Ode to German Engineering!

My Mercedes was almost as bad. My BMW had it's share of problems too but they were more minor than the Benz until the cooling system blew up at 75k miles. No one believes me but my Jaguar went longer with less problems than the German cars did.

 

I loved the way my 3 series drove but there were always little nagging issues. In two years of owning it I replaced the water pump that broke, the radiator fan shroud and radiator fan, new temperature sensor, wheel sensors, final stage resistor, air intake elbow hose, and I had to pay to reset the DSC dash light that permanently tripped on. There was probably other stuff too that I can't remember. My parents had a 5-series at the time too and did their fair share of replacing cracked radiator hoses, expansion tanks, and broken window regulators. I have friends with Audis that have poured money into them to keep them maintained. They don't build them like they used to.

Even though they are all great drivers, German cars are scary to own once the warranty is up. So what we need is a Lexus that drives as nice as a BMW or a BMW that is as reliable as a Lexus.

My Dad has owned a few Jags and has been thinking of getting another. They do seem to be reliable especially after Ford bought them and upped quality control.

 

my Sisters 02 X5 was a POS. Meanwhile my m5 is great.

btw perhaps you should do this:

http://www.fastmotoring.com/index.php/2011/03/range-rover-towed-back-to-dealer-with-donkeys-in-china/

 

I had an ML500 up to 132k miles. Normal maintenance except for a power steering pump.

OTOH had we bought a BMW 323i that was 18 months old with 20k miles about ten years ago. BMW lost their butt on warranty claims for that car. About $5k in nickles and dime patches at the dealer, it was never right electrically. After multiple times watching it being loaded onto a flatbed to be repaired at the dealer we unloaded that POS in under 2 years at the M-B dealer on a C230.

Had a Cayenne Turbo for 9 months and decided to trade it as the number of niggling annoying problems reached a tipping point.

We have had five Mercedes in the last 7 years with a total of two warranty claims between all of them, and the aformentioned power steering pump I put on at 110k miles.

Your mileage may vary...

 

My wife bought a brand new e260 in 2003, replacing her old 1997 528i.
Had a brake system failure after just 3 months (didn't remember the mileage but around 5000km).
Scary car! Went back and forth MB dealer, they didn't wanna replace the computers. I once drove it in the morning with no brakes at all with the computer display said "brake system failure, please stop the vehicle"... yeah right... HOW ????
I'm glad my wife wasn't driving that day.

Buy a merc it you're suicidal.

 

Buy a 1996 VW JETTA GLX VR6. Biggest junk I ever had period........UGH!

 

Wait a minute - the ShamWOW! is made in Germany...according to the pitchman, "You know the Germans always make good stuff"!

 

2008 E350 here - 40k miles - zero issues whatsover.....

My 2003 E500? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I hope it's been
turned into chain link fence by now

Jedi

 

Wow. My wife bought a new 2011 MB GL350BlueTech earlier this month. It sounds like I made a good decision in buying the MB 100,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty that cost ~$3k!

 

If you want reliability, buy Japanese. QED

 

+1

 

Can't argue with anything anyone has said here.

But I can't think of a single Japanese car that I really want to drive.

 

Funny how people tend to think that German cars are so reliable and durable. German cars sell PERCEIVED QUALITY, not actual long term reliability.

Most of their secondary components are rather cheap, but yet people think that because they have top notch plastic dashboards and doors that thump, that the actual important parts are just as durable.

I laughed my head off while most of my VW driving friends had numerous repairs, coil packs, ball joints, bushings, peeling plastics, chipping paint, wiring problems etc....while i drove my unreliable Alfa Romeo Milano with way less problems.

And guess what, the parts I had to replace on my Alfa were Bosch. Go Figure.

 

Geesh! I have to defend the German auto industry....

3rd Audi...178,000 miles and it's only recently starting to need fixing.

490,000 total Audi miles and I'd get another tomorrow, and at 178,000, I just might have to....

Maybe some of you guys/gals are hard on cars......?

 

German engineering is so overrated

 

I think it has a lot to do with the complexity of modern cars. Toyota and Ford have also had their woes recently with recalls, but Merc almost deliberately builds the most complicated featured into their cars. A lane departure system with alerts and brake integration is just more likely to fail than a simple rear view mirror.

 

Somewhere and some time after 1995 something went terribly wrong in Germany...

I love 90's cars and nothing beats the E34 M5


Hope they get better soon, because they are highly attractive.

 

Husker,
I recall your and our acquiring new MB's about the same time,you got the G we got the M.
Sorry your experience was poor.Ours not too bad but a power steering pump failure in there as well,but not much else bad.But I traded it for a R last summer.The R is a whole lot smoother,a ton smoother,and third row is good for us and the thing holds more that a M,it has a huge interior.I did not much like the tranny in the M,weird shifts whenever and clunky,inspired no confidence.So with warranty about up,aufweidersien M.
The R has been good,but what's a rear wheel speed sensor?And why would it fail?Causing the cruise control to inop?Never had a thing like that before...huh.And when it fails it sounds like a rotor gone bad[or a caliper loose banging/flopping on the rotor],not a pretty noise let me tell you,scary on I-95 between Walterboro and Savannah,not many MB dealers to help if you think your brakes just pooped[they worked fine...but the first test at 78 was,testy,touchy,sensitive,y'know].
Hope you get the G sold,without insufferable damage,as it sounds like you have it well fixed,at last.
cheers,
RE

 

Those are horrible and serious issues. Bad cam sensors are potentially fatal to the motor and suspension failures are potentially fatal to whomever is driving the car and those in its path. Good luck seeking reparations or at least getting some value for it.

Just curious, but what does a complete suspension failure entail...broken axle, broken control arm, etc? I hope it failed pulling into your driveway and not at speed.

 

I'm not the one that posted that phrase but at least on the Cayenne suspenion failure meant a small leak in an air suspension hose and a compressor that was on its last legs and couldn't keep up. It did not mean hard parts fracturing and dangling beneath the car.

The GL also has air suspenion if I am not mistaken.

 

Don`t get me wrong....Very few people can make cars as good as the Germans on a consisten basis. They have wonderful design, feel solid, look good and great service but the overall conception that they are UBER STRONG is a thing of the past.

 

German cars prior to the late 90s were great, especially Mercedes. Solid stuff. The reason your average Corolla or Altima is so reliable is because they're simple cars, limited electronics, no gadgetry, etc. They don't push the envelope.

Of course, Mercedes and others rested on their laurels, cut costs, and quality tumbled. Look at most late 80s Benzes, true quality there!

 

2 friends of mine own junkyards and obviously dismantle cars for a living. Both said that later model S-Class W126 (1979-1991) were built like tanks and those are the ones to own. They both bought japanese cars (Lexus and Acura) for their respective wives but they are both big on American trucks for their own personal transportation...