So I brought my ML into service today for the steering service campaign and they gave me a GLB250 as a loaner. Not bad but not worth 50k. Over the years I started to recognize that Mercedes campaign to put everyone in a MB is actually affecting all their automobiles quality.

The GLB has cheap looking plastic stalks for the wiper and shifter arms is the first thing you notice.

By Mercedes making a cheaper over priced car so everyone can afford a MB has turned out in my opinion that all the MB products are getting less of a specialty automobile then it was in the past.

I am looking for a new SUV and there are some good quality and poor quality GLE products con the lot. Looking at an X5 also just because the quality has gotten so bad with MB.

 

GLA, CLA, GLC, GLB, A I do not even consider a MB. When people say they purchased one of those on the list I basically have nothing nice to say because honestly it is just all bad. Everyone use to rip on the C Class but look at them now compared to these awful models. A C450 is a really nice little car. $50,000 for a GLB is just insane! I paid that much for a brand new E Class (W210) Model. You are always better off buying a used higher end model vs the brand new model. My wife’s s parents bought a GLC a couple of years ago and I am amazed at the low quality. It is just truly awful!

 

It’s lowest common denominator engineering. MB is using the GLB to compete with the X1 and X2 from BMW. The X1 is super cheap looking imo.

The GLB has snappy styling but not up to M-B standards in the details as mentioned in previous posts.

 

Fully agree on GLB/GLA, but IMHO GLC is at least as much an MB as C - GLC and C have basically identical interiors, but GLC300 loaners I had absolutely felt more upscale inside than C300 loaners.

 

So many new SUVs and sports cars have started filling up the lineup of MB vehicles. I find myself overwhelmed with all the new models. I really wish MB was still an exclusive luxury car brand that focused on the S, E, and C cars (maybe one SUV).

 

Yep, they sold out their roots of quality and luxury in the name of profit sometime around 2014. They are basically plastic cell phones with wheels. Once the warranty is up, the first major repair makes it a throw-away vehicle. Go buy another one. MB doesn't make money on cars that are bought and paid for. It's the best of nothing.

 

Don't even think about it. We have an X6. Beautiful machine that has a road feel unmatched by anything I've ever driven. But it's a selfish beotch who demands between $1k and $2k every year. Only has 50k miles on it.
I recently gave my 2007 FJ to my stepdaughters who've come of driving age. I had a budget of up to $120k+ for a company car. Based on my experience with my old FJ with 140k miles which never saw the dealership once in all those years, I went with a 4Runner, another Toyota.

I will not ever again buy a high-end German vehicle. EVER. If I want to flash my wealth, I'll buy an expensive watch.

 

No need to. A dual residence of Montreal and Cape Coral is just about as good as it gets. You've done well.

 

So you bought a high end German car to flash wealth? Common please tell this a huge joke.

 

The X6 was purchased by my then GF back in 2012. I purchased the ML two years ago because I got it for a steal. It's my wife's daily driver.
Read my post, my daily driver was a 2007 Toyota with 140k miles.

But you have to admit; you don't buy a high-end car to prove to everybody that you're on welfare. And I don't really have an issue with that. You worked exceptionally hard to achieve a certain financial status (or want to look like you did), why not flaunt it? My issue is shelling out big bucks for what is essentially an inferior product compared to most japanese vehicles. Hell, even compared to American vehicles, which have come a long way in terms of reliability. I run a fleet of 6 trucks, mostly GMC Savana's and a Dodge Ram. Damn things just don't break down, and I rotate them out of service at around 100k miles. You want the list of crap that had broken on my ML with only 30k miles? Or our X6 with 50k miles?

NEVER AGAIN.

 

Thx, I could've done worse LOL

 

Yes, you could have bought in Lehigh Acres. LOL

 

Me me me !! 21 years old owned my first C class, brand new!! And I sort of paid for it because my parents let me stay at their place for free, they told me to enjoy life I have no payment other than my cell phone bill before my car payment, just saying ... it was very nice for my parents to do that, and i probably will do the same for my kids. I did work very hard to save my down payment for my c class, but my dad helped me a lot in stock market. He taught me how to do trade and a lot of life skills which i am still using/practicing everyday.....My dad's company gave him a S class and a driver at 1993 , so having a mercedes definitely a way to flash your $$ ....Open your mouth and tell this a huge joke

 

Tell me about it LOL

I met a buddy thru a truck website in 2000 and we really hit it off. He invited me down to the Cape in 2004 and I fell in love with the city. Went back to visit every Thanksgiving and in 2012 with the market almost at rock bottom, with the guidance of my buds wife who was a mortgage broker, bought a cute little thing in the Cape. Best financial move I ever made.

I've met people who'd run out and snapped up properties in Lehigh for peanuts. We're talking brand-new builds for next to nothing out in the middle of nowhere. At night, they'd wake up to machine-gun fire. They couldn't give the property away, so they foreclosed. Sad....

 

[QUOTE=GLK Super Fan;8055460]Me me me !! 21 years old owned my first C class, brand new!! And I sort of paid for it because my parents let me stay at their place for free, they told me to enjoy life I have no payment other than my cell phone bill before my car payment, just saying ... it was very nice for my parents to do that, and i probably will do the same for my kids. I did work very hard to save my down payment for my c class, but my dad helped me a lot in stock market. He taught me how to do trade and a lot of life skills which i am still using/practicing everyday.....My dad's company gave him a S class and a driver at 1993 , so having a mercedes definitely a way to flash your $$ ....Open your mouth and tell this a huge joke [/

. I had the S Classes because they where large, comfortable and extremely well made. Nothing else to me is better. Time went on and I did not want such a large car. The fact is for the money I paid and because I buy used and CPO buying a non luxury car would cost me more money. So for the price I can have a solid well made S Class (I had 2 W126's) for the price of a economy car. Comfort, power, safety vs cheap and awful build quality. Fact is I have family who will spend $50,000 on a Honda or Toyota minivan. For what they paid for that I bought used MB coupe or convertible and had money left over. So again buying a MB because you want to flash wealth is a stupid reason. A fully loaded Jeep Grand Cherokee like my brother bought cost more than C Class was brand new. So maybe he bought that because he wants to flash his wealth? Oh wait nobody would ever say such a thing. Fact is there are far more expensive cars than a ML or C Class.

Side note: Investing in the stock market is great. Long time holder of MSFT, VZ, T and LULU. Good luck!

 

sorry to hear that. What specifically has gone wrong but your ML cost almost $2000 a year? Gas or Diesel? My car gets serviced once a year I don’t go to the dealer I do the oil changes myself. I also have an independent shop that I use if something needs repair. I only use a dealer for recall work or warranty on any car. $2,000 a year seems high unless you have something that just keeps breaking? Do you only time I ever had a $2000 bill was for full suspension rebuild or major services.

 

The post you quoted was concerning a BMW X6. Needy l'il thing, considering we only put around 5k miles per yr, if that.

The ML isn't presently costing anything but oil and gas. I converted the oil filter to a honking big spin-on & deleted the DEF/DPF/EGR/wirl valves along with a delete tune.
If I wanted to spend money on her, I'd bring it to the dealer for the "inactive blindspot" message that pops up at every start-up.
Or the constant message that the fob battery is low........on both fobs......after replacing the batteries repeatedly.

So no, the ML only costs me oil, fuel and a new set of shoes this spring, not the trucks fault

 

I have never owned a BMW so I cannot comment on the reliability. Sorry to hear the X6 was issues. But then again the more tech they put on cars the more issues come.

 

their strategy is to make a car for every income bracket -- if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to buy, or out of courtesy, take a loaner car while yours is in the shop.

 

[QUOTE=C280 Sport;8056409]I don't think you get it. Having a high end European vehicle is a status and achievement for a lot of people. It may not be you, but i don't see people on welfare that drive a mercedes S class. And because the status and achievement factors, that why the A, CLA, GLA or GLB makes sells in the market. That just my personal opinion. There are nothing wrong with the Toyota mini van, but it just not a Mercedes.