Mercedes E220 Cdi - How reliable?

[confused_buyer]

yellowbentines said:

confused_buyer said:

not remotely special or premium to drive.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but can I genuinely ask if you were looking for a 'premium' diesel saloon what would you recommend as an alternative at the same or less price as a used buy?

Overall, I'd go for the BMW although in terms of build and quality BMW like Mercedes went backwards a bit as the E60 does not have the same quality as the older E39.

As a car to travel in and spend time in as I said the E-Class is very pleasant indeed. It is comfortable, quite cosseting and gets you to destinations with minimum fuss - I just don't find much pleasure in driving them. They're fine to drive, like many cars, just a bit boring. As I said in my original post they're a great tool and I can see why a chaffeur company would choose one.

Quality wise they last - what I think lets them down is the creaky nature of the interior plastics and general "look what money we saved" feel. This is a shame, because if a Mercedes buyer expects one thing, it is a solid feel. One gets the impression less effort went into making a solid feeling cabin than VW did with a Golf which isn't really good enough.

[Rat_Fink_67]

confused_buyer said:

Main things (to echo others):

SBC Brake unit can "run out of cycles". Costs about £1300.

99% of these are covered by Mercedes-Benz under warranty, regardless of complete service history, age or mileage. If we service a vehicle and note that the SBC pump has exceeded it's life, we refer the customer to one of our local dealerships with a DAS printout and we've never known one be refused a 100% contribution from Mercedes-Benz.

[Monkeylegend]

Rat_Fink_67 said:

confused_buyer said:

Main things (to echo others):

SBC Brake unit can "run out of cycles". Costs about £1300.

99% of these are covered by Mercedes-Benz under warranty, regardless of complete service history, age or mileage. If we service a vehicle and note that the SBC pump has exceeded it's life, we refer the customer to one of our local dealerships with a DAS printout and we've never known one be refused a 100% contribution from Mercedes-Benz.

Had mine replaced for free on my old E class after 230k miles and 1 year out of warranty.

[Deva Link]

Monkeylegend said:

Rat_Fink_67 said:

confused_buyer said:

Main things (to echo others):

SBC Brake unit can "run out of cycles". Costs about £1300.

99% of these are covered by Mercedes-Benz under warranty, regardless of complete service history, age or mileage. If we service a vehicle and note that the SBC pump has exceeded it's life, we refer the customer to one of our local dealerships with a DAS printout and we've never known one be refused a 100% contribution from Mercedes-Benz.

Had mine replaced for free on my old E class after 230k miles and 1 year out of warranty.

What happens when it runs out of cycles for the second time though? That's going to be an expensive repair on what, in most cases, will be a 10-12yr old car.

[Monkeylegend]

Deva Link said:

Monkeylegend said:

Rat_Fink_67 said:

confused_buyer said:

Main things (to echo others):

SBC Brake unit can "run out of cycles". Costs about £1300.

99% of these are covered by Mercedes-Benz under warranty, regardless of complete service history, age or mileage. If we service a vehicle and note that the SBC pump has exceeded it's life, we refer the customer to one of our local dealerships with a DAS printout and we've never known one be refused a 100% contribution from Mercedes-Benz.

Had mine replaced for free on my old E class after 230k miles and 1 year out of warranty.

What happens when it runs out of cycles for the second time though? That's going to be an expensive repair on what, in most cases, will be a 10-12yr old car.

You would need to be in love with it to pay for it at that age. I am sure I was told it was in the region of £1400 fitted at a main dealer

[Rat_Fink_67]

Deva Link said:

Monkeylegend said:

Rat_Fink_67 said:

confused_buyer said:

Main things (to echo others):

SBC Brake unit can "run out of cycles". Costs about £1300.

99% of these are covered by Mercedes-Benz under warranty, regardless of complete service history, age or mileage. If we service a vehicle and note that the SBC pump has exceeded it's life, we refer the customer to one of our local dealerships with a DAS printout and we've never known one be refused a 100% contribution from Mercedes-Benz.

Had mine replaced for free on my old E class after 230k miles and 1 year out of warranty.

What happens when it runs out of cycles for the second time though? That's going to be an expensive repair on what, in most cases, will be a 10-12yr old car.

We have a customer with a high mileage 2003 E55 AMG that has has the unit replaced twice under warranty. I think Mercedes-Benz are that embarrassed over the whole SBC thing that they're willing to rectify anything associated with it to prevent anymore bad press or incidents.

[GTIR]

I'd get a Skoda Superb instead.

[Monkeylegend]

GTIR said:

I'd get a Skoda Superb instead.

There's no accounting for taste

[yellowbentines]

GTIR said:

I'd get a Skoda Superb instead.

Insightful.

[GTIR]

yellowbentines said:

GTIR said:

I'd get a Skoda Superb instead.

Insightful.

Are you mad!





















Obviously I'm joking. (if you bothered to look at my garage)

[confused_buyer]

The Superb is, on the whole, actually pretty Superb. It is a very grown up, well considered car. The type of car people buy and stick with.

In many ways it delivers what a lot of people want and expect from a Mercedes but sadly these days do not always get.

[yellowbentines]

confused_buyer said:

The Superb is, on the whole, actually pretty Superb. It is a very grown up, well considered car. The type of car people buy and stick with.

In many ways it delivers what a lot of people want and expect from a Mercedes but sadly these days do not always get.

I have an E220, my father a Skoda Superb which I've driven a fair bit - in terms of value, build quality and space the Skoda delivers, however its in no way comparable with a Mercedes in terms of safety, driving experience, refinement, technology, luxury, comfort, performance, style or desirability - the big Czech barge is good, but its not a luxury car by a long shot.

[GTIR]

I do 70k+ a year and my Merc (as CHEIF knows) has been superb (no pun intended). It's got 240k, or something, and has been brilliant.
On the other hand. One of my sub contractors has a 80k Superb and the build quality is somewhat cheaper, should we say. No comparison whatsoever.

I know I started this talk of Skoda's and I'd like it to stop!

[CHIEF]

GTIR said:

I do 70k+ a year and my Merc (as CHEIF knows) has been superb (no pun intended). It's got 240k, or something, and has been brilliant.
On the other hand. One of my sub contractors has a 80k Superb and the build quality is somewhat cheaper, should we say. No comparison whatsoever.

I know I started this talk of Skoda's and I'd like it to stop!

I didn't want to be bombarding you with questions about your car as well.

Thank you sir for all your advice

[jw golf mk4]

Post 2006 cars should be fine! avoid 2000-2004 Mercs!

[yellowbentines]

jw golf mk4 said:

Post 2006 cars should be fine! avoid 2000-2004 Mercs!

Where does that leave us with 2005 cars?!

[jw golf mk4]

i know post '06 Mercs were slowly getting back to what u expect a Merc to be!'00-'04 models had a lot of electrical gremlins. Not sure about '05 cars! maybe abit of both!

[sxg88]

Thank you all for your comments! Much appreciated.

I know you cannot make the decision for me, but in summary, are we talking about a reliable motor here?

I don't want to spend £5000 and find I need a pocket full of cash repairing it. I will of course check it has been serviced regularly etc.

Thanks again

[DSLiverpool]

Black hole moment ?

[Monkeylegend]

sxg88 said:

Thank you all for your comments! Much appreciated.

I know you cannot make the decision for me, but in summary, are we talking about a reliable motor here?

I don't want to spend £5000 and find I need a pocket full of cash repairing it. I will of course check it has been serviced regularly etc.

Thanks again

Just to update, I changed my '07 car at 312k miles, it was still running well. Get one that has been serviced properly and you should be ok.