3 Pointed Star has lost its sparkle

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surebet

Active Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2008
Messages
86
Location
CUMBERNAULD,GLASGOW
Car
C180 ELEGANCE SE
My C180 had a broken spring at 32K miles (I thought this was pretty poor show for a so called quality car) from new, had both fronts renewed by Mercedes, 10K (4 years) careful miles later front spring broken, showed up at MOT. Contacted Mercedes and was advised springs were only guaranteed for 2 years irrespective of mileage. Needless to say Mercedes did not get the job, went to local mechanic, replaced only broken one ( no point in renewing both when garages use the pothole excuse for poor quality springs) supplied and fitted with 3 year warranty. I'm starting to question the reasoning for buying this brand, from problems with rust on body panels and inferior parts, the 3 pointed star is starting to lose its sparkle.
 
My C180 had a broken spring at 32K miles (I thought this was pretty poor show for a so called quality car) from new, had both fronts renewed by Mercedes, 10K (4 years) careful miles later front spring broken, showed up at MOT. Contacted Mercedes and was advised springs were only guaranteed for 2 years irrespective of mileage. Needless to say Mercedes did not get the job, went to local mechanic, replaced only broken one ( no point in renewing both when garages use the pothole excuse for poor quality springs) supplied and fitted with 3 year warranty. I'm starting to question the reasoning for buying this brand, from problems with rust on body panels and inferior parts, the 3 pointed star is starting to lose its sparkle.

Audi/BMW/Mercedes are just mass market cars now, they had to strip out the costs/quality so that they could keep them cheap, most are leased now so they only have to last 3 years.
 
Audi/BMW/Mercedes are just mass market cars now, they had to strip out the costs/quality so that they could keep them cheap, most are leased now so they only have to last 3 years.
That's a shame.

So, for REAL quality (affordable - not Bentley league stuff) where does one have to go these days? Japanese (lexus/Infiniti) or are the mainstream brands (Ford etc) good enough now?
 
Audi/BMW/Mercedes are just mass market cars now, they had to strip out the costs/quality so that they could keep them cheap, most are leased now so they only have to last 3 years.


Spot on mate, they are now plastic clip together poo :eek:
 
Not sure about the clip together bit.... :D
 
That's a shame.

So, for REAL quality (affordable - not Bentley league stuff) where does one have to go these days? Japanese (lexus/Infiniti) or are the mainstream brands (Ford etc) good enough now?

I think the upper segments are still premium cars, S, SL, CL but agree with Nick that the others A, B, C, E are mass produced to pretty much the same level as Ford and Opel.

I'm speaking as a tier 1 supplier in the industry, working in sales I do see a lot of plants of most of the car makers. We also know what the quality requirements are for most of the OEM's, but maybe more importantly how strictly these requirements are enforced.

Generally speaking, I would say the French carmakers are still behind Opel & Ford in terms of build quality. You have a good point about Lexus, Infiniti (and Accura), these are premium brands of already good cars, so they do ramp up the quality to a higher level. Usually this will be in two areas, noise (or lack of), and materials used within the cabin.

Most of the tier 1's are as big if not bigger than the OEM's these days. The tier 1's have to be global in order to supply the OEM's at all thier global production sites. This will usually translate into global products that are designed and developed by the tier 1's and marketed/sold to most of the OEM's with a different badge on them.

Its mostly about the marketing and image perception.
 
Agreed! My experience with an Infiniti FX in Russia this year was very, very impressive. The whole feel of the car was "premium" from material "feel" to the way the cabin and panels were put together. I know Infiniti are basically Nissans and in some cases, such as the G Coupe, which is exactly the same (bar the wood and leather) as the Nissan Skyline coupe, but the quality is certainly there and reliability of course is way ahead of the Germans. Food for thought...
 

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