Hello,

I'm new to this site (an to Mercedes) and I have a few questions. My wife and I drove a C-Class (Turbo Diesel) in Germany a few years ago and just loved the car due to its fit, finish, style and comfort. She currently drives a '03 Honda CR-V which is getting old but she REALLY likes the reliability. I'm thinking about getting her an almost new C-Class to replace the Honda and this would be used as a commuter.

I have owned three BMWs ('01 3-series, '02 5-series and '02 7-series) in the past which I took great care of but all three had TERRIBLE reliability. There was always something going wrong with them like leaks, bad sensors, failed radiator, etc. so I got rid of them and vowed never to buy another one. Can I get some opinions on the reliability of the C-Class cars from your experience. I'm done working on cars in the garage and I don't want something that will have an engine light come on every three weeks. My co-worker swears by Mercedes but I thought I would ask you guys. Can we get almost the same reliability from a C-Class?

Thanks,
Campagnolo1

 

I'm a Honda guy, have owned Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans and Fords in the past and here is my opinion of the C-class (we have the '03 C230K). The sunroof stopped working at around 5K miles, the front pads wore out at around 10K, the cam shaft seal had a recall and was leaking oil, we just replaced both of the front thrust bushings ($800), and some sort of intake related item went out at around 15K as well (costly item, covered under warranty).

While I can see having these types of issues later on, my wife keeps the car in a garage at all times and the car has only 39K miles thus far. Btw- the Micheling Pilots wore out at 8K.. and now we're on the 3rd set of tires. Bad luck or... you decide.