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Comments
I have a 240, auto, full leather, C2, C3 & DC changer but if I could do it again I would have gotten the contour seats and dose stereo options too.
And, BTW, in response to anthony's posts I have not experienced any problems with my C.
BTW, I got a Mazda 626 as the loaner car. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a Benz but it's fine for me because it's only for one day. Does anyone get a Benz as the loaner car?
I have a 240, auto, full leather, C2, C3 & DC changer but if I could do it again I would have gotten the contour seats and dose stereo options too.
And, BTW, in response to anthony's posts I have not experienced any problems with my C.
As you know, I have a '99 C280 (since 9/99) and have yet to have a single problem - except for the fact that one dash light came on (re: air bag) which turned out to be benign. The dealer checked it out and found nothing.
anthonyv1 is shopping soon for a 2002 C (according to his profile). Hope he is as satisfied with his new one when he gets it as you and I are with ours.
I have not had the slighest interest in even looking at the 2001 C 320. It's too soon to move up - for me.
Last time they gave me a chevy geometro,very small car.
If I get the chance to choose again, maybe I wont buy the c-class, too much trouble and hassle for me.
My car is being serviced again today due to rocking seats and rattling noise at front suspension.
When I bought my 1996 Audi A4 it was NOT even as popular as it is today. After I purchased it I discovered A4.org (now audiworld.com). There were MANY enthusiasts but MANY people had minor problems. Overall, if you check with Consumers Reports, that particular year was NOT a bad year for that model. The overwhelming people on that board complained and wrote their opinions but still enjoyed their car.
If you visit any forum for virtually any make and model, there will ALWAYS be people that complain and have problems. If I had to do it all over again I would NOT hesitate buying this car. I already have my eyes on a 2004 C320 AMG. Maybe even the E. We'll see...
So what did you think of the ED experience? (as opposed to the non-ED experience...).
A word of caution to anyone considering the European Delivery thing: get a list of the required import paperwork from your DMV before you leave. They were apparently expecting me to have a 'declaration form' which MB never provided. They let me slide, though.
Nothing was ever broken (maybe it didn't have anything to break) and I never put any money into except for oil changes and brakes.
Does that mean I would trade my current car (which admittedly has those few problems) for my old car?
And as husky11 and I have both discovered, BMW and Audi have far more problems. MB engines have a reputation for being bullet proof. Before I bought my first MB I talked with a lot of people and that's the opinion of many, including mechanics. There might be more electrical problems and such but the car will probably last longer than a Honda or Toyota. More importantly it will still be worth something in 10 year's time.
I've also seen some posts that compare the MB to other cars such has honda etc. The only thing about this is that when one buys a MB, there is certain expectation that goes along with it.. such has not having minor electrical problems etc. Those are problems that I would think show up in a less prestigious car.
I am not trying to open a can of worms here... i just thought I would share my 2 cents...
i'm still waiting for my C240.....
I agree w/ ctic: the MB should hold up better over time and should be a lot safer. My 1988 Acura Integra started rusting after 6yrs of ownership even though I "rustproofed" it. It had creaking/rattling noises after it was out of warrantee. It was still great fun and the closest to a go cart on wheels at its price point. :-) But the shocks needed replacing too much and towards the end of its 12yr life, I didn't feel safe in it. It still started dependably through its entire life though.
I respectfully disagree. The expectation is that you're buying a superior car in many respects, luxury, materials, service etc. No one "expects" electrical problems in any car, not even a Hyundai. So MB owners grumble about minor electrocal problems, but so do Hyundai owners. I don't think that Hyundai owners go to the dealership happily saying, "I deserve this!"
I have something to add to kenyee's comment. Drive a 10 or 15 year old MB and drive a 10-15 year old Honda or Toyota, and you really know what quality means.
I had a Honda Prelude that I loved driving but after 5-6 years it was already showing it's age. Lot's of little problems. I had a Subaru Forester that showed it's age after 1-2 years, my comments regarding the Forester can still be found in the early Edmunds Forester topics. I traded that in before it was 2 years old. The Forester was a new car that was just worn out after 2 years of sedentary driving.
But the basic MB dealer oil change is $60 or so. They won't just change your oil for $30. They throw in a bunch of useless services like check wipers, check lights, check horn and the such so that the dealership can make some extra bucks. They call it the minimal service, I say it's the minimal bleeding they'll let you get away with.
I wanna bring in my truck for you to clean out the oil muck.
I wanna be in and out like a duck.
No so fast they say, we wanna make some extra bucks.
Yuck, it sucks.
The MB-provided hotels were nice - much better than my typical business trip lodging. Driving around in Europe was great, except for two things. First, the tolls on French Autoroutes cost more than than the gasoline to cover the miles. Second, every other time I've been in Paris I had a small rental car, and was ready to fully participate with the spirit of the traffic there - who cares about a little scratch or ding on a junky rental car? At the wheel of my shiny new C240 I felt pretty inhibited by comparison.
Pocahontas
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Italian roads are worse, winding, narrow and fast.
And there are no big cars in the cities.
There was some talk earlier on in this topic about American cars such as the Intrique and Caddies. They'd last about a month before breaking apart with the type of driving that goes on there.
I drove to Paris from southern German and I remember Gas/Tolls setting me back over $150. It would've been cheaper to buy a flight on Lufthanse.
So then it's not really a "loaner" then is it? It's really a rental. To me "loaner" means they give you a car to drive, free of charge, while yours is being serviced. To call it a loaner but charge you a rental fee seems very deceptive to me unless all of those costs are outlined upfront and you know what you're getting into.
All these images are courtesy of http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/mercbenz1/index.htm, a page with tons of MB pictures scanned from brochures.
Very picky Tarik
to sum it up... the expectation of this car is that you are buying quality... you would also think that something of such high quality would not have problems with brakes squealing or the other problems we read about here... it just seems that these cars are not QA'ed / beta tested too well .... otherwise they may have caught these problems...
aside from this subject.. I read an article a while back that talked about how the newer models of cars coming out are cheaper than the previous models price... they mentioned how the S-classes starting price after the body change was lower than when the 92-97 body style came out. the bottom line of the article was that the ewer car was not always up to the standard of the older one ...
I've personally never owned an S-class so I couldn't tell you if this was true or not .. just sharing what I read... I would take either body styles any day....
If you're going in expecting the same #problems as your Honda/Toyota because MBs are more expensive, you're obviously going to be disappointed.
I went in expecting better durability and safety with a (hopefully) slight tradeoff in reliability/problems and I have not been disappointed so far.
but still..adding $32 a day rental to my oil change cost of $45 ..is still nowhere what you paid! RIPPED OFF!(so it seems)
as to a more expensive and more technologically advanced vehicle translating into fewer problems .......a problem free maserati hmmmm ?(hah).....or how about that space shuttle????
Maximum gripe: Why did the MB engineers ever think that the turn signal and cruise control stalks should be on the same side of the steering wheel?
Bubba
"... my friends all drive Porches, I must make AMENDS..." J. Joplin
Drew
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And no! i have not drop any egg in the engie
does this happen to anyone?!
is this a C-CLass problem?
man o man.... now ive heard everything
bgrommes wrote:
>After driving for a good half hour or so with >cruise control, I dropped out of cruise control >to make a stop at an intersection
Drew,
While breaking in a new car is cruise control recommended? When I brought home my C320, I remember being told that it was preferable not to use until the car was broken in. The reason being that it was better to use different speeds.
Miki
Otherwise the car is working great, this is just a minor annoyance.
I agree about not using cruise control, though I'd make sure to test it to verify that it works :-)
Drew
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In regards to to the new C, yes, I'm still interested, and if they had the 6 spd in the 320, I'd probably be sitting in it right now.:) I even have the cool C sleep screen for my computer that plants subliminal messages in my brain every time my computer goes to sleep. So I am not a Mercedes basher. But I am also not blind to the problems it has and believe that the company has a responsibility to address them, not hide from them as many car companies are apt to do.
Wasn't there a problem with the remote unlock function on the first batch of C's. Is Mercedes recalling them to fix them? Are they letting the uninformed consumer know that a problem existed in the early builds of the car? If so, great. But if they have not, then they need to be forthright and deal with the car's faults. That is all I am saying. By not dealing with it, not only are they taking advantage of their customer, they are putting him/her at risk if that function is needed in an emergency situation.
if someone has a problem free car... theyre entitled to enjoy it!
when you get your c.. whether its a primo no muss no fuss c.. or one with qa few glitches... we ll support u too!!!
Looks like they also fixed the seat memory problem too. They gave me new keys AND replaced the seat control module.
I've been very impressed with the service department at Holloway Motors in Manchester, NH. They even dropped the car off where I worked and picked up the loaner car.
Robert
Ken -- thank you. It does work, but I have a "thing" about using it
Drew, thank you, too.
Gary -- I am still a bit anxious with "shift and tap" but your instructions help.
Miki
does anyone have any pics of clear bras on their white cars?
thanks in advance
Yup! -- But it is called West Coast Swing, and the C takes me to it!
It was yellowed and scarred badly. The plastic just doesn't take chipping well.
With paint, you'll get will get some gouges but you can buff out small ones. But with plastic every little chip or glancing chip shows and you can't buff out anything, so everything shows. The bra that I saw had literally dozens and dozens of little scratches on it that could have been buffed out on paint, but just showed clearly on the plastic.
Contrary to your erroneous belief, I wasn't critizing your critisms. What I said was you gathered up all the little problems that people had posted and said "This is a Mercedes, it shouldn't have any problems."
Better read kenyee's post for good measure too.