elijahwww

Hi,
Wife and I are thinking of buying a used GL450, '12 model with less than 40,000 miles. I owned 2 BMW's before and never really gave MB much thought while I was single. Now with 2 kids I need capacity

The first BMW (328is) and back when I did all the maintenance DIY had cooling issues. I figured out root cause only towards the end of its life (owned for 10 years) that its fan clutch was faulty. I replaced radiator, cooling fluid pump, thermostat, control arms. Aside from that everything else was wear/tear stuff. Easy brake/rotor, spark plugs, diff/brake/coolant flushes. Had a fuel contamination once and had to replace injectors and fuel filter. But that's not the car's fault.

The second BMW 335i was purchased under CPO warranty. Now on 76,000 miles, it is 7 years old. It is as precise, performant and top shape as it was new. Minus the Nav, which gave out on the first year but not covered under extended warranty. It's a $3 fix for me (dvd laser head) and $600 fix at the dealer. Also, it ate 1 quart of oil since my last oil change, which was... almost 2 years ago (~13,000mi). It also had a minor steering fluid leak, only enough to mar the driveway, but fixed under warranty years back. All in all I still trust the car on 300 mile trip with family.

So to MB's and GL's reliability. I read here about the Airmatic concerns and issues with the first (2007) models. I've never owned MB, so I want to set my wife's expectations on what it would be like. She would give me hell if her new car gave her any kind of problems.

I found an interesting chart about Daimler's warranty budget vs BMW (and a few others)

and the parent article: http://www.warrantyweek.com/archive/ww20120712.html

It only shows stats for 2002-2011. There was a huge spike in '07 on warranty budget with mild tapering off in subsequent years. In 2011, MB spent 50% more on warranty than BMW.

I can't tell what the trend is to project 2012 but maybe someone else has seen more updated statistics for their warranty expenditures. This is the only objective reference I can find so far to indicate overall reliability. JDPower also lists MB below BMW slightly (GL vs. X5 comparison), but the comparison was even less granular than this.

I enjoy reading this forum and thanks for chiming in!!

chsu74

I have a 09 GL 320 and am pleased with it as a family vehicle. These trucks are 6K lbs and you feel it.

I would review every car's carfax you are interested in and look for regular maintenance and quality issues. Sometimes a lot of warranty claims means a lot of new parts so less issues going forward.

Pick one with the right options. Lighting package, keyless entry, running boards and a tow hitch are important to me. Xenon lights can be retro fitted with aftermarket easily. I also find comfort with runflat tires for my wife so she does not have to wait on the side of the road or struggle with a 50+ lbs wheel. It is worth giving up ride comfort for her safety.

Buy a truck with CPO and choose to extend the years on it if you don't put the miles on the truck. Be prepared to refuel often with the gasoline version. If you are open to diesels, buy cetene boosters and only refuel from stations that move diesel volume to avoid water contamination. 650 mile range is great for road trips.

I am going to keep my truck for the next 10 years. It's a great vehicle for what it is and offers. Airmatic springs can be replaced with aftermarket parts that come with lifetime warranty. The extra money spent on CPO is worth the piece of mind. Be nice to your dealer service advisor and they will often take care of you because you service the vehicle there and have CPO.

Your other option is a Dodge Durango which is built on the same chassis. That will save money if you buy used.

alx

you will do just fine.

jump in

sak335

I've been driving BMW's for over 20 years now, bought my first (a 1988 535is which was a fantastic car) back in 1993 when I was 23.

BMW's have a reputation for being maintenance heavy cars and I can't dispute that. Having said that, if you know your way around an engine bay and have reasonable diagnostic skills, they aren't too bad to own. If you aren't the type to get your hands dirty and automatically send them to the shop when something goes wrong, you will suffer terribly.

I don't view MB much differently. I've owned my 2012 GL 350 for a year now, and we put 10,000 miles on it. In that year the NOx sensor failed and was replaced under warranty and I did a service (Oil, cabin filters, DEF, fuel filter, brake flush.) I don't find working on the Benz any harder than any of my BMW's (I currently have a 2013 328i which has been completely trouble free for 13,000 miles; all maintenance 'free' by the dealer including washer fluid.)

My brother in law has an older C32 AMG and it's been worked over by Kleemann. The stack of receipts that came with it when he bought it used added up to almost half the value of the car over again and he's replaced a few things since. Working on the car has been easy (he uses my lift and I hold the light in one hand and a beer in the other) but the parts are expensive.

I find the service writers at the BMW dealership are easier to deal with (my wife complained that the hand brake on the 328i was too hard for her to pull up - she has to use two hands for reverse too as it's a manual - and they gave her a loaner and fixed it to her satisfaction) whereas the MB dealer tried to blame me for the NOx sensor failure - said I must have used the wrong type of oil when I did the oil service. Joke was on him as I saved my receipts just in case they tried to pull that on me.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying that I don't see much difference in the current generation of cars. Every car will have some kind of issue. Hell, BMW's are notorious for plastic cooling system parts (preventative radiator changes at 90k, expansion tanks like clockwork at 60k, plastic impellers on water pumps), high-pressure fuel pump issues on the early turbo cars, lousy rear shock mounts on the E36 and E46 cars, as well as weak rear trailing arm bushings and crappy interiors (sagging headliners, door cards that literally peel apart). At the same time, my E36 M3 went 150k on the original clutch and that included about 10,000 hard track miles, so they must be doing something right.

The quality of MB cars definitely plunged back in the Daimler-Chrysler days, but by all accounts have improved. I have a friend who works at Chrysler as an engineer and he said to avoid the Benzes from those years based on his experience with the Mercedes guys that he worked with and the quality targets that they set.

560SEL

I bought a used 08' GL450 with 55000 mi last year. We have a 13' X6 and had 2 X5's before that.

The GLs suffer from an air suspension that is not quite robust enough. The air springs only last apparently 50-70k miles from what I hear. I replaced all 4 (2 were bad when I bought the car). Then I had the air compressor done.

Aside from this, I believe and have heard that the actual drivetrain (engine & transmission) are very reliable on the GLs.

I had 2 oil leaks on the X5s, coil pack, water pump etc. all covered under warranty. BMWs are engineered well and drive superb (unless you are looking to cruise in comfort - where the GL rocks!) however, they are simply not designed to go the distance like the old 6 cylinder cars in the 80s and 90s.

We'll see if the GL is any better. I haven't had a car with this mileage on it in many years...? Loving it so far.

Good luck.