New member but possibly won’t be back!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Markw70

Active Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2021
Messages
350
Location
Northwest England
Car
E220d AMG Line Coupe
Hi all, new member here but as the title says unfortunately I may not be back. Yesterday I put a deposit on a lovely 2016 E class Amg line 220 diesel with low mileage and sorted out all the finance.Then the problems began. I started looking on the forum, and after reading the pages & pages of issues people seem to be having with NOX sensors and adblue issues. I’m worried about proceeding and may cancel the whole thing and get my deposit back, which is a real shame, but I also appreciate its my own fault for not researching all the pros & cons beforehand. So I think my question is this obviously forums are a focal point for the issues people are having so it can sound like everyone’s having these problems, and I know that no car is without fault, or is going to be 100% reliable all the time, so am I worrying needlessly? Obviously it’s ultimately only something I can decide, but please help point me in the right direction, because it will be a shame to walk away from such a lovely car, before I even have the keys in my hand. Thanks Mark.
 
You may well read a few bad points about a particular car or manufacturer. How many reviews / comments have you read praising the car, probably none.
A large percentage of people who join forums are usually trying to seek advice regarding a problem not to say they have just bought the best car ever.
 
Equally of course there will be owners out there who have problems with NOX/ Adblue who don't complain on forums. Either way it seems an unnecessary gamble, unless you put £2k on one side for a possible future bill for this. The car in question may have already been sorted - the history may show this.
 
Just be mindful that people with problems are more likely to make it known than people who are happy with the product. Out of the millions of E Class MB's out there the amount of problematic ones represent a very, very small proportion. :)

The 220 Diesel engine is bullet proof, it may be a little clattery on start up but is quiet when cruising. It also has, if my memory serves me well, 400 NWT which pulls strongly and is economical. I have never had an E class but have been driving MB' since 1993 and couldn't see myself driving anything else. During that time I have had very few issues with any of them, certainly nothing major. The last problem I had was back in 2012 when I had to replace a speed sensor on a C Class. The repair was done by my local Indy and cost me the grand total of £130 !! :)

All manufactures have their problems and MB are no different but from my experience the problems are few, why else would I stay with MB all of those years. Go for it, you will not be disappointed :)
 
NOx sensors aren’t unique to Mercedes, so whatever diesel EU6 you go for could suffer similar problems. Not had any issues with them on ours yet. Good luck in your search.
 
Don’t know how many miles you do, but you could go for a petrol, won’t have the adblue issues, but will have the nox.

I think it’s good to do research on cars, but if one always thinks about “what if”, then no point in buying any car, as they all have the potential to give you a problem.
 
Don’t know how many miles you do, but you could go for a petrol, won’t have the adblue issues, but will have the nox.

I think it’s good to do research on cars, but if one always thinks about “what if”, then no point in buying any car, as they all have the potential to give you a problem.
^^ This
It's not just an MB thing; BMW have had problems for years with NOx sensor issues on certain petrol engines.
All cars are complicated bits of kit and occasionally they break. Given that the 220D is almost certainly the most prolific engine in the MB stable, I'm guessing the ratio of happy owner to unhappy owners is pretty large.
 
I shouldn’t worry, get the warranty and enjoy the car. As others have said, Internet forums are full of problems. People never post, “My car worked perfectly today - why?”

The 220d is a great mainstream engine for Mercedes, it’s pretty well sorted.

For myself, and with so many cities thinking of banning private diesels I’d probably have considered a less long legged petrol model but if that’s the car you want… buy it.
 
Forums etc, you hear mainly bad news. Check Honest John, google and others.
Buy a petrol car, less hassle. For me fuel consumption is not the only consideration.
 
NOx sensors aren’t unique to Mercedes, so whatever diesel EU6 you go for could suffer similar problems. Not had any issues with them on ours yet. Good luck in your search.

This might not be what the OP wanted to hear, but personally, I wouldn't buy a modern Diesel car because of the complexity of the system (AdBlue, NOx sensors, DPF, etc etc) and the potential repair bill (turbos, flaps, high pressure fuel pump, etc etc) should something go wrong after the warranty ran out.

That said, I can understand that someone who covers 10-15k mikes annually and is concerned about fuel economy, may have little choice but to buy a Diesel car, and not everyone wants to buy an older low-tech model. I guess buying a warranty annually is one way of dealing with this.

Are modern Mercedes Diesel cars (BlueTec etc) less reliable than other marques? I really don't know.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for all the replies, a mixed bag,some for and some against, but more on the go for it side! In all honesty I don’t need a diesel car especially when I now work from home most of the time, it just so happened that the perfect car was a diesel, but it’s a lovely car, I forgot to mention in my original post it’s the coupe, with a pan roof and it’s in a lovely blue metallic (possibly brilliant blue?) also the mileage is really low for a 5 year old car at 18k so it all seemed perfect at the time. l’m booked in for a test drive tomorrow so I will see how I feel after that.Thanks again for a the advice both for and against. Mark
 
Thanks for all the replies, a mixed bag,some for and some against, but more on the go for it side! In all honesty I don’t need a diesel car especially when I now work from home most of the time, it just so happened that the perfect car was a diesel, but it’s a lovely car, I forgot to mention in my original post it’s the coupe, with a pan roof and it’s in a lovely blue metallic (possibly brilliant blue?) also the mileage is really low for a 5 year old car at 18k so it all seemed perfect at the time. l’m booked in for a test drive tomorrow so I will see how I feel after that.Thanks again for a the advice both for and against. Mark
Hi , Diesel engined cars are not good for short trips.

I purchased a petrol car C207E400 for that very reason but I only average 2000 miles a year now.

I have had a couple of NOX censors replaced but under warranty.

All Euro 6 cars I would suspect ( as other members have stated) are prone to problems.

The car you are looking at is built in Germany and it shows when you are sat in it.The only slight area of wear on my car is on the drivers seat bolster but I keep applying a cream that sorts the problem out.

The Pano roof on my car is perfect. I genuinely feel you will be hard pushed to find a better looking car.
 
l’m booked in for a test drive tomorrow so I will see how I feel after that.Thanks again for the advice both for and against. Mark
A Test Drive, its yours then. :) 👍
A Coupe, aswell, Lovely.
 
Hi , Diesel engined cars are not good for short trips.

I purchased a petrol car C207E400 for that very reason but I only average 2000 miles a year now.

I have had a couple of NOX censors replaced but under warranty.

All Euro 6 cars I would suspect ( as other members have stated) are prone to problems.

The car you are looking at is built in Germany and it shows when you are sat in it.The only slight area of wear on my car is on the drivers seat bolster but I keep applying a cream that sorts the problem out.

The Pano roof on my car is perfect. I genuinely feel you will be hard pushed to find a better looking car.
All Euro 6, that could be a bold statement, or could/should that be some?

Can only talk about myself, bought my 2017 E350d August 2019, had 9k miles, now has done 22301 miles, so far have had no issues, touchwood that remains the case, that's not to say it won't in the future.

Mine does get a run on the motorway once a month, and doesn't sit un driven for long periods, have read that if they are sitting for long period not driven, then one could get adblue issues, due to crystallising don't know if that is true or has been proven.
 
There isn't a car made that does not have a list of common issues.
I came from BMW with the N54 engine which everyone tried to warn you away from as it has issues with Injectors, fuel pumps and Turbos. but 10 years (80k miles) of ownership, only the injectors caused me to change them.
It was almost as reliable as my Impreza which I had for 10 years before that :)

Cars are getting more complicated every year as they have to work with increasingly more strict emissions requirements and stay within their budget
 
I love Diesel engines but the emissions gubbins have made late model cars so finicky and complex it becomes a risk>reward situation. You need to be covering very serious mileage for it to be worth it IMO.

What was the last model MB sold here with a n/a petrol engine BTW? (I’m assuming they no longer do)
 
The car you are looking at is built in Germany and it shows when you are sat in it.The only slight area of wear on my car is on the drivers seat bolster but I keep applying a cream that sorts the problem out.

This can be verified by the VIN:

VIN pos. 11

F - Bremen, Germany

R - East London, South Africa

A - Sindelfingen, Germany


My W203 was made in South Africa, my W204 was made in Sindelfingen, and they were both well-built :thumb:
 
Mmm, 5 year old car, 18k miles only? Diesel? I bought a 6 yr old diesel (not a Mercedes, but a ‘reliable’ Volvo) with 28k, and it turned out to be a bit (ie lot) of a money pit. Dpf, EGR, turbo, injectors.....

Presumably too many short journeys.

But then it could have been used exclusively as a ‘holiday’ car and only done long runs. Maybe.

TBH, with this experience, I wouldn’t consider this mileage/age combination for a diesel to be much of a plus, but see my signature below.
 
This can be verified by the VIN:

VIN pos. 11

F - Bremen, Germany

R - East London, South Africa

A - Sindelfingen, Germany


My W203 was made in South Africa, my W204 was made in Sindelfingen, and they were both well-built :thumb:
Hi , the C207 are all German built.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom