Mercedes, Worth It?

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Originally Posted by rrretiree7
I am looking at a 2015 CLA 250 and how does this brand stack up? I have heard the stories about expensive maintenance,
then I hear they are very reliable.
That reminds me, I want to stop by a library and look at Consumer Reports reliability surveys. There is a book for that. I'm wondering how often the CLA250 & Nissan Altima jatco CVTs have been breaking down. The CLA250 has been out for a while, well, since 2013 when The Devil (actually Willem Dafoe) sold it.

[Linked Image from reellifewithjane.com]
 
Originally Posted by RayCJ
I have nothing against German cars and I do not speak as a collective voice for BITOG.

My comments are based on my neighbor's experience. Her CLA 250 was purchased as a dealer lease trade-in with 62,000 miles and came with all dealer service records. Between normal maintenance, a couple mechanical problems and persistent electrical problems, the car has cost her a living fortune to the tune of just under $5500. I've owned 3 Mazda's in the last 10 years and have put over 240,000 miles on them collectively. Maintenance cost for all three comes nowhere near $5500.

Have a nice day.

Toyota still charges more to fix sunroof, $5,800 on SIenna.
 
Originally Posted by ArrestMeRedZ
I read an interesting book that blamed lack of maintainability, sufficient spare parts inventory, and interrupted production to make marginal improvements as a major reason the Germans lost WWII. If their current cars are an example of that mentality, I think the book makes some valid points.

What book was that? Seems super interesting, I'd love to give it a read.
 
Originally Posted by billt460
After reading through all of this, it's hard to believe these cars are this bad. Especially when they sell them based on their, "advanced German engineering". Yet experience doesn't lie. It's amazing that in spite of it all, they still manage to keep selling them. Unbelievable.

My thoughts exactly.
They cost a lot; if they are this bad, why would anyone buy another?

Each to their own.
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Originally Posted by billt460
After reading through all of this, it's hard to believe these cars are this bad. Especially when they sell them based on their, "advanced German engineering". Yet experience doesn't lie. It's amazing that in spite of it all, they still manage to keep selling them. Unbelievable.

My thoughts exactly.
They cost a lot; if they are this bad, why would anyone buy another?

Each to their own.

Classic BITOG. No one owned it, they all heard from cousin's friend boyfriend about it.
Owning more then 30 cars, only two did not want to start in the morning:
1998 Mazda Millenia
and
last week, 2015 Toyota Sienna.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Originally Posted by billt460
After reading through all of this, it's hard to believe these cars are this bad. Especially when they sell them based on their, "advanced German engineering". Yet experience doesn't lie. It's amazing that in spite of it all, they still manage to keep selling them. Unbelievable.

My thoughts exactly.
They cost a lot; if they are this bad, why would anyone buy another?

Each to their own.

Classic BITOG. No one owned it, they all heard from cousin's friend boyfriend about it.
Owning more then 30 cars, only two did not want to start in the morning:
1998 Mazda Millenia
and
last week, 2015 Toyota Sienna.

Friend, Silicon Valley is one of the very top markets for MB... Lotsa Mercedes around here.
So many owners have told me they spend so much time and $$ for service and problems.
For example, the President of our multi-billion dollar SEMI company who owned a big S500 told me, "Worst car I ever owned."
Nothing from my cousin's boyfriend...
I hope this helps.
 
Yeah … same at work, they wind up doing a lease on MB's and BMW - get a fresh one often. The 2 big bosses did buy the AMG63's but have a few $erious cars each.
Back home, I know a bank CEO who has bought a couple 550's … then right back to his norm, the Jag XJ … will be interesting to see how that EV version shakes out.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a27652860/jaguar-xj-electric-confirmed-2020/
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by HoosierJeeper
What book was that? Seems super interesting, I'd love to give it a read.

If you're talking to me about the Daimler/Chrysler Bob Eaton debacle,, the book is titled "Taken For A Ride".

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/taken-for-a-ride-how-daimler-benz-drove-off-with-chrysler_bill-vlasic_bradley-a-stertz/502781/item/818232/?mkwid=7iRpvLeX%7cdc&pcrid=11558858262&pkw=&pmt=be&slid=&product=818232&plc=%7bplacement%7d&pgrid=3970769336&ptaid=pla-1101002859890&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing+Shopping+%7c+Business+&+Investing&utm_term=&utm_content=7iRpvLeX%7cdc%7cpcrid%7c11558858262%7cpkw%7c%7cpmt%7cbe%7cproduct%7c818232%7cslid%7c%7cpgrid%7c3970769336%7cptaid%7cpla-1101002859890%7c&msclkid=ad1dd0919a931afb25f98d34bcd809a4#isbn=0060934484&idiq=818232

Scott
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Friend, Silicon Valley is one of the very top markets for MB... Lotsa Mercedes around here.
So many owners have told me they spend so much time and $$ for service and problems.
For example, the President of our multi-billion dollar SEMI company who owned a big S500 told me, "Worst car I ever owned."
Nothing from my cousin's boyfriend...
I hope this helps.

Yeah, the high end S class have even more stuff that breaks. There's airmatic which is an air suspension. Then on top of that, first there was ABC, the lines would leak all the time. Now there's magic body control, scans the road for bumps and adjusts the suspension to handle the bumps. All expensive stuff to fix when/if it breaks. The S500 was pretty bad, the S550/S560 is supposed to be better, but still there's expensive stuff that breaks and needs maintenance. Lots of people report buying the extended warranty or extra years of CPO and having 10k+ worth of work done at the dealer. But there's also those that bought them and had minimal work. They're expensive cars if you take it to the dealer. Otherwise if you can DIY or find a good indy mechanic, it's not too bad.

The good part is that they're fun to drive, very smooth and quiet and all the options are fun to play with. My only regret is not buying one sooner.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
No way I'd buy a CLA.

Buy a 2er or A3 if you want a small German car.

My girlfriend test drove an A3, and I found it to be extremely underwhelming in the refinement department. [censored], my infiniti G20, was much much better regarding fit, finish, and it doesn't creak every time you cross a road with a crown of any note. A3 is totally 1990's GM material. I don't consider them real Audi's.
 
My advice is to buy something from Japan, made in Japan, if you want to drive it and not worry about broken stuff. Korea is also KILLING it in quality with Genesis.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw
Classic BITOG. No one owned it, they all heard from cousin's friend boyfriend about it.
Owning more then 30 cars, only two did not want to start in the morning:
1998 Mazda Millenia and last week, 2015 Toyota Sienna.

So.... The fact there is information literally everywhere, (including a plethora right in this thread), on how people have been steered away from this brand because of constant problems, coupled to outrageous repair and maintenance costs, means nothing. Because it's foolish to learn from someone else's mistakes.

Instead, we should ascertain that in reality they are most likely fine, because of the 30+ cars you have owned, the only 2 that you couldn't manage to wake up in the morning were not manufactured by Mercedes.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
No way I'd buy a CLA.

Buy a 2er or A3 if you want a small German car.

My girlfriend test drove an A3, and I found it to be extremely underwhelming in the refinement department. [censored], my infiniti G20, was much much better regarding fit, finish, and it doesn't creak every time you cross a road with a crown of any note. A3 is totally 1990's GM material. I don't consider them real Audi's.

Of course.

smirk2.gif
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
No way I'd buy a CLA.

Buy a 2er or A3 if you want a small German car.

My girlfriend test drove an A3, and I found it to be extremely underwhelming in the refinement department. [censored], my infiniti G20, was much much better regarding fit, finish, and it doesn't creak every time you cross a road with a crown of any note. A3 is totally 1990's GM material. I don't consider them real Audi's.

Of course.

smirk2.gif


Hey, maybe it was a 1 off? I dunno, but I was not impressed with anything but the dct. Sample of 1 though and all that.

Lots of chassis flex
Lots of plastic (hard)
Just a bunch of "meh" for an Audi, imo
Mazda 6 was much better when I had one as a loaner from interior and build quality standpoint, although fwd sucks when not backed by a good AWD.
 
Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
Originally Posted by SLO_Town
Some OEM tires are indeed different from their non-OEM counterparts. This is not unusual. See Tirerack website. For example, our 2016 VW Passat VR6. Compare the specs of the OEM Bridgestone 235/45-18 RE97AS to the non-OEM version.
While I have seen what you describe in the past, in your case there are two tires listed on Tire Rack for your car and the specifications are different--namely the UTQG rating is 480AA for one tire and 400AA for the other.

In the case of the Continentals, there is only one ContiSportContact 5 SSR listed for the MB C300 with 19" wheels and I compared the specifications of those tires against the OEM tires on the car and they were exactly the same down to the Mercedes, MOExtended Mobility on both tires. I bought Pirelli's instead of the Continentals, but in the end, it is the constant alignment (every 10K) that is needed to prevent them from wearing. This is not something I have ever had to do on any car and certainly none of the many $50K+ I have owned and is not "well engineered" or the best "design" for cars like this.



ContiSportContact 5 SSR are SOFT ( UTQG rating is 280AA or worse). As I mentioned early my wife only got about 15k miles on hers so our experiences match. It's not an alignment issue (Costco tech tried to say I needed an alignment with regards to the rears, but his eyes glazed over when I mentioned negative camber). Alignment only covers uneven wear.
 
Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by edyvw
Classic BITOG. No one owned it, they all heard from cousin's friend boyfriend about it.
Owning more then 30 cars, only two did not want to start in the morning:
1998 Mazda Millenia and last week, 2015 Toyota Sienna.

So.... The fact there is information literally everywhere, (including a plethora right in this thread), on how people have been steered away from this brand because of constant problems, coupled to outrageous repair and maintenance costs, means nothing. Because it's foolish to learn from someone else's mistakes.

Instead, we should ascertain that in reality they are most likely fine, because of the 30+ cars you have owned, the only 2 that you couldn't manage to wake up in the morning were not manufactured by Mercedes.

Sure, people have problems with all cars. Most expensive and absolutely worst car to maintain in my stable is Land Cruiser I own in Europe. I needed vehicle with true off road capabilities and that thing so far costed me in total like 10 European cars together.
However, problem is that according to people here that is impossible, because, Toyota....
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
No way I'd buy a CLA.

Buy a 2er or A3 if you want a small German car.

My girlfriend test drove an A3, and I found it to be extremely underwhelming in the refinement department. [censored], my infiniti G20, was much much better regarding fit, finish, and it doesn't creak every time you cross a road with a crown of any note. A3 is totally 1990's GM material. I don't consider them real Audi's.

lol.gif
 
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