SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: Fed Up With My SL55 Breaking Down
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SL55 AMG
Fed Up With My SL55 Breaking Down
Is it just mine or are these cars always breaking down? I have had a problem every few months ranging from SBC trouble (covered under recall), having to change air pump, warning lights coming on all the time for no apparent reason, fussy air conditioning, gurgling fuel tank noise, second battery draining if the car isn’t driven for two days and most recently having to change the rear shocks at a cost of € 4000. It is a 2003 with 53000 km… but having had a Lexus, a Range Rover and couple of Mercedes cars in the past, none of them have had so many problems with more mileage.
I am so fed up with it that I am considering selling it and getting something else.
I love the car performance and styling but my wife’s BMW has had no trouble in four years and our other car, a Toyota has been running for 10 years and other than regular maintenance and new tires, has had nothing go wrong with it. You pay so much for buying a Mercedes and then (at least here in France where insurance is based on the horsepower of the car) pay so much for insurance and then you get such bad reliability! What do you think?
I am so fed up with it that I am considering selling it and getting something else.
I love the car performance and styling but my wife’s BMW has had no trouble in four years and our other car, a Toyota has been running for 10 years and other than regular maintenance and new tires, has had nothing go wrong with it. You pay so much for buying a Mercedes and then (at least here in France where insurance is based on the horsepower of the car) pay so much for insurance and then you get such bad reliability! What do you think?
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This is what I wrote in another forum to someone with similar problems as yourself:
"I drive a 2002, September built and Novenber registered SL55. I guess it is one of the first with the 500PS engine (before it was 476PS I believe), and from what I can tell from the service record the car was built on monday morning by a still enibriated Mercedes employee who just returned from the Oktober-Fest practice weekend. The service record (I digged it up for this post) isn't 3 or 4 sheets long, but 6 sheets(!) Apparently everything imaginable about the car needed fixing. This was all done in Germany by the MB workplace of the previous owner. I bought the car and took it to Holland, where I since have had an SBC recall, and an actuator(?) recall which went unnoticed to me. Other than that just pure joy and reliability. Nonetheless, even my workshops manager was trully impressed with all the work that has gone into the car. It must have been an nightmare for the previous owner, but also for the workshop."
You can have very bad luck with an SL built on the wrong day in the week. Eventually they can have it fixed, but you need a dealers workshop that is willing to work with you. A later built model might be a solution, but I can imagine you looking at something else.
I for one, with all the trouble my car must have been am toruble free so far.
"I drive a 2002, September built and Novenber registered SL55. I guess it is one of the first with the 500PS engine (before it was 476PS I believe), and from what I can tell from the service record the car was built on monday morning by a still enibriated Mercedes employee who just returned from the Oktober-Fest practice weekend. The service record (I digged it up for this post) isn't 3 or 4 sheets long, but 6 sheets(!) Apparently everything imaginable about the car needed fixing. This was all done in Germany by the MB workplace of the previous owner. I bought the car and took it to Holland, where I since have had an SBC recall, and an actuator(?) recall which went unnoticed to me. Other than that just pure joy and reliability. Nonetheless, even my workshops manager was trully impressed with all the work that has gone into the car. It must have been an nightmare for the previous owner, but also for the workshop."
You can have very bad luck with an SL built on the wrong day in the week. Eventually they can have it fixed, but you need a dealers workshop that is willing to work with you. A later built model might be a solution, but I can imagine you looking at something else.
I for one, with all the trouble my car must have been am toruble free so far.
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From: Irvine, CA
2008 E550, 2012 GL450, 2014 GLK350, 2015 S550, 2020 GLC350e
I'm sorry to hear about your frustration. In the U.S., the warranty is 4yrs/50,000 miles I think. I take it in France, its not like this which is why you had to pay 4000 EUR for rear shocks? I've heard about this issue about rear shocks from others as well.
I have had a Toyota 4Runner for 11 years. Zero gadgets what so ever. It doesn't even have air bags and only rear ABS. Nothing ever breaks, because there is really nothing to break.
I'm fortunate to live in California where there is a Lemon Law which I'd gladly use if I ran into serious issues, but somehow I doubt that is going to happen with the 2007 SL55 I'm planning on buying.
I have had a Toyota 4Runner for 11 years. Zero gadgets what so ever. It doesn't even have air bags and only rear ABS. Nothing ever breaks, because there is really nothing to break.
I'm fortunate to live in California where there is a Lemon Law which I'd gladly use if I ran into serious issues, but somehow I doubt that is going to happen with the 2007 SL55 I'm planning on buying.
Originally Posted by AAG
Is it just mine or are these cars always breaking down? I have had a problem every few months ranging from SBC trouble (covered under recall), having to change air pump, warning lights coming on all the time for no apparent reason, fussy air conditioning, gurgling fuel tank noise, second battery draining if the car isn’t driven for two days and most recently having to change the rear shocks at a cost of € 4000. It is a 2003 with 53000 km… but having had a Lexus, a Range Rover and couple of Mercedes cars in the past, none of them have had so many problems with more mileage.
I am so fed up with it that I am considering selling it and getting something else.
I love the car performance and styling but my wife’s BMW has had no trouble in four years and our other car, a Toyota has been running for 10 years and other than regular maintenance and new tires, has had nothing go wrong with it. You pay so much for buying a Mercedes and then (at least here in France where insurance is based on the horsepower of the car) pay so much for insurance and then you get such bad reliability! What do you think?
I am so fed up with it that I am considering selling it and getting something else.
I love the car performance and styling but my wife’s BMW has had no trouble in four years and our other car, a Toyota has been running for 10 years and other than regular maintenance and new tires, has had nothing go wrong with it. You pay so much for buying a Mercedes and then (at least here in France where insurance is based on the horsepower of the car) pay so much for insurance and then you get such bad reliability! What do you think?
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Originally Posted by AAG
gurgling fuel tank noise, second battery draining if the car isn’t driven for two days
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Originally Posted by Vik888
...In the U.S., the warranty is 4yrs/50,000 miles I think ...
I'm fortunate to live in California where there is a Lemon Law which I'd gladly use if I ran into serious issues, but somehow I doubt that is going to happen with the 2007 SL55 I'm planning on buying.
I'm fortunate to live in California where there is a Lemon Law which I'd gladly use if I ran into serious issues, but somehow I doubt that is going to happen with the 2007 SL55 I'm planning on buying.
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Thanks for your messages... I now know that there are a number of known issues which I did not know about while the car under warrenty.
What upsets me most is Mercedes's atitude... they do not seem to care about customer satisfaction or quality perception. What Mercedes should do is be much more proactive about sorting these problems out. If they know there is a problem, they should fix it, not wait for the warrenty to expire and leave you stranded.. and charge you for the repaire.
I had to fight with them about the shocks going so soon (they admitted they really should not gone so soon) and then they would only give me 15% discount on the cost of the parts. If Lexus had so many known problems with a car, they would get them fixed without you even knowing about it while the car is being serviced. THAT is how you get to be number one in quality, not by fleecing customers who have bought your top of the line car.
The result? Mercedes is number 33 out of 36 in BBC's TopGear magazine survey while Lexus/Toyota is (and has been for a number of years) number 1. And it is not like Mercedes does not know how to build good cars.. I had an S class in the late 1990's and it was built like a tank. Nothing went wrong with it and it felt solid too.
As someone said on another thread, if Lexus made a car that looks and performs like an SL....
What upsets me most is Mercedes's atitude... they do not seem to care about customer satisfaction or quality perception. What Mercedes should do is be much more proactive about sorting these problems out. If they know there is a problem, they should fix it, not wait for the warrenty to expire and leave you stranded.. and charge you for the repaire.
I had to fight with them about the shocks going so soon (they admitted they really should not gone so soon) and then they would only give me 15% discount on the cost of the parts. If Lexus had so many known problems with a car, they would get them fixed without you even knowing about it while the car is being serviced. THAT is how you get to be number one in quality, not by fleecing customers who have bought your top of the line car.
The result? Mercedes is number 33 out of 36 in BBC's TopGear magazine survey while Lexus/Toyota is (and has been for a number of years) number 1. And it is not like Mercedes does not know how to build good cars.. I had an S class in the late 1990's and it was built like a tank. Nothing went wrong with it and it felt solid too.
As someone said on another thread, if Lexus made a car that looks and performs like an SL....
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Perhaps you should seek your customer satisfaction higher-up. I once had a problem on my ML55 with the wiper-fluid-container that had ruptured and leaked all the fluid. I said to the dealer that I expected this item the last thing to beak on an SUV, especially a Mercedes AMG SUV. They agreed but said they were sorry, as the warranty was up, but they suggested I write to Mercedes-Benz Netherlands customer service with the complaint. Which I did, and to make a long story short the dealer and Mercedes-Benz Netherlands both picked up the tab for this repair.
First off I suggest you accept the 15% if that's all they give you. In the meantime you could write a letter to Mercedes-Benz France stating your disbelief and indignation of this happening to your car (which seems like a produciton fault as you read online) and the "sorry no more warranty" attitude of your dealer, and that you expect more from a premium brand, yada, yada, yada. Listing all the repairs upto now might impress them also. I'd be surprised if they don't work with you, these are most (if not all) all known issues.
On a side note, I can see that my car had 2 "suspension element/air suspension" items replaced @ 25.000Km.
My service record (well, that of the previous owner) is an absolute train wreck. And most (if not all of the issues) seem to have a standard code (meaning known and recorded issues IMO). If needed I can fax you the service record. It is in Dutch, but the issue-codes must be internationally (European anyway).
First off I suggest you accept the 15% if that's all they give you. In the meantime you could write a letter to Mercedes-Benz France stating your disbelief and indignation of this happening to your car (which seems like a produciton fault as you read online) and the "sorry no more warranty" attitude of your dealer, and that you expect more from a premium brand, yada, yada, yada. Listing all the repairs upto now might impress them also. I'd be surprised if they don't work with you, these are most (if not all) all known issues.
On a side note, I can see that my car had 2 "suspension element/air suspension" items replaced @ 25.000Km.
My service record (well, that of the previous owner) is an absolute train wreck. And most (if not all of the issues) seem to have a standard code (meaning known and recorded issues IMO). If needed I can fax you the service record. It is in Dutch, but the issue-codes must be internationally (European anyway).
