Huachipato

My wife and I are thinking of potentially purchasing an '06 R500. I was kind of hoping to run into a thread that outlined all the issues most have ran into, but I don't see one stickied.

I'm potentially going to go an test drive it tomorrow - is there anything I should be looking out for?

I am mostly curious if they are as bullet proof as my '00 E320 has proven to be.

Thanks,

supernsx

My R500 is pretty reliable and here are couple of my share of issues.

1. Transmission upshift delay (software update fixes it)
2. Airmatic Suspension Leak (not all R's have Airmatic but it will eventually all fail and the cost is $$$$$$$$)
3. Automatic Lift-gate Malfunction (not completely close. replace couple parts + need adjustment)
4. Automatic side mirrors unable to close ($$)

Good luck!

pedra

I live in Canada, so good used MBs are expensive, and with the Canadian winters -road salt etc. condition can be an issue, so I bought an 06 R500 from Florida last year with ~40K miles. Great car in excellent condition.
Key learnings:
Make sure that you have a watertight warranty - literally. Check that the air intake drain is not plugged. First sign is a damp carpet on the front passenger side. The blower is next to fail - $1000, then in my case the YAW sensor and other electronics fail due to water ingress - $3000.
A car of this size really needs a back up camera - yet to find how to install one.
I also have to use an aftermarket bluetooth for the phone.
The R500 as meant to be a weekend/vacation long distance family cruiser. Canada to Florida or Arizona. Does this well.
Great car, no problems other than the water episode.

Huachipato

I'll be honest - I'm not a "Buy Warranty" kind of guy - I'm more of the get my hands black and dirty to fix it on my own kind of guy. I like doing my own maintenance and the E320 has proven itself to be rather cheap to keep up and running for the last 5 years.

Sounds like the air suspension would be a feature I would want to avoid... The other issues seem either preventable or not too complicated to correct.

Huachipato

Well - I'm having some really bad luck. I took the whole family to see the R500, without realizing that it had been sold the day before. Go back to my trusty old E320 and it just fails to start on me. I actually now have to say the car left me stranded somewhere after all... :-(

Oh well... Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

gatonls

1. Transmission upshift delay (software update fixes it) - Can you give a little more info on this? My R has been down shifting hard lately?!?!

BallJack

I hate to say it but there are no such bullet proof cars nowadays because of the amount of technology that's embedded in them. Older cars tend to be more 'reliable' because there's less computer-controlled and automated stuff but rather have more mechanical parts that were easier to replace.

My worst recent reliability experience with a car was with a Honda. Everyone was saying that Honda is reliable but you know it's still a hit or miss kind of thing. I was a victim and I'm never going to buy a Honda again based on my experience. I read posts from people in this board say the same thing about Mercedes Benz. What I'm trying to say is, just read all you can get from here with a grain of salt. It is quite a wealth of information - and just learn to filter out some.

Also, it is hard to trust online forums like these because unhappy owners tend to rant and actively post on their bad experiences. I know I did that on the Honda board. Meanwhile, the satisfied owners tend to do the opposite.

My suggestion to you is to make sure that all the recalls and fixes were done to it. Being an 06 model year, a lot of the issues started from there and only got corrected as the years went on.