Goodbye to Merc

[Charles Morgan]

I might well do David. Having been royally mugged at my last service I have absolutely no faith in the local one to do the right thing. My neighbour stopped using them when they said he needed over £4000 of work done urgently, for the local garage up the road to say that actually only £800 was necessary (at their labour rates - half the dealers) and the rest was just padding. My lease requires me to have it serviced by Volvo, my biggest ever mistake was not to take the servicing package.

 

[ShinyF1]

I think luck plays an enormous part here. Most 211 owners on here swear by them and as has been said pre-2005 not really good a good period for any MB. It's a shame you have had a bad experience.

I am now nearly 11 years and 80k miles in my 2000 S210 320CDI and apart from a few majors (gearbox and head gasket both in last two years) it has been on the whole a hassle free car and I will probably replace it with another MB when the time comes. That is also influenced by a good relationship with a trusted MB independent (PCS in Horndean) who has looked after it.

I bought it 'eyes wide open' after a long search as a one owner 5 year old car in full knowledge of all of the 210 issues. It still goes like a train, although I've never achieved more than 37mpg in contrast to what I read on here. It has so far been very resistant to rust which is not to be expected for one of these. It does have a niggling recurring fault at the moment which I think is something electrical and connected (no pun intended) to rear lights.

At this stage anything we encounter with it prompts the 'repair it or scrap it' question. On the basis that anything close to it for performance, comfort, space and equipment is going to cost upwards of £20k for 3-5 year old car it's an easy choice, despite it failing most people's 'economical repair' test.

Don't desert the brand just yet - there are some great MBs out there, even if they do require a dedicated thorough search to find them.

 

[JohnDavies]

Surely there is a lot of luck involved.

I frequent the Jaguar forum and some of the S Type posts are horrendous yet our 2002 80,000 miler has been perfect apart from wear and tear.

We had our 1998 W202 out in Skiathos and treated it like a rally car. It would not die. We couldn't kill it.

Absolutely correct, i bought my 2003 ML with full SH and apart from a couple of ridiculous niggles it is in exemplary condition at 120,000 miles. I have seen the same car same year and could not believe the state they were in. Look after it and it will look after you.

 

[Doodle]

I disagree completely with the comment that premium cars should require premium money spent on them. Like for like, the whole reason that they are seen as premium is that they are more reliable, and overall will require less spending on them.

Unfortunately that is just a matter of perception, and a flawed one. "Premium" has had nothing to do with reliability for many years, because buyers started wanting more toys for their money. Mondeo man became 3-series man as the prestige of "The Badge" slipped into reach.

In 1997, I ordered a C250TD for my grandmother. The standard equipment list was less luxurious than a Turkish prison, I ticked the options for metallic paint, leather, a sunroof, automatic gearbox and a 6 CD changer. £31k all told, and still no aircon.
Go forward 8 years, all of that and more was standard on the W203, for less money. That requires compromises, and in time it became obvious where.