I have a 2008 ML63 AMG we bought used from Carmax in June with 43k miles.

On Saturday, we drove from Atlanta to Illinois for Christmas at my in-laws. About two miles from my inlaw's house, the car went into limp mode and wouldn't shift above 2nd. We made it the last two miles driving 10mph. This was exactly 6 months to the day since we bought the car.

The dealer was closed over the weekend, so we had to wait until Monday (this morning) to get it towed in. The dealer tech of 20 yrs said he never seen anything like it and said the transmission chewed up it's gears.

Remanufactured transmission is about $5,800. We had to rent a Toyota Camry to drive back home to ATL and will be back to pick up the car in two weeks or when I feel like making the drive again. Luckily I bought the extended warranty from Carmax so other than lost time and a minor amount of money, this is covered under our extended plan. 72mo (expires in 2018)/125k miles/$100 deductible warranty cost us about $3,000, so it was money well spent.

The worse part is the taunting from the relatives about my fancy-pants, $100k super SUV breaking on us, where their 1999 Ford Taurus has had no problems.

 

LMAO..."The worse part is the taunting from the relatives about my fancy-pants, $100k super SUV breaking on us, where their 1999 Ford Taurus has had no problems." Do you mind if I ask how much did you buy the ML for? There is a 2007 with 59K miles at my CarMax that I am thinking if getting. I definitely would by the warrantee without a question. I think the car is marked up about 4K too much though and it pisses me off that they will not negotiate so I may look else wear. None of these cars are selling for what the dealerships want to sell them for. They all sit for months and months.

Larry

 

wow, that sux, first thing I started thinking was 'wonder if they got an extended warranty'...

very good move to get one of those.........good luck with it!
and who cares what the in-laws say.......soon you'll be back in your AMG and they'll still
be in their Taurus

 

Do you know if the car had its transmission oil done at 39k miles? Any other warning signs or harsh shifting in the days leading up to the failure?

Mine has done approx 70k miles and the tranny seems ok. About 2 weeks ago I was on the freeway, went to accelerate but a car changed lanes so i backed off.
Felt a big thud in the back as I think the tranny was confused. Still shifts ok though.

No warranty here

 

There was no indication of pending transmission failure prior to this. The dealer records show that all maintenance was done at the right times.

I paid too much. I got the fever and it was an impulse buy. I'm a terrible negotiator when I want something.

If I were to do it again, I would go for a cheaper one, maybe with higher mileage with long warranty. The 2007 is almost exactly the same as the 2008 and I think depreciation is the killer.

When I was looking there were only two for sale locally, the other one was a CPO at a MB dealer with 2k fewer miles, asking $52k. The carmax one was much cheaper, but the MB dealer could not get close to the Carmax price. Plus the CPO warranty could only be extended to 3 yrs for a lot more money. That one sat on the MB lot for 4 months. Our car was a CPO from the same dealer previous to the owner trading it at Carmax.

My only other complaint at 6 months of ownership is that it doesn't look special enough. To most people it looks like just another 5 year old ML350. Maybe a MB ML350 is special in a small town, but in Atlanta, everyone has a base model MB, BMW, or Lexus.

Still, I really like our ML63. The only car I would consider next is a GL63, new model ML63, or maybe a Porsche Cayenne Turbo.

 

You guys get much better warranty options than we do here.

A CPO only gets 2 yrs and if you buy from a non MB Dealer, usually the warranty isnt worth the paper its written on. Covers things that usually never break or has a limit per fault (e.g. Max of $500 to fix a diff)

As for the car not being special, I reckon mine looks ok!


You should swap out those 19's for some 20's or 22's.

Those people driving their ML350 would sure wish they had your car when you go by

 

Yes, the US is the land of cheap cars compared to the rest of the world. I just came back from a trip to Thailand, where ML350s cost well over $100,000 USD.

My wheels are 20's, I think they were standard with 20's in the US. I've been thinking of replacing the wheels with the new style replica AMGs.

 

Always get aftermarket extended warranty, it's worth it's weight in gold.

 

Mine had this problem too 3 months into when I bought the car, it was a valve body problem supposedly it was common in the 722.9 transmissions.

 

My 2 year extended warranty has only one year left now and already I am thinking of getting rid of the 2007 ml63 that I purchased one year ago. So far I have had to replace the front transfer case and throttle positioning sensor under warranty (within the first 6 months!) of a vehicle that was supposedly certified pre-owned.

Does anyone know if I can get more extended warranty in Canada once my remaining year of warranty ends. This transmission cost scares me further.

I am glad to hear you purchased extended warranty but that still sucks. Good luck with the repair!

 

I'm the third owner and the second owner bought it as MB certified prior to my purchase. I also had the car inspected by a dealer after purchase and they didn't find anything. Waste of money really for the dealer inspection since I know they did not check all the items that are in the certification process as they told me they would.

Overall I don't think MB certification means much other than replacing worn out parts to a certain degree.

My SLK350 was certified, but I found out that it had a front end collision and the front bumper was replaced. I found that out when my headlights fell back into the car while I was driving the night after I got the car. The plastic tabs where the bolts mount to the lights had cracked due to the prior front-end damage. They replaced both of them, list price about $4k for the pair.

I purchased the car from the MB dealer in NYC, the only corporate owned MB dealer in the US. So if corporate condones this level of quality, I wonder what goes on at franchised dealers. After my SLK I decided that MB certified isn't really that much more valuable than other extended warranties, so we went for one that is as long as I could find for reasonable cost.

I've also owned a certified BMW 323i and Audi TT, and had problems with those as well. I think the only brand left for me to try is Porsche.

 

The dealers are most likely all the same. Perhaps the game to play is to lease new every three or four years and let the longer term problems be somebody else's.

 

I had the same problem... no warranty MB wanted £7.5k but I ended up paying £1.5k as MB say the covered the balance as a Goodwill gesture... new transmission at 45k miles!!! Shocking haven't had any other issues still no extended warranty... I'm the second owner on a 2007 ML AMG

 

Just to update, I got my car back.

My out of pocket cost was just the $100 deductible, $4.50 additional for fluids warranty would not cover. The MaxCare warranty provided a rebuilt transmission and paid $1,200 in labor to dealer to install. Dealer said the value of the part was about $3,800. Warranty also reimbursed $319 for my rental car, which is more than they were contractually obligated to pay.

After driving it home (650 miles) we noticed that it was not as smooth as before, a lot more noise in the cabin, and worse fuel economy. A couple days later the Check Engine Light came on, so the car went to the local Atlanta MB dealer. I had actually called the warranty company and they wanted me to take it to an AAMCO transmission shop, but there is no way I'm letting them touch the car. Contractually, I can take it to any ASE certified facility and so I took it to the MB dealer.

It was in the dealer for 2 days and they replaced an O2 sensor ($426 to the warranty, $100 deductible to me). I pick it up on a Friday afternoon and I knew right away that they didn't address the other issues. I think they just wanted to close it out before the weekend.

This morning, Tuesday, I drop it off again and this time they tell me the car needs new engine and transmission mounts, the previous dealer probably didn't adapt the transmission, and they found a front airmatic strut failing causing a thumbing sound. I'm not sure how much all that will cost, but they put in the warranty claim. The dealer tells me that they are waiting for Maxcare to locate cheaper / rebuilt parts for the them to install.

I'm pretty sure we will get rid of the car before the warranty ends, but who knows, maybe after all of these problems I'll end up with a reliable car. Even though the warranty has been really good so far, it's very frustrating and I don't enjoy driving a C250 loaner car more than my own. I might just go rent a GL450 from Hertz for the week instead at least that has heated seats.

 

find some AMG 21" wheels. My 2010 ml63 has them and they look bad ***