Are mercedes rubbish or is it the dealers

[mlc]

In reply to the couple of people asking for clarification of my view / statements:

I am unable to comment on the work of MB dealers because although I own two MB's I have never sent either of them into the dealership. Thats nothing special to MB's because in 30 years of car ownership I have only used the dealership networks for warranty work. That said I can say that the parts department of my local dealership is probably the best I have ever visited.

My post on this thread referred to an early suggestion that someone should offer modern cars with "classic" engines, that is less complex and less likely to break due to modern technology. I simply pointed out that whilst this sounds a good idea we have moved on, cars are bigger, heavier and faster than they were. Dropping an 80's engine into the equvalent new car would produce a much slower vehicle that uses a lot more fuel.

It is of course true that if you compare a large exotic car of 20 years ago with something simple of today the old car may be heavier and more powerful, my 1972 350Sl is both heavier and more powerful than my modern Mondeo, but only a fool would suggest that a flagship MB of the past should be compared with a Mondeo, if you compare like with like I am sure my argument is correct. My first car was a Morris 1100. In its time it was one of the most popular small family cars. It also did 0 - 60 in about 25 seconds and 80 mph flat out, how many Focus's would be sold if a retro powered 30 odd bhp version was offered? I would also guess that the Focus weighs at least half as much again.

I hope that clarifies my view without encouraging anyone to up his postings count without engaging brain first

Mark

 

[ase001]

With respect to the currently still unrepaired MB - you may do well to search legal archives for Range Rover and fit for purpose.
The original names escape me at this point in time but there is a precedent here where a gentleman had a range rover which spent a lot of time in the garage over a year or so and he had suitable recourse to reject the vehicle as being "not fit for purpose"
(search for Roger v Parish 1987 )

Best of luck with your motor.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

There is an issue where the car is rendered unroadworthy by a fault or defect. Provided you maintain the car in acocrdance with thr service schedules, if a problem then renders it unroadworthy it may be argue it is not fit for purpose. Once the fault is identified inside the warrnaty period they cannot avoid it. They did try that with me a few times but they were naield on it. Where a car is a bit older then you may be looking at a buy back or agreed trade in. The buy back if you feel you would never touch another.

I had a client some years back who had similar issues with an Opel Omega which kept refusing to start. Eventually he went legal, they stonewalled him until we identified a fault with the model and the existence of a trail of litigation from other owners. Opel repalce dthe car with a brand new one at 2 years old.

 

[gary350]

After owning 8 BMWs I would suggest that they are no better than MB maybe worse, all but the first BMW were subject to many faults and covert recalls, dont say Lexus a friend of mine had loads of problems that the dealer could not fix on hers. Cars today have more on them than yesteryear particulary electrics which is the main problem with newer Mercs.

gary

 

[david arthur]

well my E200 came back from the dealers on thursday having been in the workshop for 4 days .I was told the chief technician had been on my car and had stripped the gearbox cleaned the valves reset the torques and was 99.9% certain that the fault was rectified.I Did ask the question did he find a fault the answer was no. Its going to be colder next week she said that is when it faults will you ring me and tell me how it goes.That was the 4th time in 2 years its been in for the gear box not to mention the recalls on the brakes approx 3 times the good news i hope is they may! have sorted out my tyres.If you remember the two nearside tyres were losing 9ib of pressure each week i had taken the car to several tyre specialist who could not find a problem it was so bad i thought someone had been letting my tyres down.I had mentioned this to my dealer last time but on collecting my car they said while in there care the tyres had not lost any pressure.fortunately i had an electronic pressure gauge with me so was able to prove they had anyway the crux of the matter is that they have resealed the tyres even though there was no corosion on the rims keeping my fingers crossed now that it has worked?.Mind you tesco will be sorry not to see me each week pumping up said tyres.I will keep you posted.

 

[mioba]

think its bit of both now to honest

its well known they used to be the bees knees (the cars that is)
the mechanics are all young lads now - if it doesnt come up the computers they cant fix it (due to the huge computer side of cars now - but this is with nearly all cars now)
the stealers are nice when you need to buy a car, but any problems the compliments fly out out of the window. Once you hand over that hard earned cash they dont know you from Adam
IMHO

 

[television]

With so manufactures launching luxury models MB could be find the going tougher in the near future, never before have so many luxury cars come onto the market as in this year.

malcolm

 

[simon.mosley@virgin.net]

Owned 170 cdi lwb for 28 days 20 days at MB workshop 8 days on road
First & Last MB

 

[mioba]

Owned 170 cdi lwb for 28 days 20 days at MB workshop 8 days on road
First & Last MB

my ratio is like yours
my "approved used" s class, had for 7 days, 4 in workshop.
lets see who wins. :grin:

 

[Bob Staines]

I dont think David Arthur will be sticking with Mercs either , what rubbish service.

 

[jberks]

Ok - to balance a little - had my E270 5 months, done 10,000 miles, spent 1/2 day in the shop for a couple of very minor niggles that could have waited.

I expect to return any used car for something in the first month. The last owner will no doubt have ignored some fault that I will need to rectify. (and PDIs are fairly useless). Once done, it is generally fine.

The 4 days in the shop stories are down to the shop not being able to solve the problem straight away. If the mechanic identifies the fault incorrectly and replaces the wrong part, it stays in the shop or you get it back still faulty. Either way, you class the car as unreliable. The truth is that if the mechanic had identifed the fault, you'd have the car back working within the day and think nothing of it. Bottom line, same car, different mechanic. If a part is replaced and then fails again, then there is a problem, but my experience is that anything that has been replaced has generally been redesigned to remove that issue so it doesn't re-occur.
Case in point (I know, partial own goal, same firm but different make), a friend recently bought a brand new jeep. It wouldn't start, they came out, collected it, 'fixed it' and returned it. Same thing happened 5 times over 3 weeks. Went in again, replaced something else. Car has now been back for 2 months and hasn't missed a beat. Unreliable car? Would it be considered unreliable if they'd changed whatever it was the first time? Unreliable car or inexperienced mechanic?