I've had my '05 SL55 for a year with no leaks. Just minor annoyances (e.g. squeals, slow nav, etc.). Drive the car, on average, around 650 - 700 miles per month and always garaged.

 

Guess you are one of the few that can dump your car and take a loss you did just that... right?

This is the only automotive forum that I have been on that attracts people with such harsh criticism of the vehicle they own. Maybe the posters that I am getting annoyed with dont even own Mercedes cars, they are just trolls that dont have anything better to do then knock something they will never be able to afford.
Bashing their cars over and over and still hanging out in this forum is stupid. Life must be very boring for these people..
Why are you still here? You sold your car and ordered a Vanquish right?
I do not think the owner of this site built it so people could have a place whine and cry over and over. I think it was made so people could share thoughts, cool mods, and be helpful to each other.
If your car is a turd and is in the shop every other week then I am sorry, however there are laws to protect you and you need to take advantage of
I disagree with you on cost being an issue dumping an car laden with problems. If you can afford a $100K then you can afford to trade it or sell it to get a trouble free car.
Anyone that is married financially to a car has much bigger issues than how many times their car is at the dealer for repairs.

 

Who wants a 20K lost, because Mercedes will not take responsibly to build them right at the factories and dealers who do not take responsibility to fix the car properly? That is why we have lemon laws to protect us.

I am glad that some of you have flawless cars. But this forum is great because it allows others with the same problem to have their dealer contact each other dealers for a possible solution. I like to see the good and the bad on these forums because it helps others make a decision on their purchase.

Mercedes should read these forums so they know where to improve. By making these cars better, they will increase their quality control reputation and get more sales. I would definitely like my customers to tell me the good and bad so I can make improvements in my business.

 

Do you think it is possible that it is the quality of this particular automobile that is causing this problem?

 

I fixed the leak in my trunk the other day myself instead of letting the dealership do the job. The seal at the bottom of the back window has a sticky strip on it that seals the water from collecting inside the weatherstrip, which in turn lets water run into the trunk even after no more water applied to the back window. I pulled the seal back and cleaned the area on the strip and applied black silcone sealer and adheasive. This sealed the weatherstrip once and for all. I think when the dealership replaces the strip the adheasive gives way and the leak starts all over again. If this is where your trunk leaks this may help.

 

Unfortunately, people who are having problems will always be more vocal than those without. The percentage of people having problems is small, but they all seem to be on this forum.


I also think that the "trunk leaking" thing is a dealer/mechanic problem not an MB problem. People that have a continual issue like this need to find a different dealer/mechanic. The great majority of SL owners don't have any trunk leaking. The mechanics obviously don't know to install the gaskets properly. It's hard to get good "techs". As in any profession, there is only a small percentage that are actually good at what they do!

 

Actually there is a service bulletin that makes modifications to the seal and drain tube. The newer models address the leak problem. So if there is a service bulletin to adjust the seals and drain tube then it is a MB design problem.

 

I seriously doubt that the half dozen or so people complaining about their SL would even begin to make a dent in the J.D. Powers quality survey that ranks MB 34th.

More than likely you sense a lot of complaints (proportionately) because there is a hell of lot out there to be unhappy about.

 

I would bet the C class and especially the ML class have alot more to do with low quality ratings than the SL class.

 

I believe they are broken down by class and if I remember correctly I think they said the C class actually had the best reliability ratings.

I don't remember the ML class but it would surprise me if that one didn't help matters much.

What I remember the most was that the reliability ratings, according to J.D. Powers were actually in reverse order of the cost of the car. The cheaper cars had the highest ratings for reliability while the more expensive were the worst.

 

The ML was the main culprit when it first came out and even a few years after but lately its primarily been the E then followed by other classes.

The Mercedes of yore was at the top of the quality and customer satisfaction ratings and that's exactly why Lexus set their sites on them.

I recently spent some time with a Service Director of a very large MB dealership, he has been with MB for approx 20 years and he was quite candid in his comments since we were in a social setting and all was "off the record". He admitted the quality has regressed considerably. He also said the factory is getting more difficult to deal with every day. About 15 mins later the owner of the dealership came by and I chatted with him, he echoed the exact same concerns the Service director did, we reminisced about the good ole days when MB would go the extra mile and then some for its dealers and more importantly its customers. He did say MB is trying to improve quality but he still has his doubts as he's been told that for years now. We'll see...

 

That is basically what a dealer told me. That dealer also said it is more difficult to get stuff replaced under warranty because of cosmetic damage. It took the dealer 8 months to get my wheels replaced because the wheel paint was sprayed on top of debris.

In 2001, the c-class had a lot of problems. My friend took his car in 6 times in the first 6 months of ownership because his car would not lock. Mercedes had a lot of problems with the credit card looking keyless entry system back then.

I remember in 2002, I showed the dealer that the paint was peeling off of my console in my SLK, and he replaced it with no questions asks. On my 2004 SL500, the panel under the steering wheel had a hole in it, so the dealer tried to repair the hole first and then they replaced the panel. I thought that was odd because they just replace stuff in the past.

 

Don't forget, people have to actually respond to these surveys and those that are happy are less likely to spend the time than those who are unhappy.

The surveys I get are very long and tedious. I make it to the third page of god knows how many and chuck the thing.

 

What makes you think that a satisfied Lexus owner is more likely to return a survey than a satisfied Mercedes owner? In both cases disgruntled people may be more likely to return the survey and yet Lexus still kills MB in owner sartisfaction.

This explanation makes no sense.

 

I never said that satisfied Lexus owners were more likely to send the survey.
Lexus cars are more reliable than Mercedes cars. I have never claimed that Mercs were the most reliable cars, just that they're not as bad as this forum might suggest. I think other models in the brand ( ML) are making the brand look worse than it is.

 

cwoods817,

Rsilva advised me to look at the bottom of my trunk for water and rust. You want to do the same and take pictures of the rust. I have a cheap digital camera and this is the only good picture I could take. I have a lot of rust in my trunk. Also look at the water damage on the label. I had to clean up the water underneath my spare tire.

 

After six times at the dealer to fix the leak, I finally offered them a deal that they should not have refused, but they did! I discussed the deal with the MBUSA rep and told him that each of the three times they replaced the trunk seals, the leak stopped for about a month only to start again. I has asked they do an early termination of my lease and I'd lease a new one. Since they want to pretend that I am the only one with this problem, and want to play hardball, I decided to become even more hard-headed myself and file a Breach of Warranty lawsuit, which if successful, would return all my money for the car, plus legal fees (no cost to me if we lose). It's going to cost MBUSA much more this way! MBUSA want one more try to fix the car, which is actually required in the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. They want to use a regional specialist to work on the car, but his first availability was over three weeks out! Does this provide a hint of the magnitude of MB problems? They will replace the seals yet again and it will stop the leak for a while, but the attorney said it didn't matter, we still have the law suit going forward. It's now a manhood issue.....

 

Right on out Cwoods

Take them to the cleaners!!

 

good luck. over the year my family has spent million on mercedes. I ended up with a pos G500. As of today $19500 in warranty clams have been paid to the dealer work warranty repairs, and i still have problems. You talk to mb and they do things like laugh on the phone when you suggest them buy the car back... My last converstion with mb on the Junk wagon they told me if i had a problem just to sue them. When i said well considering it has been in the shop 13 times for broken door handles / locks, and my wife and daughter are in a accident and burn to death because two doors will not open on the car and you all have know this for 6 weeks and still have not given me parts or a car to drive and this is the 9 time i have had this problem what do you figure two lives are worth on a money scale. then they get all well sir im just the lady on the phone i didnt build you car.

So i even had the dealer try.. no luck. they told me the reason it it squeeks and rattels and the cd does eject cds is becuase it built like a 3/4 ton truck. So when i told them my GMC is a one tun and it doesnt have problems they got all quite.

I will never have another mb under warranty or even anywhere close to new. There build quality sucks, deperation is massive, and they just dont care when the car has problems. If you think about it from other points of view we could go buy a new Denali and corvette, for what most mb cost these days. If the vette or the denali has a problem we can give them away and still loose less money than what a benz drops in 3 years.

what i have found that works... if stop in the dealer on saturdays and hang out in the show room. when some one comes in to look at starts talking to sale man, just interupt them.. goes sorta like this... customer, so how is the quality of mb... sales man. mb is in a leage of there own... ME yea they suck. How is the warranty on the cars, sales man.. mb procucts dont have problems.. Me then why do i have a car with 19,K in repairs and its still broken. and just keep going on and on... the dealer will love you