I have a 2003 E500 that has given me problems from day 1. I bought it brand new and after 6 months/4000 miles, I had to change 2 back tires. I’ve had the car for 5 years now and had to change my tires 3 times, my AC doesn’t work, my radio stopped working (MB wanted a $1000.00 just to fix that) and countless of other small things were constantly going wrong.

I work from home so I hardly ever drive my car (I now have 40K miles on it). Today, the car decided not to start. The lights and radio come on but the car itself will not start. I am hesitant to call the dealer, as doing so always costs me big bucks. Can anyone out there help with advise or suggestions?

All I want to do is put gas in a car and drive it. I can’t stand car that requires that much attention.

Desperate in Pembroke Pines, FL.

 

I know just how you feel. I have owned these cars since the 70's. First started seeing problems with my 97 W210 E320. Gave the company the benefit of the doubt and bought a 05 W211 andnothing but problems. Just terrible. Even the attitude of the dealers has chnaged for the worse! I bought a new Lexus and haven't looked back. My new love affair. I feel like I use to about my Mercedes. I hate to say it but ..... Buy a lexus.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I had a lexus before buying the Mercedes and still regret that move. I want to go back the Lexus but hate losing that much money on a trade. Yuk!

 

You people should all know that the W211 from 03-06 are the most troubled cars Mercedes has ever bult. Thats weird I have owned many many Mercedes an have not troubles a all with any of them. The most issues with a Benz is with my crappy C280. You must of just got a bad one.

 

Since these are your first posts as new members, I suppose you loggedon toknock the cars. I agree; I think you should sell it.

Blue

 

While I agree that the W211 was especially bad, we service many Mercedes here each day, and (as a man who has worked on and sold Mercedes for more than 20 years) it saddens me to admit, the W211 is not really any worse than many of the other models.

The truth is they are so much more complex these days, which is the cause of the problems, as they are simply not built well enough for how complex they have become (electronics wise), and they are definiatly not as well built as they used to be in general. If a car comes in with a problem in-between service, more often than not its an electronics issue somewhere along the line. On the upside, I can tell you the engines are still very well built, and the gearboxes should not give you too much trouble either.

If you want to know which cars I would say in my professional opinion have the most problems (I think it is only fair to say this is based on our own personal experience, and is fairly representative of the cars we have in to service, and obviously there are lots of lucky people out there who have not yet had similar problems), from the top I would say:

W220 & C215 - lots of electronics problems, and suspension problems, engines blocks are good though. W220 has an obvious design fault where the passenger front side can leak water if leaves clog up channels. Parts also seem to be unnecessarily expensive.

W211 - as noted by posts above, also engine mount is not strong enough for power of engine, so lots of unnecessary wear which could have been avoided.

W163 - generally built badly, earlier models were much worse, with badly fitting body panels etc.

W208 - good, newer W209 - lots of electronic problems, and rear suspension issues. A lot of examples of the engines loosing power over time, but quite easily fixed.

W204 - meant to be the Mercedes to restore consumer confidence, alas we have already seenquite afew cars with the usual electronics and suspension problems, and patchy build quality,some gearbox problems- which surprised us!

W169 - not seen many of these yet actually. W168 - front suspension issues, wiring loom was poorly madein earlier models & poor interior build quality – cheap feeling, though they hold their value fairly well, so being fair still a good second hand buy.

So as you can see, that is most of the recent model range. From what we have seen, there are two types of Mercedes these days (sweeping generalisation I know, but seems to be true in reality), 1. Mercedes that have no problems, and just keep going with almost no fuss. 2. Mercedes that seem to need major work at each service.

Another issue which I believe makes things worse is that Mercedes when they service your car do not do much if any preventative servicing these days. Gone are the days when a mechanic will have a good look over the whole of your car anduse their eyes to look for problems.

Now this is great for us as a business, as Mercedes Garages generate a lot of business for us, as people get fed up with their poor customer care. But this is of course bad for the end consumer.

However if all thatmakes you feel bad, or depresses you, don't worry, we also service BMWs, and can tell you the 7 series made between2002 and 2008 beets all Mercedes for electronics and suspension problems, and general all round problems! Never have I seen a car with as many problemscome from BMW!

There is lots of talk of Lexus vs Mercedes, I agree the level of service you get from a Lexus garage is the level you used to get from Mercedes in the early to mid 90s. But still, Mercedes makes better looking, more interesting cars (in my opinion).

 

I owned three so far; 86 190E, 98 C230, and 08 C300... very little problems, but I make sure the one I brought made in German not any 3rd world countries

 

Before buying mine (haven't picked it up yet), I did a bunch of research that suggested the W124 E-Class from the mid eighties to 1995 were built fantastically and also that 1995 was the last year they were hand built cars. What have been your findings on 90's E-Class? Thanks!