I like these long term test strip downs but several things come to mind after a quick perusal of the article .
No mention of the age of the car-its got a straight 6 diesel engine so I guess its several years old-the result is you can't match the report with a particular incarnation of the model.
What type of mileage did it do-long motorway miles-or errands round town/school runs etc-- this can markedly affect certain components particularly transmission for example. Not one mention of body/paintwork condition which as we all know was a problem at one time?
I was intrigued by picture 6 of 7 in the article- what was that??
One thing that emerged was the problem with battery failure- but rather than going on to discuss a fundamental design failing on modern cars of the inadequacy of the legacy 12v systems to drive the increasing burden of onboard electronics we get the hugely insightful comment that its a good idea to change the V belt every 30k miles??
No mention of the horrendous cost of replacing a dodgy command screen either- this on a totally unstressed bit of electronics which should really outlast the car.
Do you expect your television to pack in after 3 years? I contrast this to another Auto Express strip down article on the Fiat Panda I read recently which was more critical and mentioned wear on the various engine components and failure of rear shock absorbers for example. No mention of any wear in the mercedes engine--fine if there wasn't any then why not mention it??
No mention of the condition of the dreaded EGR valve for example? As I said before I like these strip down articles but in this case it was a superficial piece of journalism IMHO.
Maybe they couldn't find anyone to translate the really technical bits of the original German report??
