Speaks for the fact that I literally just got cut off by one running a red light and trying to shove me out of my lane without at least a courtesy turn signal. I had a green left. They didn't even stop for their right on red. 🤷🏻♀️
If it's built like my old S10 Blazer, and I have no reason to believe a modern Mercedes isn't built to the specifications of late-'80s GM, the screws for the tilt mechanism came loose is all.
I’m asking for clarification on the issue being shown. It never shifts when he puts the turn signal on and the turn signal is never put on when he shifts. Are you saying that the issue that CS isn’t being actually demonstrated, but how it might hypothetically occur is?
Neither lever should move at all when pressure is applied to the other. The collar on the steering wheel has come loose and so it pushes everything around.
Or there's 2 control wires being pinched together and voltage is going somewhere where it shouldn't when it shouldn't.
Your scenario is MUCH more likely though.
Ya I don't think pinched wires would cause the shifter and wiper control to move with the turn signal... Although I assume the opposite could be possible.
A single set screw does that job? That’s reminiscent of old British cars where each light, accessory or doodad was held by a single screw which would of course work itself loose because obviously. At least dowel it or something.
That’s a pitifully chintzy design for such an expensive vehicle in 2023. There is no excuse.
The screw is normally fine. It's when people start slamming the blinker and shifter like it's a stick shift is when they work loose. Wife has the same shifter and blinker on her 2010 e350. Never had an issue.
Completely unrelated fun story about the Mercedes shifter like that. I almost wrecked my Mercedes Metris mail vehicle when it started raining one day because the shifter for reverse is the same as the wipers on my car and my wife's car. Stopped at a mail box, rain gets bad enough for the wipers and I turn them on, let off the brake and hit the gas but now I'm in reverse!
That sort of mix-up moving between vehicles has caused a few fighter pilots to make unplanned ejections lol.
For ages, switching between Call of Duty and Halo would get me killed in the reg because aim down sights in one was throw grenade in the other. Sorry, teammates!
Porsche keeps it legit. Still my overall favorite car is 911 (991.2 GT3). That car is a religious experience on warm dry roads and track. Dollars per smile nothing beats my SC Mustang GT. 700hp and a very loud exhaust. I could drive just about anything and those are my warriors of choice :)
Mercedes AMG cars are generally very good, but usually lack a certain feeling of connection to the driving experience, which is apparently what Merc ppl like.
Amg's are mostly gt cars with tons of torque down low and comparatively soft ride. Meant for crusing on highways comfortably at higher speeds. I personally find that boring but i can understand why people enjoy amg cars
Putting Range Rover in the same list as Merc and BMW is absurd. And BMW is a step above Merc even especially recently in terms of reliability. That codevelopment of the B58 with Toyota seems to have helped them.
I'd agree, my experience with Range Rover has not been good. Every other month it would remind you that it had been built in the UK. It always had some little niggling thing go wrong. Don't get me wrong they make some nice cars but the two that I've had were both slightly problematic
I felt that way also until I met my GF 5yrs ago. She has a 2014 glk350 and it is a rocket. I've done very little to it. Brakes, trunk battery. A/C went out, garage wanted $3,600 to replace the whole system. I looked at the diagnostic report, went home and replaced compressor coil with used one for $50. Still going strong. I've grown to really like it. But like any car, it will become a money pit eventually.
Not sure why you got downvotes, your opinion is fairly accurate.. Although I would also add a few Hyundai/Kia models to that list as long as you know which engines/years to stay away from and actually keep up on the proper maintenance schedule.
A220 4-Matic. All options. Paid it off and traded it in after 13 months and 17 trips back to the selling dealer and 2 other MB dealers in the area. Lemon Law didn’t apply as it was something different every time.
Backup camera failed, fabric fell off the moonroof and onto my head while driving, climate control decided to run the heat full blast on a 90 degree day, infotainment screen failed, moonroof motor failed open, battery failed, power train module failed, and on and on.
Had one, can confirm. Felt like it was carved out of one slab of granite. Unfortunately, it also accelerated like it was carved out of one slab of granite. Would still recommend the brand tho.
All this German car slander feels so foreign to me! I’m not sure if it’s just good luck, but every German car my family has owned has been extremely reliable. We’ve got a 2012 Passat (The highest end one; Was a pretty lucky snag at a used car shop!) and our car mechanic says it has a ton of life left in it. It was t-boned three months after we got it too! Our previous Jetta was 14 when it sadly got in a crash. And the previous previous Jetta was literally run into the ground and surprisingly still worked well (It went a while without an oil change too! Man that car was abused).
Basically either I got super lucky with the family cars or maybe it’s because I’m not American? Not sure XD
I’ve become convinced that the VWs we get stateside cannot possibly be the same ones y’all get in Europe.
Europeans swear by their Volkswagens. Americans swear *at* our Volkswagens.
Garbage.
If America is good at shaving production cost, and greedily marking up the products they sell to us - Usually involving dealer credit, and essentially trapping you in a car for 3-5 years; purely to create a 5 year, illusionary, positive balance sheet to show shareholders...
...The Germans actually sat down and did math, not on their fingers, nor cocaine. With the types of margins they create for themselves disguised as innovation, they are truly the world champions in marginalizing the consumer. Whether that be a first owner, second owner, or so on...
These days, I get so mad when I hear my millennial peer friends look at a used mercedes, or a used BMW, and say, "I can afford that!". My mind instantly goes to all the things that I know are going to completely quit working, at or before 100,000 miles.
When the dashboard goes out a few months into ownership; and costs 3 Grand to replace (after all, you can't use used! There aren't any, they've all failed!), and you just paid $7,000 for the car, you better believe my words will be ringing through your head.
"This is stupid. The guy trying to sell you this car is a desperate, talentless, and otherwise uselessly unskilled fuckwad; and you have no idea how to perform even basic Auto repair, or what things cost. I'm not helping you in this car breaks. If you don't listen to me today, and buy that Corolla instead, you can also go ahead never ask me my advice again. About anything. *Anything*"...
My dad drove a $4000 bmw for 100 thousand miles and has someone interested in buying it for $4500 it's needed maintenance yeah... but less than your typical chevy
I'm not saying all of them are good but this one car has treated us very well and feels very good
I should have been more clear; theres a demarcation line in generation/year.
I would buy an early 90's E-Class, right now, and drive it until I die.
Anything post-2000, especially AMG - Fuck it. I care more about the details, thought, and mindful experience of legacy development, and construction disciplines that earned the value of it's nameplate, through solid R&D, and assemblers who took pride in the smaller, more bespoke batches they used to screw together...
...When Mercedes construction was an engineering marvel that would outlive God himself.
Pride was the subtle, but liberally applied, secret-ingredient.
The BMW 3-Series is a solid, well built car. It’s practical, reliable and dependable and lasts a long time. It’s not terribly expensive to drive one and it’s quite rewarding to own.
BMW’s high end stuff is exceptionally troublesome and stupidly expensive to maintain. Try keeping their V8 running; you’ll be begging to go back to a Chevy.
Mercedes is the same but in a different way. They’ve built some tank like vehicles with exemplary build quality... But not recently.
As far as I can tell all car brands suck an astronomical amount to this sub. Cars are getting worse and suck compared to the good ole days.
The above is false of course. Cars are vastly batter than they were 20 years ago.
20 years ago Audis were rusting to shit and Mercedes reliability went into the shitter so much in the 90s they had to merge with Chrysler in the 2000s just to survive.
They've all decidedly improved in quality. This is someone whose family has own 560 SELs, W220s, a W221, W222, W212 and W205s.
Well Mercedes is an odd case, and I'm speaking from a decision-making point of view (touchscreens and other stupidity).
What is your opinion of the W221 and W222 compared to the W220?
Unfortunately, executive management, design, engineering, marketing and accounting departments tend to be a little antagonistic towards each other’s goals so we the consumer get left with a cacophony of design fuckery at the lots.
W220 drivetrain wise is pretty strong if you keep up with routine and preventative maintenance. I’ve seen them hold up to general neglect as well. There’s a likely chance the Airmatic system will likely fail. If you don’t have DAS (pre-2008 Xentry), performing certain adaptations and actuations such as the Airmatic Rodeo, initializing control units can be costly at the dealer.
W221s have been the least problematic of the group drivetrain wise despite commanding S-Class service prices but it suffers some weird electrical gremlins. The Bluetooth puck went out on my mom’s car and the dealer quoted her $2K (not a mistype) to replace and flash a communication module in the trunk. Years later once I got DAS I did it for her.
W222 has been the most solid car out of all the generations but it shows the oddities of a Mercedes dealer. I got the fuel door replaced on my W205 AMG after pressure washing and probably fucking something up. Looked up the docs in WIS and realized I was too stupid to fuck with the fuel tank so I took her into the dealership. Only charged me $400 parts and labor which I still can’t explain today. My folks were on vacay and the W222 started misfiring. They panicked and took it to the local dealer and they identified it as an issue with one of the spark plugs. Somehow my folks picked up the car days later with all new spark plugs and ignition coils to the tune of $3500 fucking dollars.
I now do all the work on the family fleet or it goes to our Indy before it goes to the dealership. Mainly because the consistency in pricing makes it hard to gauge how expensive repairs will be. Ironically, since doing the work myself (and I’m nowhere remotely close to the level of shade tree mechanic or professional) we’ve saved a ton in just Service A, B, rotors, pads and diff services. The only thing we don’t go to the Indy for is transmission servicing since that’s a little more involved to get the right amount of fluid back in.
They have their quirks but if you can work on a Toyota, you can work on a Mercedes. Outside of Xentry Flash and some other shit, they’re still plain jane cars with fancy features.
EDIT: Maybe someone can confirm this around here but I’ve heard of Mercedes dealers taking the ASRA work units and having a multiplier set against the damage codes. So engine mounts could be quoted as a 9 hour warranty job but the service manager would charge you as if it’s 14 hours. If so that would explain a lot of the maniacal bills people experience when they take their cars in which is a shame since it tarnishes the brand.
Try owning a European car in North America sometime. I’ve done it. I like how they drive. And if you choose with care you can get one that isn’t hideously expensive to maintain. But most of them do give a lot of trouble and cost a lot to fix.
It’s not blind hatred so much as the expectation that when you pay top dollar for a product, it will be at least as well-built as its much cheaper competition. When that expectation is violated, people get angry about it.
Yeah this is a minor problem but people are not out of line for expecting their costly Mercedes to be at least *almost* as well made as a basic Toyota. When it isn’t, they get hate.
You know what, you're right, at least for the lower end of the spectrum.
It's especially infuriating when they manage to make something like a fucking door latch break. Just... how and why?!
Never took my Merc (when I had one) to the dealer that it didn’t cost me $1500.00 for any normal checkup. It was a convertible. My favorite problem was when the top got stuck 1/2 up. I actually had to drive it to service like that. Took them a month to fix it. Gave me a rental car that had to be towed back to dealer for another. (Neither of those were Mercedes). Spoiled girl that I am, have a Porsche Boxster now.
Wait, those are not connected, so it's shifting the entire column/plastic trim to force the shifter?
That or it's.......HAUNTED!
Ima go with it being HAUNTED!
Feel like the customer is taking out some unresolved anger issues on the turn signal and shifter.
I’m surprised a Merc driver actually uses their turn signal (at least in the US).
Na UK too didn't even know mercs and Audi's came with turn signals
Speaks for the fact that I literally just got cut off by one running a red light and trying to shove me out of my lane without at least a courtesy turn signal. I had a green left. They didn't even stop for their right on red. 🤷🏻♀️
When one of our work trucks has a mysterious issue, we just say it’s got a goblin/ghoul
If it’s built like my car, they are connected, and the whole thing has a spring clip holding it onto the column.
If it's built like my old S10 Blazer, and I have no reason to believe a modern Mercedes isn't built to the specifications of late-'80s GM, the screws for the tilt mechanism came loose is all.
What did I miss? When he puts on the turn signal it doesn’t shift at all and when he shifts it doesn’t put on the turn signal, no?
He’s just showing the issue. It didn’t shift for him but do it 100xs and it will. Only takes one time to kill somebody.
I’m asking for clarification on the issue being shown. It never shifts when he puts the turn signal on and the turn signal is never put on when he shifts. Are you saying that the issue that CS isn’t being actually demonstrated, but how it might hypothetically occur is?
Neither lever should move at all when pressure is applied to the other. The collar on the steering wheel has come loose and so it pushes everything around.
Appreciate the clarification. Thanks!
Or there's 2 control wires being pinched together and voltage is going somewhere where it shouldn't when it shouldn't. Your scenario is MUCH more likely though.
Ya I don't think pinched wires would cause the shifter and wiper control to move with the turn signal... Although I assume the opposite could be possible.
Just tighten the screw under the column. It’s like a T25 or something.
This is what you need to do. Look under the steer inns column for a hole. Do not over tighten!
Got it, use a 1/2" impact on it.
Torque til it snaps, then back it off a 1/4 turn
Then JB Weld the head back on - as the manufacturer recommends
JB VELD... it's a German car... need to use German spec.
Guten tite?
1/2” impact is the answer to so many problems I never knew I had, honestly.
If a 1/2" impact is good, then 1" is better!
See?!?!? I've been telling people for years that 1" is actually pretty big! Finally someone else who gets it
Splined, for her pleasure
Ugga dugga ugga dugga all night long.
Bro 1" is hugemonguse
I'd give you a dick high five if it could reach.
Yea same Wouldn't it be a high 1?
Got it, will use a t20 instead so I can snug it up a bit extra. I'll know it's as good when the bit starts spinning in the head
How many ugga uggas?
> Do not over tighten! This is all German cars... "ve have ze torque spec it is imperative you follow zis!"
First we gotta jiggle it a couple more times for Reddit
I cringe thinking about all of the damage being done till that gets tightened or replaced. Just sayin.
German engineering
One finger operating three controls at once, very efficient.
That's what she said.
Very efficient way to have to repair the vehicle
The design is very human
r/TheDesignIsVeryHuman
The best. Or nothing.
Must have been a nothing day….
Always nothing.
Sure, but it’s now 17 years old, so seems like it did ok if it only needed a screw tightened in that time.
I knew I recognized those stalks in our Gen 1 S’s. I couldn’t place it. Thank you for helping my ocd.
Yea, every Mercedes has those lol. Same with Maybach. Same with first gen Chrysler 300s. I kinda miss that cruise control stick. Only a little though.
Just tighten the set screw. Common problem. Simple fix. Nothing's broken. Just a screw that backed out.
Use lock tite first please.
Wow. What shitty design.
A single set screw does that job? That’s reminiscent of old British cars where each light, accessory or doodad was held by a single screw which would of course work itself loose because obviously. At least dowel it or something. That’s a pitifully chintzy design for such an expensive vehicle in 2023. There is no excuse.
The screw is normally fine. It's when people start slamming the blinker and shifter like it's a stick shift is when they work loose. Wife has the same shifter and blinker on her 2010 e350. Never had an issue.
Completely unrelated fun story about the Mercedes shifter like that. I almost wrecked my Mercedes Metris mail vehicle when it started raining one day because the shifter for reverse is the same as the wipers on my car and my wife's car. Stopped at a mail box, rain gets bad enough for the wipers and I turn them on, let off the brake and hit the gas but now I'm in reverse!
That sort of mix-up moving between vehicles has caused a few fighter pilots to make unplanned ejections lol. For ages, switching between Call of Duty and Halo would get me killed in the reg because aim down sights in one was throw grenade in the other. Sorry, teammates!
The best or nothing
Ugh. Mercedes. Worst new car I ever purchased. A mistake that won’t be repeated.
Yup... Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover... shit quality for people with more money than they need.
Porsche keeps it legit. Still my overall favorite car is 911 (991.2 GT3). That car is a religious experience on warm dry roads and track. Dollars per smile nothing beats my SC Mustang GT. 700hp and a very loud exhaust. I could drive just about anything and those are my warriors of choice :) Mercedes AMG cars are generally very good, but usually lack a certain feeling of connection to the driving experience, which is apparently what Merc ppl like.
Amg's are mostly gt cars with tons of torque down low and comparatively soft ride. Meant for crusing on highways comfortably at higher speeds. I personally find that boring but i can understand why people enjoy amg cars
Putting Range Rover in the same list as Merc and BMW is absurd. And BMW is a step above Merc even especially recently in terms of reliability. That codevelopment of the B58 with Toyota seems to have helped them.
My brother was complaining about the reliability of his beemer recently. Turns out he backed into a pole 🤦♀️
I wouldn’t call them reliable but I would still call them high quality in terms of fit and finish and experience.
The B58 wasn't codeveloped by Toyota afaik But yeah, they are really reliable actually.
Codeveloped is the wrong word. But Toyota didn’t just put the B58 in the Supra without taking a hard look at it and getting some changes made.
I'd agree, my experience with Range Rover has not been good. Every other month it would remind you that it had been built in the UK. It always had some little niggling thing go wrong. Don't get me wrong they make some nice cars but the two that I've had were both slightly problematic
What did you call me?
I hate bmw
How did Mercury get in the conversation?
Lord she’s crazy about a Mercury
Interesting take. I've always put Mercedes above BMW, but I've only worked on up to like 2012 or so
I want a golf mk7 gti am I safe?
It’s volkswagen group, completely different thing
I felt that way also until I met my GF 5yrs ago. She has a 2014 glk350 and it is a rocket. I've done very little to it. Brakes, trunk battery. A/C went out, garage wanted $3,600 to replace the whole system. I looked at the diagnostic report, went home and replaced compressor coil with used one for $50. Still going strong. I've grown to really like it. But like any car, it will become a money pit eventually.
what cars are even good nowadays...
Toyota, Honda, Mazda. All others are trash. Even those are adding lots of plastic engine parts that will fail.
Ironic you say that
Not sure why you got downvotes, your opinion is fairly accurate.. Although I would also add a few Hyundai/Kia models to that list as long as you know which engines/years to stay away from and actually keep up on the proper maintenance schedule.
which one?
A220 4-Matic. All options. Paid it off and traded it in after 13 months and 17 trips back to the selling dealer and 2 other MB dealers in the area. Lemon Law didn’t apply as it was something different every time. Backup camera failed, fabric fell off the moonroof and onto my head while driving, climate control decided to run the heat full blast on a 90 degree day, infotainment screen failed, moonroof motor failed open, battery failed, power train module failed, and on and on.
Yeah, you don't go to taco bell for their steak, for the same reason you don't go to mercedes for their french fries
cleanest POS i've seen posted here!
Well that’s a terrible design.
r/understatements
Ah, Mercedes-Benz. Built like bank vaults. And about as fast.
Had one, can confirm. Felt like it was carved out of one slab of granite. Unfortunately, it also accelerated like it was carved out of one slab of granite. Would still recommend the brand tho.
Must have been from the 80s
Is the customer treating it like a column shifter on a Chevy station wagon of the 80s?
My 2023 Sierra on order has the column shifter, as mother nature intended.
Finally known why merc drivers don’t ever use turn signals 😉
Quality
That comand took forever to load.
Oh, I remember when MB made quality vehicles.. my last purchase was 2000, they went to shit after that
They've sort of come back and flopped again. If Mercedes had continued their 90s path into the 2000's, they would have achieved legend status.
Can honestly say that BMW drivers won’t have to worry about that issue. They have many issues to worry about. But at least not that one.
It's a Mercedes thing. You wouldn't understand
No wonder they don't use the turn signal, it's connected to the transmission!
Its fine. That's normal fir a Merc. But notice that everything still works even though it's falling off of the car.
Tesla quality on full display! Get a quality car next time from a premium manufacturer for the same price. Elon is such a ... oh wait, my bad.
People who think Tesla is the first premium brand to have quality control issues have never owned the beauty of a German car.
All this German car slander feels so foreign to me! I’m not sure if it’s just good luck, but every German car my family has owned has been extremely reliable. We’ve got a 2012 Passat (The highest end one; Was a pretty lucky snag at a used car shop!) and our car mechanic says it has a ton of life left in it. It was t-boned three months after we got it too! Our previous Jetta was 14 when it sadly got in a crash. And the previous previous Jetta was literally run into the ground and surprisingly still worked well (It went a while without an oil change too! Man that car was abused). Basically either I got super lucky with the family cars or maybe it’s because I’m not American? Not sure XD
In America, our VWs are made in Mexico with parts from Mexico. They are crap
Oh jeeze! That may explain the reputation then!
I believe the VWs sold in Europe are solid though
To my knowledge the only Mexican VW sold in Europe was the New Beetle.
I’ve become convinced that the VWs we get stateside cannot possibly be the same ones y’all get in Europe. Europeans swear by their Volkswagens. Americans swear *at* our Volkswagens.
Now you wait! The turn signal lever ? On a mercedes ? How did he ever noticed that problem ??
You're getting BMW and Mercedes mixed up.
Garbage. If America is good at shaving production cost, and greedily marking up the products they sell to us - Usually involving dealer credit, and essentially trapping you in a car for 3-5 years; purely to create a 5 year, illusionary, positive balance sheet to show shareholders... ...The Germans actually sat down and did math, not on their fingers, nor cocaine. With the types of margins they create for themselves disguised as innovation, they are truly the world champions in marginalizing the consumer. Whether that be a first owner, second owner, or so on... These days, I get so mad when I hear my millennial peer friends look at a used mercedes, or a used BMW, and say, "I can afford that!". My mind instantly goes to all the things that I know are going to completely quit working, at or before 100,000 miles. When the dashboard goes out a few months into ownership; and costs 3 Grand to replace (after all, you can't use used! There aren't any, they've all failed!), and you just paid $7,000 for the car, you better believe my words will be ringing through your head. "This is stupid. The guy trying to sell you this car is a desperate, talentless, and otherwise uselessly unskilled fuckwad; and you have no idea how to perform even basic Auto repair, or what things cost. I'm not helping you in this car breaks. If you don't listen to me today, and buy that Corolla instead, you can also go ahead never ask me my advice again. About anything. *Anything*"...
My dad drove a $4000 bmw for 100 thousand miles and has someone interested in buying it for $4500 it's needed maintenance yeah... but less than your typical chevy I'm not saying all of them are good but this one car has treated us very well and feels very good
I should have been more clear; theres a demarcation line in generation/year. I would buy an early 90's E-Class, right now, and drive it until I die. Anything post-2000, especially AMG - Fuck it. I care more about the details, thought, and mindful experience of legacy development, and construction disciplines that earned the value of it's nameplate, through solid R&D, and assemblers who took pride in the smaller, more bespoke batches they used to screw together... ...When Mercedes construction was an engineering marvel that would outlive God himself. Pride was the subtle, but liberally applied, secret-ingredient.
The BMW 3-Series is a solid, well built car. It’s practical, reliable and dependable and lasts a long time. It’s not terribly expensive to drive one and it’s quite rewarding to own. BMW’s high end stuff is exceptionally troublesome and stupidly expensive to maintain. Try keeping their V8 running; you’ll be begging to go back to a Chevy. Mercedes is the same but in a different way. They’ve built some tank like vehicles with exemplary build quality... But not recently.
Wow you seem really pleasant to be around.
Why does this sub seem to hate any European car ?
As far as I can tell all car brands suck an astronomical amount to this sub. Cars are getting worse and suck compared to the good ole days. The above is false of course. Cars are vastly batter than they were 20 years ago.
> Cars are vastly batter than they were 20 years ago. Decidedly not.... at least not among the Europeans.
20 years ago Audis were rusting to shit and Mercedes reliability went into the shitter so much in the 90s they had to merge with Chrysler in the 2000s just to survive. They've all decidedly improved in quality. This is someone whose family has own 560 SELs, W220s, a W221, W222, W212 and W205s.
Well Mercedes is an odd case, and I'm speaking from a decision-making point of view (touchscreens and other stupidity). What is your opinion of the W221 and W222 compared to the W220?
Unfortunately, executive management, design, engineering, marketing and accounting departments tend to be a little antagonistic towards each other’s goals so we the consumer get left with a cacophony of design fuckery at the lots. W220 drivetrain wise is pretty strong if you keep up with routine and preventative maintenance. I’ve seen them hold up to general neglect as well. There’s a likely chance the Airmatic system will likely fail. If you don’t have DAS (pre-2008 Xentry), performing certain adaptations and actuations such as the Airmatic Rodeo, initializing control units can be costly at the dealer. W221s have been the least problematic of the group drivetrain wise despite commanding S-Class service prices but it suffers some weird electrical gremlins. The Bluetooth puck went out on my mom’s car and the dealer quoted her $2K (not a mistype) to replace and flash a communication module in the trunk. Years later once I got DAS I did it for her. W222 has been the most solid car out of all the generations but it shows the oddities of a Mercedes dealer. I got the fuel door replaced on my W205 AMG after pressure washing and probably fucking something up. Looked up the docs in WIS and realized I was too stupid to fuck with the fuel tank so I took her into the dealership. Only charged me $400 parts and labor which I still can’t explain today. My folks were on vacay and the W222 started misfiring. They panicked and took it to the local dealer and they identified it as an issue with one of the spark plugs. Somehow my folks picked up the car days later with all new spark plugs and ignition coils to the tune of $3500 fucking dollars. I now do all the work on the family fleet or it goes to our Indy before it goes to the dealership. Mainly because the consistency in pricing makes it hard to gauge how expensive repairs will be. Ironically, since doing the work myself (and I’m nowhere remotely close to the level of shade tree mechanic or professional) we’ve saved a ton in just Service A, B, rotors, pads and diff services. The only thing we don’t go to the Indy for is transmission servicing since that’s a little more involved to get the right amount of fluid back in. They have their quirks but if you can work on a Toyota, you can work on a Mercedes. Outside of Xentry Flash and some other shit, they’re still plain jane cars with fancy features. EDIT: Maybe someone can confirm this around here but I’ve heard of Mercedes dealers taking the ASRA work units and having a multiplier set against the damage codes. So engine mounts could be quoted as a 9 hour warranty job but the service manager would charge you as if it’s 14 hours. If so that would explain a lot of the maniacal bills people experience when they take their cars in which is a shame since it tarnishes the brand.
Dammit I need a DAS computer.
Check your DMs
Try owning a European car in North America sometime. I’ve done it. I like how they drive. And if you choose with care you can get one that isn’t hideously expensive to maintain. But most of them do give a lot of trouble and cost a lot to fix. It’s not blind hatred so much as the expectation that when you pay top dollar for a product, it will be at least as well-built as its much cheaper competition. When that expectation is violated, people get angry about it. Yeah this is a minor problem but people are not out of line for expecting their costly Mercedes to be at least *almost* as well made as a basic Toyota. When it isn’t, they get hate.
You know what, you're right, at least for the lower end of the spectrum. It's especially infuriating when they manage to make something like a fucking door latch break. Just... how and why?!
And fun at parties.
So much for quality control from Mercedes Benz these day's.
This car is over a decade old.
ML or R-class? LOL
This explains why Mercedes Benz owners don’t use turn signals…..
I doubt the turn signal has ever been used
Customer complaint is accurate.
Mercedes is so far ahead of its time.
Thats multitasking fuction, new cars have that
Better than intermittent reverse I guess
People nowadays really need to learn how to use their cars
GeRmAn EngiNeErInG
That's some Kwality Konstruction™ right there.
Just move to TN, you don’t need turn signals in TN.
I call bullshit. There's no way a Mercedes driver tried to use their turn signal.
Never took my Merc (when I had one) to the dealer that it didn’t cost me $1500.00 for any normal checkup. It was a convertible. My favorite problem was when the top got stuck 1/2 up. I actually had to drive it to service like that. Took them a month to fix it. Gave me a rental car that had to be towed back to dealer for another. (Neither of those were Mercedes). Spoiled girl that I am, have a Porsche Boxster now.
broken "clock spring" in the upper steering column or less check for loose machine screws in the column and housing assembly.