replacing suspesion is that expensive, like $1000, and this is inevitable like you said.

I think a 3rd party warranty would cover "Everything else that might break, from suspension, cooling, interior parts, electronics and everything else, doing routine maintenance will not prevent any of these parts from failing or breaking."

But the price of warranty is about $4000-$4800, which seem about the same as paying for a repair. But I do intend to drive this car for a very long time, since it is the cheaper action than replacing the car with another car. Maybe I will get a 3rd party warranty after I reach a certain mileage.

Thank you for sharing your thought. I think I will just buy this car for now after inspecting it with my mechanic.

 

How much are you paying($USD or $CAD) for your 2018 for the maintenance and how often do you do it?

 

Yeah, I think I will buy this MB. I even looked at Acura TLX 2019 with 37K KM and $1000 damage record from a dealership and the total price was only $1000 difference between this MB from a private seller who used the car for his business.

Does not make a sense for me to go with Acura when the car price is the same but one has way more nicer features.

 

What is wrong with a 3rd party warranty? I thought this is common for used cars.

 

Thank you for your advice. I thought of buying a Genesis - popular semi luxuary Korean car but the price is higher than this Mercedes and uses same premium gasoline. I will go with your advice and buy that Mercedes. Thank you

 

OP, thank you for your question.

Not sure where you are from but if you are from the USA, ask for a copy of the VMI (vehicle master inquiry) as it details every single work that was done under warranty at an authorized dealership. If you are from somewhere else like Canada, they consider that information confidential, it is still possible to obtain one but you have to have connections I believe to obtain such information.

As others mentioned the E-Class is relatively reliable and also as mentioned by others, there are some cases of cracked piston for the M274 engine used in a certain model year range of GLC/C 300, E 300. Reasons unknown although it isn't guaranteed to happen.

You could consider (if you can stretch your budget) an 2017-2018 E 400, or even E 450 (starting 2019), or if you want, consider the 2019 E 350 with the M264 (no known issues of cracked piston, maybe MB fixed the issue?), the facelift E-Class 2020 E 350 has the same M264.

Since you mentioned you will be asking your mechanic to check the vehicle, while at it, make sure it is a full PPI (pre-purchase inspection).