Mercedes v BMW reliability today ?

[tombo5609]

Put my E270CDI for a service recently and came away with a bill for 2950 pounds, ouch!!!

 

[bennesspipers]

I ran Vauxhalls from 1971 till 3 years ago, but my last new astra put me right off Vauxhalls, coil packs & egr valves needed replacing every year, even in its 1st year.
When i complained that this shouldnt keep happening the mechanic said "You wait till you buy your next model astra, theyre even more troublesome !" I drove home, dived onto e-bay, & within days owned my 202 which has proved much less trouble & less costly than owning new Vauxhalls, im staying wi old uns from now on.

 

[Teflonso]

Mazda. The way forward

I looked at the new Mazda 6 last year. A very pretty car with decent features and better value than a Honda.

But there were a number of fairly active interenet threads and websites about Mazda reliability and the shockingly poor response from dealers and Mazda UK. IIRC it related mainly to diesel engines that fell over big style. It was beyond the level of normal forum whinging, it was full on, "I've got the lawyers involved and buy one of these at your peril" stuff.

There had been no great activity for a year or two so maybe everything's now rosy, but it put me off going any further.


p.s. Remember, "If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen"? I've just traded my daughter's Polo because I found the 3 cylinder engines routinely burn out exhaust valves and then drop them in the cylinder; to tackle the early stages of this was going to cost me north of £850 for almost a full engine rebuild, not just a quick head off and valve reseat like in the good old days. On top of this, all the 4 cylinder VW engines need a new cambelt every 4 years, irrespective of mileage - a massive con.

.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

Put my E270CDI for a service recently and came away with a bill for 2950 pounds, ouch!!!

Had similar with my old 320cdi, gearbox failed due to glycol contamination, I part exchanged it withour repairing it at a main dealer, never bought a Mercedes since and stuck to Volvo, which I find extremely reliable with only one issue in the past 4 years, which was a failed auto transmission, which Volvo repaired FOC even though was out of warranty.

 

[John Jones Jr]

It's no more used M-B's as daily drivers for me sadly (bar maybe an ideal W124 or W126). Instead I'll be sticking to Jap machines as per my current Accord even if I'd much prefer to be driving a W203/4 but, they simply don't instill the confidence of reliability that the Honda does, rightly or wrongly.

 

[bolide]

No it's not. It's an American term, for...Term.

I know the hoards left Liverpool for the America, but we don't have to adopt their language in return.

I agree - we should stick to English

The word you were looking for is hordes, I believe, not hoards

Nick Froome

 

[grober]

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/180

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/189

Mercedes-Benz A-Class - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

BMW 3 Series - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

BMW 5 Series - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

Mini One - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

 

[joecash]

reliability, Jap stuff every time - they used to say you want a car get a toyota, you want a 4x4 get an Isuzu, however Toyota make 4x4s these days - for my sins, and to the detriment of my wallet, I love my S class - sad aren't I

 

[E55BOF]

I agree - we should stick to English

The word you were looking for is hordes, I believe, not hoards

Nick Froome

Unless you keep them hidden away under the bed....

 

[cinek]

I thought Cigano was back...

 

[vealige]

Must admit I have never had any problems with any of my VWs in the past aside from the odd silly thing like a broken plastic window regulator clip. The C55 seems ok although I have clicking from the dash another stupid broken plastic thing.

Tbf if you have no soul and enjoy dull cars then Jap cars are fine but they are not as reliable as people make out. My sister has a Rav 4 and in the first two weeks its been back to Toyota twice abs issues, air bag and rear suspension not done up properly from the factory coupled to the dullest interior I have ever seen she is contemplating whether to give the car back and get a VW tiguan or freelander.

In my experience Japenese performance cars are not reliable imprezas, evos, rx-8s etc... had plenty of friends who have had them in the past and had nothing but serious problems.

To be honest I think a lot of it is down to luck and who drives the car. Coffin dodgers in their Honda Jazz or Volvo are less likely to be doing 30,000 miles a year hammering up the outside lane flashing their lights at everything in its path. Its more likely to never be driven above 3000 rpm twice a week to the local supermarket so it doesn't surprise me that Rep cars come out worse in reviews they should do with the volume produced/abuse they get.

 

[rhud]

Mercedes-Benz C-Class - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

Mercedes-Benz E-Class - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

Mercedes-Benz A-Class - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

BMW 3 Series - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

BMW 5 Series - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

Mini One - Car Reliability Search | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?

A bit misleading to include statistics mostly concerned with a car - the W168 A Class - which stopped production nine years ago. Everyone knows the W168 was a good idea badly executed,as were many other MBs from the same era. What happened from 2004 on is more relevant.

 

[grober]

A bit misleading to include statistics mostly concerned with a car - the W168 A Class - which stopped production nine years ago. Everyone knows the W168 was a good idea badly executed,as were many other MBs from the same era. What happened from 2004 on is more relevant.

If you notice the date at the top refers to 05 -onwards which is the W169 reliability index 148
The figures for the W168 MPV 98-05 are actually worse. 241

What I do find interesting is the pie chart depiction of which aspect of the car's design causes the problems.
For the C and E class the problems are overwhelmingly electrical and while these are still high in the A class there are noticeable contributions from the gearbox and aircon systems.
The BMW 3 and 5 series have a more widely spread profile with notable engine faults whereas the Mini in addition to engine faults has cooling system problems.

Sorta points to what Mercedes need to markedly improve their reliability. Not developed /tested enough? Too complex? Electronic components simply not rugged enough for the automobile environment? Not enough backup/redundancy in the circuitry design? In other words there's not enough NASA/ US military grade hardware more Taiwanese karaoke machine.

 

[rhud]

If you notice the date at the top refers to 05 -onwards which is the W169
The figures for the W168 MPV 98-05 are actually worse.

I was going largely from the associated owner reviews, which are mostly concerned with the earlier version.

Otherwise, if the figures really are related to the W169 they are strangely at odds with just about every other published data. ie Which? - 'very dependable', based on more than 3,000 owner responses.

 

[John]

Put my E270CDI for a service recently and came away with a bill for 2950 pounds, ouch!!!

Bloody hell. What needed doing?

 

[Ted]

Bloody hell. What needed doing?

Oil and filter change. Service book stamped :/