a relatively few number of very vocal people. A MB salesperson (consume large grain of salt at this point) told me that the "quality" issues reported by the JD Powers Survey were based on year 2000 models that had an unusually high incident rate of light bulbs burning out. <
Oh, and that, too! Yes, best I can tell you from official scuttlebutt (a couple of friends are managers with MBNA) Osran bulbs have been a problem....along with quite a few other things!
No, the "JD Power survey" is not one, but several studies, and on all of them MB has fallen to average or below. In this year's "Vehicle Dependability Index "(VDI) 2000 model year MBs did poorly. In the 2003 "Initial Quality Study" (IQS), which shows owner experiences at 90 days in service (indicative of what you can expect of a car you'd buy today) MBs showing was equally poor, and in the 2003 "Customer Service Index" (CSI), which rates MB dealers on their service quality, the results are just as bad.
In NONE of these comprehensive studies did MB score higher than average, and it comes together like this: If you buy a new MB you're likely to have problems with it, at three years in service you will have had problems with it, and during that time your dealer is more likely than not to provide no better than average service.
This is all borne out by my personal experiences with three E Class' since
1997, although I must say the current one, a 2000 E430 Sport has been a great car with but a few problems, almost all caused by the dealers themselves when I took it in for simple maintenance services. And, this car was provided by MB back in 2000 after my dealer wrecked my '98 E43 Sport TWICE!On the current car, the dealer broke the passenger mirror at PDI, then they broke the AC panel during the service appointment to fix the mirror. At the first "A" service another dealer offered me a free resort weekend if I'd let them fill out my MB Customer Satisfaction questionnaire! At the first "B" service yet another dealer 1) broke the key, 2) broke the air mass meter and tried to return the car to me unable to rev over 1,000 RPM! At the next "A" service another dealer spilled oil all over the front of the engine and gave it back to me with the "low coolant" light on. It goes on, but you get the picture. This is my last Mercedes Benz.
Unfortunately JD Power only reports the top ten on these surveys so you really can't pinpoint exact standings, but check out their web site and you'll notice MB never ranks in the top ten. Power studies are only indicators, but when you combine them with the less robust Consumer Reports standings and customer word of mouth, MB is not doing well.
I've been a big MB fan for some time, but I've become very disappointed. As you can see, my experiences have been generally bad with MB service all over the Country, it seems they are simply overwhelmed and unable to cope with the sheer service volume resulting from their sales increases over the past few years, much of which is made up of some really bad products like the ML and C Class. Indeed, one of my friends is a field manager for MBNA and candidly stated the C Class is the worst product they've ever released. Quite an indictment.
In closing, a very big dealer on Long Island, Rallye Motors, is also a BMW store. One of their managers stated that although they began as a MB organization years ago, they now consider themselves a BMW dealership, with an MB dual. He claimed MB has completely lost its way and is now run by what he described as "cast off marketing refugees" from the US domestic motor industry who haven't a clue. That's a terrible indictment, and one to ponder if you're an MB executive scratching your head.