Hi to all. I have been an owner of a MB E220CDI now four and half years. We bought it new so the car is also four and half years old and has about 100 000 km. The experience is mixed. The car rides very well and is extremely economical to drive. But on the other hand no car, which I have owned, has been so many times at a garage for repair as this. Most of the repairs have been smaller details or adjustments though and some of them mistakes of the local technician.

Being from northern Europe (Finland) my main concern is the behaviour in cold climate, where the temperatures can long time be colder than -20 degrees C. This car has both a fuel driven auxiliary heater (Eberspächer) with a clock control and an electrical engine block heater (230 Volt). Despite of that I have experienced some strange startig problems about which I'll write separately.

 

Welcome mark346. And yes, seems that MB's are in a slump when it comes to overall quality and workmanship.... there are many stories here about the good the bad and the ugly.... ww

 

Welcome to the Board. My friend you are not the only one who has complained about Mercedes quality, especially from 1990 and on. Every Mercedes board I am on or have visited have long strings about quality issues. On the Mercedes Benz Club of America Board there are several strings about these issues and a new one popped up today. A person with a 94 SL500 has replaced the motor mounts, the entire wiring harness and the radio, at quite a cost. So, I can feel for you. Mercedes is slowly getting its act together, but too late for us who must suffer. I have been lucky I purchased a 99 C280 almost 3 years ago as a STARMARK car and it is still under warranty until 7/05. The car has had few problems, until recently, now a couple of things are starting to give me trouble. One is the dealer told me I needed new front brake pads, as I complained about a squeal when braking, the wear sensor was touching the disc. They replaced the pads and said the disc were OK. Now the front brakes squeal worse then before, I called and asked if they applied the stop squeal stuff and of course they said yes. Now I have to wait 3 weeks before they can take the car in again, as they are booked out that far. This tells you something right here, 3 weeks out and this is a big dealership. Now I might or might not be driving around with a safety issue, but they don't seem to care. Good Luck and you will enjoy the folks on this board, especially Sleepwalker, he is almost the God of Mercedes knowledge.

 

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