My CL was in for four problems (ths week):

1. Mystery parktronic alarms

2. Malfunctioning Distronic

3. Flickering dash lights

4. Windows refusing to close

When I picked the car up today, distronic needs new sensor from germany and parktronic still sounds four no reason (although they told me it fixed) . I'm ready to tell MB to go **** themselves. My car has been to the dealer an excessive amount of time for the < two months I've had it.

To add insult to injury, it took them 30 minutes to bring my car aound and when they did it was filthy. The ****in' lot monkey asked me if I wanted it washed. I had a talk with a service advisor and they offered a free detail the next when the distronic sensor arrives.

I don't drive the Sl enough to experience problems. It's been a great car.

I say go for the Bentley GT. Too bad Audi does not have a serious Big Dog coupe.

 

If you pay me 10 grand I will take it off your hands. Dont laugh, by the time you get through dragging Mercedes to court and buying one of these SL600's for each of your lawyers my offer will seem like a great idea.

Then again you could always pay someone to evaluate the car and discuss rectification with head office directly. Have the car shipped in a closed container to the best dealer in the country and get it fixed. All with a loan car parked in your garage.

I find that 90% of problem resolution is in fact having a solution rather than the intention to conflict over who's **** is the biggest.

 

I am not worried about them fixing it. They will fix it and with no arguments. I just don't want to handle all the bull that goes along with them fixing it. I have had the car for less than two months and my mechanic has seen me more than my girlfriend.

This car ended up costing me $172,000 and even if they are willing to fix the car which I am sure they will, why should I need to have a $172,000 car fixed day after day. For me, this is the bottom line.

 

LovinSL600,

Send a letter about your problems to MBCA. They need them for the next meeting with the big dogs at MBUSA. MBCA will send all letters to MBUSA.

Send to: fbarrett@aol.com

 

...just wondering...do you even have that car for multiple MONTHS already?!?!?!

greetingz,

 

I agree with what others have said .. lemon the car if you can and get them to buy it back and give you ALL your money back.

Then what? I say just buy another SL600 or SL65. Its hit or miss whether the car you get will be reliable or not.

I'm planning on getting a 2006 SL55 .. but at that price, I really don't have much choice.

Also, if you want all the gadgets, I don't think you can buy anything else aside from a BMW or MB.

I suppose your nick will change to LoveinXXXXX in the meantime?

 

Did the clips and panel come from the factory that way, or were they damaged during a repair at the dealer?

 

I have no way of knowing.

 

What makes a car a lemon?

 

How much did you spend on this car for the changes you made? Even if they buy the car back I doubt they will re-imburse for the changes.

 

Maybe we are expecting too much from a single car. I think a better idea would be to get a luxury everyday car and a sport car for fun. There are many excellent cars that that could fit that model for about the same or less than what you paid for the sl600. Can anyone make such a list without exceeding
$ 170.000?

 

The changes came to about $15,000.

I spoke with the owner of the dealership today and he is going to try to see how they can expide all new panels from Germany. He promised they would do everything possible and asked that I just hang in there for just a little while longer.

We will see what the parts manager says on Monday about the timing.

 

This is part of the dreaded collateral damage I'm always worried about as I mentioned in another post to you. The tech's are so jaded by working on these cars everyday that they get repaired just like any other car. I had also metioned to you that I always have one specific tech that works on my cars as he personally knows both me and my expectations, plus some $$$ in his hand every other visit or so keep's his memory fresh.

I've owned many, many euro high end cars over the years, over 30, including but not limited to; Ferraris, Porsches, BMW's, MB's etc etc. I got to the point that when I had one problem after another I simply just replaced the car and lost thousands, well I finally started to wake up and stop doing that! I have had Mb replace 2 cars in recent years but this was only done when I qualified for lemon law and MB knew they'd lose anyway.

All brands have problems but the JD Power #'s will give you the added peace of mind knowing which brand fairs better with the public. MB's #'s have really gotten bad and as I've also mentioned here we can thank Mr. Schrempp for this by his insistence having all the parts suppliers provide cheaper parts to MB starting in the late 90's.

With respect to a replacement car for the SL600, see if you can get a new Ferrari 430 spyder, you'll have to pay a big premium for it but the "Rarri's" really hold their value and the 430 will command a premium for years to come just like the 360's did/are. Another big advantage is the Ferrari club racing and track events are amazing, I've met some incredible people with incredible vintage Ferraris at these events!

If you want to, you can work with the dealership to see if they can have thier very best tech and or shop foreman go through your entire car with a "fine tooth comb" and replace/repair anything that's not right while he updates the car with every TSB that's applicable to your VIN#. VW does this for our new Touareg with every visit wheather we are experiencing the respective issue or not, this helps ensure down the road we don't have the problem. If this still doesn't make you happy but you'd be happy with another MB then work with the dealership's owner for the "brother-in-law" deal on a new SL600 or even 65. The other strategy is just wait for the car to trigger lemon law days out of service and get MB to replace the car or refund your money and move on, by then the 06's will be out.

Geez I thought after that fresh coat of wax you were doing OK LOL :p

Hope the above info is helpful.

 

Tell the parts manager to FORGET the excuses and get the F**KING PARTS!!!

 

Hopefully they will make it right, your car is too beautiful to give up on, especially with all of the upgrades.

Regarding the interior upgrades, did you consider ordering the car with the dark alcantera and black ash wood from the factory? It seems this would reduce the risk of broken clips, rattles, etc., plus both of these items are no-cost options on the SL600.

 

Unfortunately, neither the dark alcantara or the black ash can be ordered on a SL600 with the black interior.

You can never get the dark alcantara on the SL600. All interiors come with the light gray except stone which comes with the stone alcantara.

The only time you can get black ash wood is when you order the berry red interior and then it is standard but other than that, no black ash wood.

This is the way it works on the SL600. On the SL55 or the SL65 you automatically get the dark alcantara with the black or charcoal interior and you can order the black ash wood as a no cost option with any interior.

You tell me why in the world you can have those options on the SL55 and SL65 but not on the SL600? Seems crazy, right?

Well, go to "build your own" on MBUSA.com and you will see. Replacing the wood and alcantara the way I did was the only option unless I got the SL55 or SL65, which believe me, in retrospect, might not have been such a bad idea although I do love how the SL600 drives.

Go figure.

 

Damn, should have put a second coat on. Maybe that would have done it.

 

It's too bad MBUSA are so restrictive on these kinds of choices. The dark alcantara and ash wood actually are available on SL600s (outside of the US market). The option codes are Y83 (Alcantara anthracite), and 736 (Ash). You actually CAN get these in the US if your dealer knows what they're doing. It's certainly a lot cheaper and less of a hassle than disassembling and reassembling the interior.

 

Don't let Lovin see this, it will definitley send him over the edge!

 

Continental GT all the way!

Or get the SL65 AMG... food for thought, maybe the SL600 is a lemon, but imagine the fun you'd have in an SL65, plus you wouldnt have to register to a new forum

 

Lovinsl600, I respectfully submit to you that your name here be changed to
Hate'nsl600.

Thank you,

 

I got to tell you that you must be a trip to hang out with.

 

If you do ditch the 600, I call I get to buy your black ash trim parts for my trouble free '05 SL55. Am I allowed to call dibs?

~ Ian

PS: Sorry to hear about your troubles... I'd hate to see the forum lose you.

 

LovenSL600,

I sympathize. I owned an SL55 for nine months before I traded it for an SL600. The 55’s reliability was so poor (and the service I received so bad) that just had to get rid of it. I ended up staying within the Mercedes brand because I couldn’t find an equivalent car with all the gadgets and features, as you discovered with the DB9. Fortunately, my SL600 has given me no trouble, but I’m sure that’s just the luck of the draw. My experiences with Mercedes have pushed me in favor of the Bentley Flying Spur (instead of weighting for the next generation S600) to replace my old S500 at the end of the year.

What would I do in your shoes? Probably order a Conti GT. Obviously not a convertible (yet) but you have a wide range of interior choices. Lack of such choices is one of Mercedes biggest failings, and having them is important to me, and given what you’ve done to your car I think it’s important to you.

If having a convertible is important I might buy a used 360 Spyder for instant gratification, since the 430 would be a long wait (at least for me: I have no pull at Ferrari dealerships). Of course maintenance and parts availability on Ferraris is worse than for the car you have.

 

LovinSL600-

Sorry to hear about the issues you have had. I'm sure the dealer will bend over backwards after the way they spoke of you during my test ride. I really appreciated your introduction to them.

Makes me consider two things, maybe Oakland over Pleasanton (at least Shoes seems to think Oakland rocks) and do I really want to spend my dollars on an unreliable expensive car? My ole coupe seems to be rock solid, although with a 140K on the odometer... Hopefully it's a random hit or miss regarding quality. It appears to be a frequent topic around here though.

If you decide to flip the SL I'd really like to see it before it's gone.

On the positive side, haven't seen this much activity on the forum in such a short amount of time!

Best of Luck!