Discussion
Hi all ,
I live and work in the middle east and I am fortunate enough to run new MB company cars as part of my package . Typically the vehicles are changed every four months or so and rarely exceed 6000 km's .
The past five vehicles have all been E300's , fully loaded in terms of options , the only variance being paint and trim colour . My concern and the motivation for this post is that all of these vehicles have suffered with similar faults as follows .
1. Very poor shift quality 2nd to 3rd , 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th on light throttle application , this seems worse when in " E " mode but is still apparent in " sport " . This can be quite alarming at times due to the harshness of the change resulting in a perceptible shock travelling through the drivetrain coupled with a bang at the transition point .
2. Wind whistle ( reed effect ) coming from the right hand A pillar area at exactly 100km,s per hour .
3. Poor paint quality ( orange peel appearance ) , particularly on the vertical body panels ( doors / wings ) , coupled with shade variations between the front and rear aprons ( plastic ) and the adjacent panels ( steel ) , this is more evident on lighter colours ( I have had three white cars )!!
As these vehicles are de-fleeted regularly I have never bothered to have them looked at , nor raised any complaints with the local agent . However I am interested to hear from other owners as to their experiences regarding the above on 2014/2015 212's . To be frank , if I was a retail client I may not be too impressed , however I am sure that given the opportunity the dealer could fix the problems , but my point is that that MB quality control is somewhat lacking .
Thanks for reading , over to you !
I live and work in the middle east and I am fortunate enough to run new MB company cars as part of my package . Typically the vehicles are changed every four months or so and rarely exceed 6000 km's .
The past five vehicles have all been E300's , fully loaded in terms of options , the only variance being paint and trim colour . My concern and the motivation for this post is that all of these vehicles have suffered with similar faults as follows .
1. Very poor shift quality 2nd to 3rd , 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th on light throttle application , this seems worse when in " E " mode but is still apparent in " sport " . This can be quite alarming at times due to the harshness of the change resulting in a perceptible shock travelling through the drivetrain coupled with a bang at the transition point .
2. Wind whistle ( reed effect ) coming from the right hand A pillar area at exactly 100km,s per hour .
3. Poor paint quality ( orange peel appearance ) , particularly on the vertical body panels ( doors / wings ) , coupled with shade variations between the front and rear aprons ( plastic ) and the adjacent panels ( steel ) , this is more evident on lighter colours ( I have had three white cars )!!
As these vehicles are de-fleeted regularly I have never bothered to have them looked at , nor raised any complaints with the local agent . However I am interested to hear from other owners as to their experiences regarding the above on 2014/2015 212's . To be frank , if I was a retail client I may not be too impressed , however I am sure that given the opportunity the dealer could fix the problems , but my point is that that MB quality control is somewhat lacking .
Thanks for reading , over to you !
It is a product of the market and you are a typical buyer. Why bother to build a car for the long haul when the first owner "de-fleets" it within a short period of time? Back in the day of legendary MB design and build quality, many buyers bought—by which I mean that out-moded concept of handing over the purchase price of the car and taking ownership in exchange—a brand new Mercedes every five years, or every seven years, or every ten years; and they didn't trade in their old one, they kept it. Then they had to build a decent car. Now they just have to imagine a decent brand.
r129sl said:
It is a product of the market and you are a typical buyer. Why bother to build a car for the long haul when the first owner "de-fleets" it within a short period of time? Back in the day of legendary MB design and build quality, many buyers bought—by which I mean that out-moded concept of handing over the purchase price of the car and taking ownership in exchange—a brand new Mercedes every five years, or every seven years, or every ten years; and they didn't trade in their old one, they kept it. Then they had to build a decent car. Now they just have to imagine a decent brand.
I find the original post interesting and am reminded of a review of a 1990 R129 500SL made in 2011 in which the author had this to say" So how shall we remember this SL? Quality. Quality of purpose. Quality in construction. Quality in innovation and design. The kind of quality that, yes, in point of fact they just don't make anymore. The Mercedes brand has been devalued more times than the dollar and is in debt to its own past. The kind of quality represented in this SL is the enduring automotive equivalent of gold bullion." (Gunnar Heinrich: Automobile De Luxe 29/07/2011)
The telling point for me is the line "....devalued more times than the dollar and is in debt to its own past".
The glory days of Mercedes's pre-eminent engineering and build integrity are long gone. Downhill from 1995 onwards.
r129sl said:
"In debt to its own past": that is a beautifully apposite turn of phrase. What is going to happen to the brand when nobody remembers the distant past in which it was a marque?
I think, for most buyers, we are already at that point. Most drivers of the LED enhanced, over wheeled, pan-world design new MBs will simply regard my r129 as an old car and, due to the subtlety of its branding, be unaware they are "related", however tenuously. MB have banners etc. proclaiming their heritage in showrooms, but most buyers probably choose between, say, a C class and a 3 series on a host of cost, performance and aesthetic criteria, and heritage has no part to play. Its an interesting what-if, thinking about an alternative history where M-B carried on making cars with the same approach. The most likely scenario is that they would have sold fewer and fewer cars as theirs became more and more expensive relative to the competition. This in turn would lead to less cash to spend on R&D and a vicious circle of falling behind other manufacturers. I think the most likely outcome in this scenario is that they would have ended up as another brand in the VAG portfolio.
r129sl said:
I think that is right, Chris. MB just serves the market. And the market no longer values traditional MB qualities.
At the end of 1992 Daimler Benz made: The 190E, E class saloons, estates, coupes, S Class saloon and coupe, SL roadster and the G-Wagon.
By 2005 the Chrysler Benz range had extended to:
A class, B class, C class saloon, estates, coupes, SLK roadsters, CLK coupes, CLK cabriolets, E class saloons and estates, CLS class, S Class saloon, CL Class, SL class, SLR class, R class, M class, G class, Vaneo and Viano.
Never mind the quality, just feel the width.
As you say MB just serves the market and probably wouldn't have survived if it hadn't but we are talking about two separate companies served by the same brand name.
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