waldis

For those of your who purchased the 2007 models? (or even late 2006) How is your car performing and how is the experience so far? I hope the quality has improved.

Roupin

2006 C230 and a 2007 E350. No complaints at all on either of them.

FlatlineEF9

^^Didnt you just have some oil stains in your garage?

Roupin

It was minor, my local dealer took care of it instantly, provided me with a loaner that I gladly roadtested all over town, and a few hours later left with my car and a cup of coffee.

No complaints, and a few minor things are to be expected. However, I should point out that the C230 has never had any maintenance issues, and has nothing wrong with it either. It only visited the dealer for Service A, and that's it.

StephenK

Dealer gave me a new ML350 for a loaner, and I have had it for almost a month now, (getting all three of my cars serviced), the car had 3,000 miles on it, the A-Pillar was improperly installed, the wood around the command is LOOSE, obvious rattle in the ceiling behind the sunroof.

Still see them using cheaper and cheaper plastic parts on the car.

Fast55

My late build 2006 E55 is the least reliable car I have ever owned. Does that answer your question?

JCHENRYARCH

I have been looking at the e55 amg.
What happened to yours?

TREZ63

2007 CLS63, no problems at all. best built car I have ever owned.
I came from a C-Class and a E (W211) with tons of issues.
I believe 2007 is the start of a whole near era for MB.

Fast55

https://mbworld.org/forums/general-mercedes-discussion/153398-i-guess-s-time-give-up-mb.html

eryalen

If you want low maintenance, try Briggs and Stratton.
Best regards - Erik

JohnAMG

My experience must be an exception. All of my experience have/had been excellent. From the first MB( 1998CLK320) to the current 2006 E55, 5 MB in total, I visit the dealer no more than once a year for minor problem which were all taken care of within couple of days. I only have 9000 miles on the 06'E55 since April and have no need to visit the dealer yet. My personal experience has been extremely positive and that is why I keep on getting MB. Even my Lexus will be gone in June for a GL450.

John

Vik888

The way I see it .. my Dad paid $85k for his 1989 420SEL which is one of the cars I now drive. It has amazing leather, wood, leather dash, etc. Quality is amazing.

I'm buying a ML350, $43k MSRP, after all sorts of gadgets, $63k.

I dont have my inflation calculator handy, but if I want $85k quality in 1989 money, I'm going to have to drop probably close to $100k MSRP on a MB to get the quality my Dad enjoyed, which I've roughly seen in the S-Class.

Yes, it looks cheap. I test drove one last week, and I was not too thrilled because I always compare it to my Dad's old 89 420SEL. Then I realized I'm getting all the gadgets I enjoy, and I'm getting MB safety, and it beats the pants off many of the other SUVs I've checked out .. Range Rover, BMW X5, Porsche Cayanne.

So while I agree with you that it has a cheap interior, for $43k MSRP, you won't get much better elsewhere, especially with MB safety.

Fast55

Low maintenance is one thing. *****ty build quality and poor customer service would however, cancel out even ZERO maintenance.

AsianML

ML has been perfect!!

DslBnz

FWIW, the 420SEL that you have would cost almost 150K US dollars in today's valuation. Seems a tad expensive for a 420. A 420 in those days would start at approximately 66K dollars for a base model. Or, about 110K in today's money.

Mercedes back in the 70s and 80s had a different philosophy. Practical Mechanical Over-engineering (even their ads touted the relative simplicity of their cars) and superior build quality and vault-like construction. Today, their new philosophy can be summed up as Overly-complex Electrical Engineering.

Thanks to federally mandated environmental production limits, cars have to be made with non-toxic recyclable materials. That's why there's orange peel on brand new S-Class cars (water based paint), and the interior is underlined with extremely spongy foam material with rough and rubbery surfaces.

Whatever floats your boat. Still, if you want to drive an older MB, you better make sure you can maintain it yourself!

mkaresh

Consumer Reports says it's awful, lowest of all brands.

But it's important to realize that CR stresses relative differences. The absolute problem rates, which they do not release for individual models, are often small.

These days your odds of having no problems in the first year or two are good even with a "below average" car.

My main critique of CR:

http://www.truedelta.com/pieces/shortcomings.php

My own research focuses on absolute problem rates, to make the differences between cars much clearer.

Hoop

2007 E350 Sport with 3000 miles and Zero problems. I hope I didn't just jinks it.

mkaresh

Hmmm, maybe I should add the jinx factor to my survey.

"Within the last month, have you bragged to anyone that your car has been problem-free?"

JLP

MB's are hit and miss, but I believe the 07's are much better than the 03-06 run which was utter sh*t.

If you want guaranteed reliabilty get a Lexus.............but you'll be bored.

fixbenz

hold your breath.....we just started moving most of the 07 out (selling them)
so far really not much......but give it at least a year..things pop up...99.9% of the time it can be taken care of...

mkaresh

There are no guarantees. One of my panel members recently had his ES 350 bought back by Lexus. Within the first 8,000 miles it had:

--new transmission at 2,300 miles
--nav/climate control unit replaced, twice
--leaking strut replaced
--engine pulled to fix an oil leak

So while such cars may be more rare with Lexus, they are not non-existent.

Toyota is having many problems with the new FWD six-speed automatics. I have at least one 2007 Camry V6 owner in my panel who has also already had his transmission replaced.

mkaresh

Very true. It's a bit early to tell.

I'd like to help. The reliability research I'm conducting is designed to quickly report any changes in reliability, with prompt quarterly updates. On average, my results will be over ten months "fresher" than Consumer Reports', so any changes will be evident about that much sooner.

In practical terms, this means an initial report on the new model year in February.

The May update will cover the year ending March 31. This is the same time period covered by CR's annual update, which happens six months later, in November.

And when they update in November, I'll be releasing results for the year through September 30.

All I need is enough cars. If you want to know as soon as possible whether Mercedes truly has gotten its act together, I hope you'll help out.

Details: Vehicle reliability research

JLP

1 panel member?

How many MB owners have had tranny issues with the 772.9 on this forum alone?

Reliability aside..........MBUSA can't hold a candle compared to Lexus for how they deal with an issue after the fact. That makes a big difference when people are asked about a certain brand.

mkaresh

Mercedes was very good about buying back my parents' neighbors' 2005 S-Class after the seven-speed auto had to be replaced 2-3 times

I haven't visited any Lexus boards lately. But check out the 6th gen Camry forum at a place like Toyotanation, and you'll find many V6 Camry owners whose transmissions either have been replaced or are about to be.

There's actually a thread at odyclub, a Honda Odyssey forum, titled, "So whose transmission has lasted more than 75,000 miles?" And there are many, many threads about transmission failures.

I'm not arguing that Lexus are no more reliable than Mercedes, only that they're not bulletproof, either.

JLP

I hate to say this because I am a long time mulitple MB owner but MB still has a long way to go before they come close to having as few problems as Lexus.

Would I buy a Lexus?

No but I do envy their track record when it comes to reliability and how they treat their customers when they do have a problem, MB has a long history of dragging their feet and being reluctant to fix the problem in a timely fashion.

And that makes a huge difference when the average person is thinking about a Lexus or MB

. I really believe that MB is working hard to improve their quality and feel that the 2007 models are much better than the 03-06 models, but it might take them a little time to get back to the top.