My piece of shit 2010 Mercedes E

[Major_Error]

Sad story...

A car costs that much money. There are so many cars that I would like to have/try, but due to the price I have always had some "restrictions" on my self. Choose some reliable and cars with good rumor... Then I had the Corolla replaced by a Camry and the 1966 Cooper S with a Miata.. 8-)

(Carefully, but inside the limits of fun)

but no star!8-(

Edited November 13, 2012 by Major_Error

[By-Tor]

Actually I think it's the same problem with all modern cars. They have so much electronics, it's insane.

Take the windshield wipers for example. In the old days that was controlled by relays. Never any problems. When I ran into a problem I had to drive this car to the official Merc repairshop... they spent two hours with it and finally "fixed" the problem by resetting the "CPU central memory".

That's laughable. Why make simple things more complicated with all this new technology?

I live in Scandinavia and we have pretty tough weather conditions, like Nanuq has. Well almost anyway. Winter, snow, moisture, etc. That's bad for all the micro chips... and that's why the older cars worked so much bettter. The rust problems are gone though... new cars are mostly aluminum or use zinc, whatever.

[Nanuq]

that's why the older cars worked so much bettter. The rust problems are gone though... new cars are mostly aluminum or use zinc, whatever.

Rust, bingo ... I cringe at the sight of salted roads. But the nearest thing I've got to a CPU on my old Rover is the Corrosion Prevention Unit, also known as the "engine". It coats everything with so much oil it will NEVER rust.

Ten moving parts, and I know what they all do. There's some sense of security in that. But once in awhile I smell a burning wire and have no idea where it is or what it's for. Just whistle past the graveyard.

[By-Tor]

Yep. Salt. That's the problem here as well.

Most W124's are all rusted to pieces already. Same thing with W210... awful.

W211 had all this fixed. And it was also one of the best sedans ever made. Very balanced drive... very similar to my BMW E39 actually. I loved my '2003 model. Maybe it didn't look as fancy but overall it was much better car. I wish I still had that.

[freddy333]

The reason for the computerizing of auto-systems is weight-savings. That old mechanical wiper relay weighed alot more than the microscopic sliver of silicone that hosts the wiper brain in your current 'Benz. I agree that computerization has a costly downside, but, if performance, increasingly good fuel economy & lower emissions are what the public wants (& most stats reflect this), then you get what you get.

And, if you think we have car problems now, just wait till some wack-job sets off an EMP device in a western city.

[KB]

I was reading somewhere that most modern day car computers take hundreds of readings a second (don't know how accurate this is) and this means the car is always running at it's optimal performance.

If this is accurate then these computers are worth their weight in gold, but they do cost a fortune to fix if they go bad.

On the plus side if you REALLY know what your doing you can basically tune your car with your laptop

Ken

[By-Tor]

On the plus side if you REALLY know what your doing you can basically tune your car with your laptop

I actually did that with my Beemer. I had an airbag passenger light flashing. First I googled the problem and found it to be very typical among the E39's... the fix was to spray CRC to the wires under the seat. Then I downloaded INPA-software for BMW, bought an adapter for the laptop for €45 and resetted the light. Voilá.

They charge €80 for just resetting it in the official BMW repair shop.

Don't ask me why but I always had a strange fetish for this model (1996-2004) so I had to get one. Cars and watches... they're expensive hobbies but fun.

[altesporsche]

good ole German cars : P .. i feel your pain .. well sort of .. the Merc's unfortunately are plagued with far more problems than the other german car makers .. they are acutally far down on the list of reliable cars in recent years due to a lot of out sourcing electrical components from eastern europe and asia.. but as for electrical issues .. this is a german car thing even the german made electronics seem to love to fail .. and its never anything big always small annoying things and 95% of the time is a soldering issue lol they cant seem to get that right .. my Audis always had the odd electrical issue ( bad solders ) but never mechanical failure .. my Porsches hmm dont think i have had any issues with any of them other than a crank bearing in my all motor 3.1L 944 and well yea bad solder in the older ones : P it was my fault though with the crank bearing .. but my 997.2 carrera C4S has not had one issue since the day i got it and i do drive it like i stole it.. : P .. Sorry to hear about the problems you are having .. who does Merc use for the turbos on the CDI's ?

[By-Tor]

@altesporsche: No idea who makes the turbo. I thought it was "inhouse"? Not sure.

Porsche could have superior quality eletronic parts, compared to Merc and BMW. Well at least Porsches have been documented to be much more reliable.

PS: I'm a HUGE Porsche fan... and I always had a fetish for 928 GTS and 933. And I might have something to show you next summer.

997 is very nice too... never liked the 996 because of those boxster-lamps. Boxter and 924, however, are the gayest Porsches ever made.

[redwatch]

That's why I want the 500E. Porsche built and a freakin tank. They seem to go forever too. Of course, they do take some effort to maintain them, but I think it's worth it. And the top end speed!!!! Oh my!

[By-Tor]

Totally agreed. 500E is awesome. And it looks better than 99,9% of the new cars.

[altesporsche]

Yea I really have a soft spot for the 928 gts as well .. give my left nut for a 94' with a 5 speed ( rare as hell ) .. almost bought a 90' GT with the 5 speed a few years ago but was silly and bought a Skyline : P that was fun for a while but i always went back to my Pcars .. love the idea of the boxter but dont like the car and i hate saying that because it is a fantastic car and one of the most reliable sports cars out there .. i just hate cabrio's !! the 924 isnt even a porsche technically .. it was suposed to be a VW in the beginning and its using a Audi engine ... the 944 though is true porsche top to bottom .. and i love them ! lol a lot of people hate them and see them as poor mans porsche's but i have a soft sport for them as well .. and the fact that mine only has 16k original kilometers on it and was brought in from germany by my grandfather in 82' ( model year before it was released in northamerica) so it has sentimental value : ) .. anyways didnt mean to jack the thread on Porsche talk : P .. but what do you have in store for next year? super curious now ..

as for the merc turbos i doubt they made them inhouse .. more than likely KKK makes them or IHI but its odd for a turbo to go boom like that .. how many miles on the car ?

@altesporsche: No idea who makes the turbo. I thought it was "inhouse"? Not sure.

Porsche could have superior quality eletronic parts, compared to Merc and BMW. Well at least Porsches have been documented to be much more reliable.

PS: I'm a HUGE Porsche fan... and I always had a fetish for 928 GTS and 933. And I might have something to show you next summer.

997 is very nice too... never liked the 996 because of those boxster-lamps. Boxter and 924, however, are the gayest Porsches ever made.

[altesporsche]

forgot to mention ..., LOVE that black Merc !! it kills me to see some of the new designs .. only Audi of the german car makers has kept some of its heritage in there .. you can always tell its an audi .. some of the new Merc's i have no idea what they are until i see the badge .. and ill not even start on the new 911 the 991 models .. I HATE THEM ! lol look cool side on and thats it ..

[Legend]

I owned an SLK280 for six months,and sold it. It did not exhibit problems like that which you mentioned, but the drive simply is not up to scratch, compared with my Audi.

I guess its personal preference in my case. I hope your car gets sorted out ASAP. The list of problems look a little overwhelming :/

[By-Tor]

An update:

Our local Merc dealer (where I bought the car) promised to come "halfway", even though this happened outside the guarantee. So my charge will be "only" 3500€ for the turbo exchange.

I guess I should be pretty happy with this. Waddya say?

Whispering: **** Still... I could have bought another preowned gen Rolex for that.

[freddy333]

Unless you are prepared to buy another car, I think you are kind of stuck.

Just out of curiosity, why did the dealer agree to eat half the repair cost if your car is out of warranty?

[By-Tor]

Maybe because our company has bought 6 cars from them.

And this turbo failure wasn't due to "normal wear". It was exceptional.

They said the "factory comes halfway" (whatever that means). I'll let you know when I know more.

[smokiedabong]

Mercs suck alright. A lot of my employees bought one and I can see the envy in their eyes when I roll in the morning with my '97 400.000 miles only with maintenance blue Accord

[By-Tor]

Mercs suck alright. A lot of my employees bought one and I can see the envy in their eyes when I roll in the morning with my '97 400.000 miles only with maintenance blue Accord

[cib0rgman]

Mercs suck alright. A lot of my employees bought one and I can see the envy in their eyes when I roll in the morning with my '97 400.000 miles only with maintenance blue Accord

that is your daily drive, but what is your fun Drive a Porsche?

[slickdick]

An update:

Our local Merc dealer (where I bought the car) promised to come "halfway", even though this happened outside the guarantee. So my charge will be "only" 3500€ for the turbo exchange.

I guess I should be pretty happy with this. Waddya say?

Whispering: **** Still... I could have bought another preowned gen Rolex for that.

uhh... No!

[ghost]

I always felt mercs were the rollies of the road. Nothing like a beautiful vintage merc. I've had the opportunity to own/drive 3 mercs prior to my most recent one. A 2003 CLK230. The previous 3 were stellar and felt like they were built to last.

However, my 2003 CLK 230 is a stinking steaming POS too! Bought from a dealer with star-class warranty in May. Was supposed to be almost NOS (shame on me for believing that crap). Has broken down twice already, and the mOFOs made me pay both times!

Sigh, thing is, it still looks so beautiful from the outside...all that glitters is not gold and all that...

[tabularasa415]

I feel the same way about the two 3 series my partner and I have. I primarily drive the e46 and he the e90. I think the e46 is a far superior car with much less expensive repairs. A water pump on the e46 is $400 at the shop (but I do it myself bc it's so easy). The e90's just went (classic BMW issue), but it's electronic and cost us a little over $1400! Advancing in technology or regressing?

And not to mention, the e46 is 10 times more fun to drive.

Just my $.02

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[eunomians]

I gave up on Benz years ago. I still deal with the HORRIBLE wiring harness and stupid failing modules on an SL500. Total joke. The last good Mercedes ended in 1989. I have rebuilt and owned several. All have been great in theory and horrific out in the wild, in real life.

Only 911 and BMW for me nowadays.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Eunomians

[freddy333]

I guess modern Merc reliability is hit-&-miss. Other than 2 small issues (non-dimming mirror & oil seepage around a sensor), both covered under warranty, I have had no problems with my '03 roadster.