SL/R230: R 230 Reliability
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 308
Likes: 0
From: UK
R 230 Reliability
An article in this week's UK Autocar magazine refers to a recent survey by their sister German car magazine (I think its called AMZ) on luxury car reliability.
Apparently they polled 50 people who have taken delivery of SL 500 this year. 28% have reported major problems from new. The customers involved have either now sold their cars or agreed financial compensation with their dealers.
Problems involved the Sensotronic brake systems and Vario roof - jamming, poor fit and leaking. There were no further details in Autocar and I havent seen the original German article.
If anyone has access to this it could make interesting reading!
Apparently they polled 50 people who have taken delivery of SL 500 this year. 28% have reported major problems from new. The customers involved have either now sold their cars or agreed financial compensation with their dealers.
Problems involved the Sensotronic brake systems and Vario roof - jamming, poor fit and leaking. There were no further details in Autocar and I havent seen the original German article.
If anyone has access to this it could make interesting reading!
Almost a Member!
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 58
Likes: 0
From: S. CA
BMW Hartge 5
Re: R 230 Reliability
Originally posted by SL Boy
An article in this week's UK Autocar magazine refers to a recent survey by their sister German car magazine (I think its called AMZ) on luxury car reliability.
Apparently they polled 50 people who have taken delivery of SL 500 this year. 28% have reported major problems from new. The customers involved have either now sold their cars or agreed financial compensation with their dealers.
Problems involved the Sensotronic brake systems and Vario roof - jamming, poor fit and leaking. There were no further details in Autocar and I havent seen the original German article.
If anyone has access to this it could make interesting reading!
An article in this week's UK Autocar magazine refers to a recent survey by their sister German car magazine (I think its called AMZ) on luxury car reliability.
Apparently they polled 50 people who have taken delivery of SL 500 this year. 28% have reported major problems from new. The customers involved have either now sold their cars or agreed financial compensation with their dealers.
Problems involved the Sensotronic brake systems and Vario roof - jamming, poor fit and leaking. There were no further details in Autocar and I havent seen the original German article.
If anyone has access to this it could make interesting reading!
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,447
Likes: 14
From: UK
SL55 AMG
At least the SL problems are fixable. No amount of dealer TLC will fix the frowning visage of the BMW 7, nor its corpulent runt. As someone once said, you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 308
Likes: 0
From: UK
Yes Blue SL I agree with you about Mercedes new model problems are usually very quickly and permanently fixed - the Vito/V class being a notable exception.
But in this German case I was hoping to find out more and wondering if it was more serious as monetary compensation was involved. Unless of course the Germans shout louder than us British and forced the manufacturers hand.
I went to the UK SLK press launch in 1996 at the Birmingham Motor Show which turned out to be an embarrassment for Mercedes. The three SLKs in the booth - none of the vario roofs would "vario"; I saw 4 other cars at dealers the same week, 7 cars in all and those roofs didnt work either. Problems seemed to be quite fundamental and entertaining - the complex folding/unfolding sequence didnt happen in the right order! Presumably a batch fault in one component. But Mercedes sorted it quickly.
But in this German case I was hoping to find out more and wondering if it was more serious as monetary compensation was involved. Unless of course the Germans shout louder than us British and forced the manufacturers hand.
I went to the UK SLK press launch in 1996 at the Birmingham Motor Show which turned out to be an embarrassment for Mercedes. The three SLKs in the booth - none of the vario roofs would "vario"; I saw 4 other cars at dealers the same week, 7 cars in all and those roofs didnt work either. Problems seemed to be quite fundamental and entertaining - the complex folding/unfolding sequence didnt happen in the right order! Presumably a batch fault in one component. But Mercedes sorted it quickly.
Last edited by SL Boy; Aug 28, 2002 at 05:54 PM.
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
