abercrombie

brought my 2 week old G 500 to Manhattan MB today tohave the rear tailgate rattles looked at and the mechanic said the the US Models have been experiencing some rattles in the tailgate due to a much heavier roof than on the Euro models. Therefore they want to remove my upper interior panels surrounding the tailgate fill them with foam , and replace the panels. Now I hope that they wil do a neat job, they were sloppy with my 2001 s430, when they replaced the drivers door due to a factory defect. It seems sad that they would have not figured this out, before delivering such an expensive, and seemingly vault like vehicle to me.

It goes in on wednesday, and they said that they might need it for two or three days, which concerns me. Has anyone else had this occur? I am genuinely happy with my G it seems to handle better than expected on the highway, and is perfect for NYC roads, which are almost as bad as say, Malaysia...actually Malaysias are better! I sincerely hope that this correction will be undertaken with a minimum intrusion into the trucks build, and that the light grey panels will be re installed properly, and with a minimum of grease, and scuffing.

If anyone has had a similar experiance with their rear gate, please post and let me know. The whole excuse about the roof being heavier sounds, a bit...questionable, but they said that they kept another G for about a week to diagnose the problem, and they are the factory owned store, so I guess that they know what they are doing. Feel free to email me at Actionmail@NYC.RR.com with any info that you would rather not post on the board relating to this issue
(a factory rep with info, for instance)

Have a happy memorial day weekend, and think of the Troops abroad, and their service to this nation.


Abercrombie

alz

I buy my cars at Manhattan MB too. Jeff Roberts is my salesman. When I tell him there is a problem, he follows it closely. If I were you I would tell your salesman of your worries and keep him on it. It works.

Also, there is a new service manager at MMB (there about a year) and he REALLY cares about the feedback you will provide on the service questionaire. Call him personally and tell him that you are glad that he is the new sheriff in town and that you had problems in the past and had to give poor marks on the survey -- that will SCARE the crap out of him.

BTW, I am considering a G55 -- I live in NYC and have a weekend home in Westchester -- how is the highway ride at speed (i.e. 80 or 90 MPH). Also, is the ride really thrashy and bumpy?

abercrombie

I had a 2001 s class that was in and out 10 times for a factory defect, that couldn't be repaired, they took the car back as a Lemon law, and I got a new G as a replacement. The AMG G is a bad concept, It has a really stiff suspension which gives it a terrible ride.The G500 while trucklike, is much, much smoother and IMHO even seems to handle better, though Im not sure why. I test drove my friends 55, and then tried the 500 the next day at the dealer, and I couldn't believe the difference , though I'd reccomend that you try both, and see what you think. Theres a 55 at the west side location I think

alz

I was concerned about the lack of power - Someone suggested that I could replace the springs and shocks in the G55 with the springs and shocks from the 500 and that would give it a much better ride.

Quite frankly I may be spoiled with my current AMG power and want as much power as possible.

BTW, don't discount the Service Manager's worries about a bad survey. It goes a long way.

lesterm

Abercrombie... what did the rattles sound like?

I just noticed that when I'm driving on bumpy roads, my driver and passenger doors squeak or rattle. This is really annoying. I wonder if this is the same sort of problem. It kind of sounds like metal rubbing on metal. Perhaps I should give MB a call and see what's up.

abercrombie

nt

lesterm

Abercrombie, would you mind posting when you get your G back? I'm considering taking the car in, but I don't know if the rattles bother me enough to go through taking it in to the shop.

Also, why do the survey's scare the sales people so much? My sales person was nervous when she mentioned the survey, and said that MB usually expects perfect marks from the customer. Do they get penalized for a poor, or even mediocore, survey?

alz

are quite serious business. That is why I suggested you mention this to the Service Manager. If affects everything from allocation prioritization.

Use this knowledge, weedhopper!!

vraa

Yes they do, severly!

DUTCH

It sounds fishy as hell to me, too. I seriously doubt that US roofs are any different than European roofs. It sounds like they need to properly adjust the rear door.

I am the moderator on another G Forum, and this has never come up. However, one of the forum members has had serious service problems on his G from a dealer in NYC. He finally - after 3-4 dozen tries and serious cosmetic damage to the G by the service tech - took it out of the city to have his problems fixed properly in one visit to another dealer.

abercrombie

said that the rear gate and doors needed to be lubed and adjusted, and that its a common problem, that can easilly be fixed. I dropped it off today to John King, who was really great about the whole thing, when I mentioned the hamfisted dealer prep and crappy wax job that they did last week when I bought the car.
He said to leave it with him for an extra day and he would have the whole car polished up properly, and then called for a black town car to bring me home as the porter/ runner was in transit, and wouldn't be back to the dealer for a 1/2 hour.

I must admit that I was most impressed with the service, and feel that John was the most professional service advisor yet. I hope that the car comes back repaired properly, and will update the board accordingly.

Message for Dutch, please tell us about your Neiman Marcus edition G, is it like a designo, how is the interior appointed, and what other modifications constitute a
Neiman Marcus edition G, I am, as well as many on the board are always intrigued be special editions!

Abercrombie

DUTCH

The Nieman-Marcus Edition was pure and simple marketing hype by Europa and N-M. They offered 15 "special" edition 2000 G500's through the N-M catalog. At that time, the Europa G500 sold for $135,000. They put in a lighter burl wood, two toned leather seats and a special "Built Especially for. . . . . . ." plaque on the dash; and sold it for $160,000. They sold 6 of them.

The original owner of mine from Dallas paid full price for it. I have the original sales receipt. 18 months amd 24,000 miles after he bought it for his wife, I purchased it on Ebay for almost $100k less than he paid.

DUTCH

One more shot.

An extra $25k for leather and wood options. Europa definitely could market their wares. :p