I have a 2004 SL55 with just under 34,000 miles on it, and it has turned out to be one of the least reliable cars I have ever owned.

The brake-by-wire system has failed twice . . . actually three times if you count the second time it was in the shop and the brand new hydraulic pump blew between the time the dealer called me to say the car was ready and the time I arrived to pick it up (after a week in the shop).

It has been in the shop four times for sensor failures that caused me to get engine warning lights.

The front ball joints have been replaced. I drive on Chicago city streets, and the dealer told me the suspension was "not up to handling" Chicago area roads (which my Lexus and Audi handle just fine).

The car was in the shop last week because the roof failed to lower all the way. It turned out the motor had burned out on the right rear quarter window.

Two days ago, when I lowered the top, I noticed in my rearview mirror that a piece of black plastic was sticking out. A piece of the trunk lid's interior trim had let go and gotten caught in the roof mechanism.

This morning when I cranked the car to go to work, the A/C controls were all dead, and I drove to work in an 85-degree rain with all the windows up. Very pleasant.

To top it all off, the dealer tells me the 4-year warranty expires in January of 2008, instead of March (the month I bought the car). According to him, the warranty starts running when the dealer receives the car into inventory, not when it is sold. He suggests I spend $4,000 to purchase an extended warranty if I plan to keep the car.

I paid $130,000 for this car, and it's falling apart faster than a Chevy Nova.

I am just hoping the R8 on which I put down a deposit arrives before the warranty runs out on the Mercedes junker I have on my hands.

Mercedes is pumping out press releases that challenge recent industry surveys showing plummeting quality ratings. But I hope behind the scenes they are trying to get a handle on this. If not, they are going to squander one of the auto world's great franchises. And owners are going to get stuck with the resale values of Ford and GM products.

My advice . . . ? TRADE NOW.

 

He's full of crap. Tell him so or go to MB directly.

 

I am stunned.

Never had any sutch problems with mine, just ticking like a clock.

Must be a Monday car, build after Carneval week in Stuttgart.

Get rid of it asap.

 

Warranty starts from IN SERVICE date, basically when the car is registered to the new owner.

 

Might be a little bit too late, but you should check into the lemon-laws for your state.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I already did while the car was still within the 3-year window for lemon law protection. The lemon law in Illinois basically covers repeats (3 or more) of the same problem. In the alternative, the car must be out of service a total of more than 30 days. I did not cross the 30-day threshold (at least in the first 3 years), and despite a wide array of problems, no single problem occurred more than three times. (While I had 4 sensor failures, they were two different sensors.)

The problem is having to go to the dealer every few weeks for yet another repair. The dealer's courtesy shuttle drivers now know me so well that they no longer have to ask the address to which they are taking me. And I'm not kidding.

I know Mercedes has quietly taken the brake-by-wire system out of production, because problems with that system were legion. But this constant barrage of more minor electrical and electronic failures is highly distracting. It turns what was initially a highly-pleasurable car into a chronic annoyance.

I am actually beginning to get reluctant to lower top for fear of not being able to raise it again . . . which rather defeats the whole point of having a convertible.

 

check on the lemon law there for sure

 

I agree - what your dealer told you comes close to fraud..

 

Wow, i'm sorry to hear about all that. Your dealer is BSing you about the warranty. I just got a used 2005 SL55, and your making me very worried.

 

Sorry to hear about all the problems your having. Mercedes needs to re-consider their quality control program or they will continue to lose loyal customer-base.

Moreover, your dealer is BSing big time !!!!!!

The warranty starts from the time the vehicle is sold and registered to the first owner. My dealer still has a brand new 2006 E55 on the lot with 27 miles on it, and I asked him if I would purchase this car would the 4-year warranty start from 2006 or from the day I purchase it, they told me from the date of purchase. This means theoratically, if you purchase a brand new 2006 model in 2009, your 4-year warranty would start from 2009.

Go back to the dealer and tell them you called MBUSA and they confirmed that your warranty does NOT expire in January of 2008.

On a more serious note, if you plan to keep this car longer than the warranty period, you must absolutely undoubtedly must buy extended warranty regardless of cost. Fixing the SL-Class (and CL-Class as well) is very expensive and can drain your money very quickly.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Personally, I haven't had any additional visits to the dealership other than the aforementioned recalls. Car is still holding up, no panels in disarray, tho its not my daily driver. Good luck on the R8. Should be a blast but aren't you going to miss the conv. feature? I hear a conv. R8 is in the works. Good luck.

 

My 03 SL55 was so bad it drove me away from the Mercedes brand for 2 years. It was my favorite car ever when working, but unfortunately that wasn't very often. In the 9 months I owned it before giving up on it, it had to go in for serious work 8 times and spent 42 days at the dealer. After the 3rd dealer visit I learned to wait until I had at least 3 problems before bothering to take it in. Of the time I owned the car, at least 50% of the time it either had a significant problem or was in the shop to have multiple problems worked on.

Fortunately, Mercedes seems to have gotten quality under control for 07 and later: I'm coming up on 11,000 miles on my S600 with zero unscheduled maintenance.

Good luck with your SL.

Paul

 

If his car was "placed in service" as a dealer car, it would have started prior to his ownership (but not formally "sold" to him). How many miles were on the OP's car when he took delivery?

 

You need to talk to you manager at the dealership. All dealers are capable of "Good Will" buybacks. They should be able to pay you a decent amount for the car and put you into a new one.

 

I experienced the same warranty date issue....I bought my 03 pretty much at the peak of the market, brand new, off the showroom floor. But in signing the paperwork, I learned that the warranty had already started.....come to find out the dealer bought the car (new) from another dealer out of state, ...hence the warranty already being in force. I raised holy hell and got a five year warranty for free. (whatever)

 

The definition of a new car is one that has never been registered. So for those of you that think that you bought a new car, but now learned it was bought from another dealer and sold to you, thats a total crock. It means you were in reality sold a USED car.

To the OP -- contact a lawyer, and file a suit against MB. They'll buy your car back rather than drag this through litigation. I think you've put up with enough.

 

holy****, sorry to hear about your troubles.. yikes no wonder resale value sucks *** on the benzes

 

In the world of car sales you can "punch" a car meaning it is declared sold to MB but the car never is really sold and registered. In that case yes the warranty has started and there is nothing you can do about. In Los Angeles many cars are punched at the end of the month so to show MB that sales are high that month (in the race to sell units) but the car is never sold to a customer until months later.

Another option is that the car was pre-sold to a customer who did not qualify for financing and the car was taken back right away or never even delivered. If they marked the car as sold in the MB system the warranty was started.

And lastly it could have been used by the dealership as a demo car for the owner of manager for a few hundred miles and in that case there is a chance it was punched (but that is not normally the case).

Either way sorry the car is so problem ridden. My SL55 2004 has been pretty flawless other than a few small stupid things along the way. Im scared its going to start going to hell after I hear your story!

 

I've had horrible luck with mine too. Transmission has dropped, every function on my seats stopped working, suspension issues, all sorts of electrical problems, I forgot what went wrong with the car (happened about a year ago) but some major malfunction/issue set off all of my malfunction lights in my car (the malfunction lights turned red in my dash and the car completely failed to drive as soon as the red malfunction lights went off)...

I always tell people it's a GREAT car...when it works.

 

I had an 03 e500 that I bought in 2003, the car was a total nightmare. THe car was in the shop for about 3 1/2 months in the 11 months I owned the car, and it was in the shop at least every 2 weeks. It kept me away from MB for a while, until I bought my wife the 06 clk which has had 0 engine/electrical problems. It did have a proble with the center console. CEO alex, I have a range rover as well...now talk about problems. That car has been a nightmare as well. I am starting to think all high end cars are just riddled with problems b/c of the advanced technology that goes with them. The air suspension on the rover has been problematic from the start. My 98 honda on the other hand...165,000miles and no problems...none. But then again it is a honda...

 

Yes,

My 2004 SL55 is an utter piece of Shi*. I love the car when it runs, but for the price it shouldn't break like it does.

Continuous radiator hoses, they still can't fix the intercooler problem, last time the worked on it the right front suspension squeaks so bad my GF wouldn't drive it when I was out of town.

I own lots of cars, have in the past, this is the LEAST dependable. My 72 VW bug breaks less.

But I do ***LOVE*** the car (when it runs).

Now my 2007 E550 , more miles on it than the 04 AMG, and runs like a champ. Worlds apart

 

Wow! Everytime I hear these stories I get thankful for mine.

I was the first kid on the block with an SL55. Sometimes I think I should have flipped it for $50K over MSRP, but I bought the car to keep.

Mine has been tracked, hillclimbed, done 202mph, taken shopping/trip duties, etc. It has been the test bed for some of our software as well...and it has been bullit proof, aside from a few recalls and service visits.

If I were the original poster, I would contact MBNA and talk to them. Obviously this car was built during Oktoberfest, or the Friday before the German GP. For $130K, it should work flawlessly, and they know it. My Ferrari's have worked better than the original poerter's car.

Good luck......

 

Sorry to hear of your problems and this string of failures. What's worrying is that most of these are component failures from different manufacturers rather than down to a bad day at the plant. The R230 just doesn't have the same feeling of quality that the previous R129 hewn-from-solid had.

Truth is, the SL is too complex for its own good, so much in there to go wrong yet you rarely hear of mechanical problems, it's always electronic/hydraulic/system type stuff.

My dealer tells me SLs don't so huge mileages and with the car more than 5 years old now (launched in August 2001 in Germany), I wonder how many have got up to 100k miles, not many I suspect. With reliability examples like this, probably just as well.

At least you haven't been paying for these warranty repairs but I would talk to Mercedes-Benz, the warrantly claims on your car must be way over budget. Not good news for the next owner though.

 

I remember getting a letter in the mail a while back stating that my SBC braking system is now warranteed for 10 years, regardless of new/used ownership. I have a 2005 SL500, but I believe this is for ALL R230s?

 

I got no such letter, but thanks for the alert. I'm going to call my dealer about it. I am going to dump the car at year end, but I'd like to be able to pass the extended protection on to a buyer.

Another problem with the car . . . . When I first crank the car after sitting for a while, there is sometimes a pronounced groaning/squeaking noise in the front of the car when I turn the wheel or brake. It's more frequent when the weather is cold (although both my home and office garages are heated). It's so noticeable that passengers have commented on it. But it ceases after a mile or so.

Of course, my dealer is about two miles away, and I can never get the noise to repeat when I take it there. They have kept the car overnight twice, parking it inside and outside to see if they can hear the noise. As you might guess, they cannot.

My new Audi R8 is arriving the week of January 21. I got rid of two Audis due to incurable electronic problems with their early "Telematics" systems, and I must admit I'm a bit apprehensive about its quality. But the only other car I've ever owned that had remotely as many problems as this Mercedes was a 1998 Corvette. That's really sorry company for Mercedes to be keeping . . . especially at more than twice the price.

My most problem-free cars? Two Lexus RX's. They just go and go and go.