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Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Iowa
Posts: 1,020
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Mercedes Consumer Revolt
I know these reports constitute a biased sample, but Mercedes has some major customer problems:
http://mercedes-benz-usa.com/ These reports make my Audi look great!
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John C 1988 911 Carrera coupe 2002 BMW 530 |
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02-09-2004, 07:51 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Linn County, Oregon
Posts: 48,517
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Amusing site...1999 Ford Ranger here as Cindy's daily driver. Bought new, as the 2000 models were arriving. We dont drive a lot, but in the ensuing 25,000 miles? ZERO problems...I mean ZERO. Phew! Makes me glad I didn't spend the bucks for a new Mercedes...
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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02-09-2004, 04:41 PM
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entertaining the idea
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wow, that is enlightening
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There are some who call me... 'Tim'. a well set-up 1983 Guards Red 944 |
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02-09-2004, 04:55 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
Posts: 1,360
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I have a 1995 E300D with 125K miles. Very few problems to date and I get 35mpg. I hoping to push it to 200K. I've read this site before...sounds like there are certainly some models/years to avoid.
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1981 Porsche 931 w/S1 engine & g31 transmission. Water-cooled intercooler |
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02-09-2004, 05:02 PM
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I'm off the hook.....
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: 22 miles south, then 11 miles west of LAS
Posts: 2,895
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I know it's not apples to apples....
My '85 380SL has 337K on the original engine. Never even had the heads off yet. Religious oil changes and maint by the book. My '87 420SEL just turned 300K. Heads never been off. Same religious maint sched. My other half drives a '93 190E 2.6, little nit picky stuff all the time. We are presently on the "Don't fix the last thing that broke" plan with it. Seems to work, if you fix everything, something new breaks. My boss drives a '04 600SL. He is out of town Monday thru Thursday every week. Car is flatbedded back to dealer twice a month while he is gone having 'little nitpicky' things done. He has taken one of mine home twice in 2 years when his wouldn't go for some reason. I think I am going to keep my oldies. |
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02-09-2004, 05:22 PM
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B58/732
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Hot as Hell, AZ
Posts: 12,313
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My coworker waited months for his '03 C32 AMG. Engine blew with 900 miles on the clock while turning in to the office parking lot.
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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ I don't always talk to vegetarians--but when I do, it's with a mouthful of bacon. |
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02-09-2004, 05:50 PM
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Team California
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Mercedes build quality and just general QC has definitely taken a nose-dive in recent years. As a general rule, the further you travel backwards through the years, the better the car. Somewhere along the line they quit building "the best car in the world", and started worrying about competing w/ Toyota (Lexus) in the car:$$ competition. It hasn't gone well. My Ex-GF has a new S-500, says that it is a "POS". Before she had a '98, '91, '85, etc. S-class. The '98 was the last good one, and even it had some cheapo stuff in the interior.
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Denis When hats and t-shirts are being sold at a funeral, it's a cult. |
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02-09-2004, 06:06 PM
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Registered
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Mid-life crisis, could be anywhere
Posts: 10,382
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I bought a new ML320 and it was a complete piece of $hit. Not to mention that I shouldn't have bought it in the first place. Oh well...
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'95 993 C4 Cabriolet Bunch of motorcycles |
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02-09-2004, 06:24 PM
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entertaining the idea
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Quote:
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There are some who call me... 'Tim'. a well set-up 1983 Guards Red 944 |
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02-09-2004, 07:15 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 12,648
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Interesting....
Who would have thought that those old ads where the woman kept mistaking a Ford for a MB would be true. 
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Harry 1970 VW Sunroof Bus - "The Magic Bus" 1971 Jaguar XKE 2+2 V12 Coupe - {insert name here} 1973.5 911T Targa - "Smokey" 2020 MB E350 4Matic |
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02-09-2004, 07:18 PM
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Unconstitutional Patriot
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: volunteer state
Posts: 5,620
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The last good Mercedes (built like tanks) was 1995. That was the last year of the 124 series, 300D turbo-diesel. My dad used to own a 1980 240D. With nearly 400k miles, the doors shut with authority. The interior was in great shape. If it weren't for being so underpowered, he'd probably still own it. Today's Mercedes = basically disposable junk.
jürgen |
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02-09-2004, 07:27 PM
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Banned
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Upper Back Bay Newport Beach California
Posts: 3,287
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02-09-2004, 09:13 PM
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I can't figure out why MB hasn't sent the cease and desist order yet. His URL is treading pretty hard on mark infringement. There are provisions for "parody", but I don't think he qualifies. Hell, I got the nasty gram for owning nostarbucks.com.
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02-09-2004, 09:22 PM
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Team California
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Yeah, that was the most surprising thing to me, too. Can't believe that he is getting away w/ that website, he has obviously just lifted graphics, photos, navigation tools and trademarks wholesale from the official MB site. Can you imagine if someone tried that w/ Porsche??
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Denis When hats and t-shirts are being sold at a funeral, it's a cult. |
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02-09-2004, 11:31 PM
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Registered
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Iowa
Posts: 1,020
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Quote:
http://mbspy.bacosys.be/mbquality.htm
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John C 1988 911 Carrera coupe 2002 BMW 530 Last edited by Decolliber; 02-10-2004 at 07:46 AM.. |
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02-10-2004, 07:41 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Linn County, Oregon
Posts: 48,517
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I find it sort of sad that Mercedes is having these quality problems...but I also applaud the site. If all was swept under the rug, we'd be worse off.
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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02-10-2004, 09:57 AM
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: planet earth
Posts: 2,251
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My father is on his way down to Fla to buy a new to him sail boat. Driving his 97 E320 with ~65,000 miles. I called him to see if he made it safe and sound and learned the stalk on the steering column went south and now all he has is high beams. Also the cluster started to read display failure until he turned the car off and then back on.
He has already had to replace the head gasket on the car about 5000 miles ago and they had to replace a portion of his HVAC last year when it started to act funky. That was a warranty job and think the dealer charged MB something close to $3,000. He said tonight, his next sedan will not be German. Which is kind of sad as he has been driving MB's for about 30 years.
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78 Euro 911sc Targa 03 Hayden SCWDP |
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02-10-2004, 05:01 PM
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Student of the obvious
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 7,714
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Thanks so much for posting that link. It's really sad what's happened to MB's quality. I see late model Mercedes selling on ebay for seemingly reasonable prices and have been tempted to pick one up for my wife. Now I know better.
I really appreciate my Trooper after reading the ML section. I've got almost 70K miles and just had the brakes checked... According to the shop they were "almost within factory specs for new." Yep - they're the original pads and rotors! I'm out of warranty now, but had a single repair - a split seam on the seat.
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Lee |
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02-10-2004, 05:40 PM
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1983 Porsche 944 2.5L
1979 Porsche 911SC 3.0
