Am I stupid for being loyal to MB?

How are your state's lemon laws.. Sounds to me like you may have a case.. Get your money back and find another make.. Clearly MB quality is lacking and so is dealer service..

Get the manager involved. Make a lot of noise. MB is in bad shape right now. I would hold off 2-3 years before buying a new model.

It's a car, not rolling perfection. Most of your "problems" are with the gadgets, not the underlying machine. Buy a Lexus if you want gadgets, they do a better job in that area (but can't solve delayed acceleration problems).

I've owned M-B for 25 years and yes, there's occasionally a love - hate relationship with the M-B "ownership experience" due, I believe, to the mechanical (now electronic) machine not living up to OUR expectations (hyped in part by the price and by advertising). This runs in cycles - a good experience and we feel good followed by a bad experience and we curse the car, the dealer and then ourselves - for not buying a Toyota or Honda or Lexus etc. But we get over it and drive on.

I'm debating whether to buy a new S-Class model next year knowing it will be "tempremental" and need extra fixing both in the beginning and later on or buy another, more proven, E-Class car because it's somewhat simpler and therefore probably more reliable. Gadgets' "maintenance overhead" significantly outweighs their "benefits," in my opinion, and I don't want to spend my time having the cruise control radar, seat memory etc. fixed - it's just not a priority.

If you want a modern luxury-class car - go Lexus. Test drive one and you won't go back.

Wow! That is quite a list of problems for a car that sells for $48K. If I were in your shoes I'd be looking elsewhere.

I think the saying "fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice, shame on me" applies.

Steve

Lexus is renown for its reliability. However, as far as class and prestige is concerned. MB & BMW will still win hands down (I think)

The 2001 was the first year of the model in the US. I have a similar

2002 C320 Wagon which has been almost entirely trouble-free. So, while he may have a lemon, it may not be representative of current cars. (Then, again, mine may not be representative either!)

Kal

Hmmm ... whut to say frum under tha bridge ... luv driving my junk heap S klass. Of course down here in Florida and the Key West place, it has been a bit warm with broken air. But that is the price for driving REAL CLASS! And the other problems ... ah well. Next fall will compare the new Rexus from Japan with the new MB from Shrimp land and maybe even the Caddy from ... er ... well ... frum up North. Have a feeling the winner will not be the German Kar! And yes - you are nuts for driving that junk pile. Definition of crazy is doing the same thing which results in bad things and then doing it again and expecting different results!

mcbrue lookingforshrinksly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

96 S420

Hey McBrue

Boy you must be under a good bridge for the water not to flooded you as out.

Stupid is a bit harsh, misguided might be a little better way of putting it.

I would bail out on my 95 S320 but have to repair a long list of items before anyone would consider purchasing it. I've recently replaced the A/C evaporator, 2 of 3 coils, O2 sensor, wire harness (this is where I found that MB show NO LOYALTY to its customers), and trans cooler line.

Left to do are rebuild transmission (slips like mad in reverse), both vacuum pumps (locking and pull down assist), drivers seat gear, and a couple of dash lights.

In my opinion MB has lost its edge because it cut corners to compete with the Japanese models, I have a feeling the class and prestiege are on their way out as well... I've come to realize that whole "superior German engineering" thing is something of the past.

My next car will be an Acura or Lexus

Bob 95 S320 with ~70K miles and lots of quality issues

Have you tried a Lexus test drive?

And my 2001 CLK Cab has been pretty good (sorry to those who have read this before...), but then it was quite a long way down the production period.

And my service dealers have been pretty good. I now use a fairly recently-established one that has no sales dept attached so that there is no temptation to walk round the showroom...

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Oops, forgot to list the fuel pressure regulator I just changed and the upshift delay controler that still needs to be replaced!!

Yes, some of you make good points...

Yes it is the "gadgets" that are going wrong...not the drivability of the car (unless you count the fact that the car was dropped off on this Wednesday and I just received a call telling me "could we keep it over the weekend?").

However a car stickering for almost $65,000 should not be in the shop 17 days in it's first 6 months... I would find that unacceptable in a Toyota, VW or anything else. My wife's 5 year old VW has been in the shop once in the last two years for anything other than routine service.

Yes... some of you tell me it is simply a car...but it is a pain iin the ass of a car. It does not work the way it is supposed to.

Yes... some of you have cars that work, but I think there is a reason MB slipped to # 28 in quality satisfaction... it is not jus me.

Yes... some of you have older "real" Benz's that work properly... but the past couple of years has not produced any "real" Benz's at least as far as I can see and read.

The dealer is polite and tries to put on a smiling face, but obviously cannot make up for the 17 (and climbing as of today) days that I drove a loaner without my personal Cell phone (had to stay in the car since it was suspected in problems), left my EZ pass in the car, did without navigation on trips, did not have garage door opener in rain or snow, did not have decent sound system, drove a dinky c240 without 4matic in snow, did without third row seats when I needed them, left my kid's car seats in car because I thought they would keep the car for ONE day (guess again!).

Maybe some of you guys on this board are retired and don't need all this stuff, but those of us who own and run businesses, need to drive around with our phones, EZ pass, navigation, etc. to be able to do our job. Not being able to be reached by cell phone for 5 days is not good for a business owner who goes out into the field!

So today they call me to tell me that they are going to pull the entire fiber optic wire harness out of my car and replace it...should I be worried? Will this lead to more problems? They have had the car since Wednesday, and today (Fri) they tell me they need it at least over the weekend, until parts come in, and that my car is apart in pieces in the shop right now.

I should go buy a Kia ..drive it for two years and then throw it away... I would be ahead of the game in money and then never have to care about repairs.

Too bad I actually thought paying more money would get me more! I guess that adage only works in the world outside Mercedes Benz.

Check out these sites they will show you some interesting facts on MB quality issues... actually scary how bad they actually are:

The least reliable cars include the S class E class, and the c class

73 problems per 100 cars...sounds like a good grade?... not!

trouble on the other side of Daimlerchrysler too

Maybe I should have read these articles BEFORE I bought two mercedes!

I've said it before and I'll say it again , I remember when you purchased a MB , bottom of the line or the most expensive model they produced you had a quality ownership experience. You were ASSURED of having a quality trouble free vehicle that you could be take pride in. A car that was as good or better then anything on the planet . They were always expensive as hell , but you felt like you were buying the BEST. I can't understand what the hell happened to this company . After the buyout , the knee jerk reaction was that quality was going to go downhill , and it seems like that is exactly what happened . Oh well , it's a just a car.......... -Dana

If you're talking about Chrysler I have to tell you that top Daimler-Benz management has, before that, wasted enormous amounts of time on excursions into household goods and aerospace. Apparently upset the MB car management rather.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

a car gets you from point A to point B.

you should not need to plan your trip with dealers service centers in mind

the case, minus a few cans!

Which is what they need in the USA...

.