W211 reliability

Author
Discussion

jlanng

Original Poster:

42 posts

257 months

Wednesday 25th October 2006
quotequote all
I'm looking for an estate family car, and a W211 would appear to fit the bill perfectly. I've heard a lot of bad things about MB reliability in modern times. Is the W211 an unreliable car? Whatever car I buy I would intend to keep for some years.

bolide

579 posts

261 months

Thursday 26th October 2006
quotequote all
They're meant to be very good and infinitely better than the W210. The diesels are very torquey and have a great reputation. Buy with FMBSH and you'll be fine. Be picky on spec and get to know the various trim levels to make sure you get one that is exactly what you want & saleable in a few years time

I know more about the W124s but the reports I hear of the W211 are all pretty good. If you buy from a dealer make sure all the recalls have been done. Definitely make sure everything works and buy with a warranty

Nick Froome
w124

Parrot of Doom

23,075 posts

241 months

Friday 27th October 2006
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Early W211s were plagued with all kinds of problems, including rust. I believe anything past '04 is a good 'un now.

paracetamol

4,234 posts

251 months

Friday 27th October 2006
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They usually suffer from various electrical glitches and there were some recalls for braking system and battery ECU (yes it appears to have its own ECU!).

The later cars-from 04 onwards seem to be better. This is because the previous chairman of MB lost his job over the quality lapses and things were soon tightened up.

My father has a 54 reg 320cdi and the only issues are that the drivers side mirror doesnt always fold out and there is electrical interferance on the radio when the rear deminst is switched on.

The negatives are that the plastics on the door trims and bits of the dash are flimsy and the instrument binnacle etc creaks! Bit of let down and not even as good as the C class IMHO. Still, before this my poor dad (he's 67) did buy an e60 530d but could even switch on the radio or change the settings for the heater because they were all built into the infernal I-Drive!


halfpenny43

1,036 posts

243 months

Thursday 2nd November 2006
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I have owned a "52" plate W211 270CDi since Feburary. Bought the car with 68k on. Now has 88k.

Other than a few electrical glitches (warning lights, service indicator doesn't reset) but nothing that is a "showstopper", and touching wood, all is still as it should be.

Pulls like a train too !

Paul.B

3,942 posts

271 months

Sunday 5th November 2006
quotequote all
RUST? - What even on the W211? I have an E430 W210 with tin worm just starting to appear on the front wings and wheel arches. ('99 S plate 88k) Took it into Mercedes Southampton and got the expected response, excuse this, excuse that! If I hadn't gone in there expecting this kind of response I could have swung for the hair jelled little tw@t. I've had Mercs for over 10 years now. When it is time to change I'll be looking at Audi's, Volvo's & BMW's!

RUST! It's the 21st century for gods sake! I hope they pay dearly for that lack of care both in product quality and customer care. All I feel I can do is take my ££££'s else where.


Rant? Me? Surely not!

Paul.B

pentoman

4,818 posts

270 months

Monday 6th November 2006
quotequote all
Paul.B said:
RUST? - What even on the W211? I have an E430 W210 with tin worm just starting to appear on the front wings and wheel arches. ('99 S plate 88k) Took it into Mercedes Southampton and got the expected response, excuse this, excuse that! If I hadn't gone in there expecting this kind of response I could have swung for the hair jelled little tw@t. I've had Mercs for over 10 years now. When it is time to change I'll be looking at Audi's, Volvo's & BMW's!

RUST! It's the 21st century for gods sake! I hope they pay dearly for that lack of care both in product quality and customer care. All I feel I can do is take my ££££'s else where.


Rant? Me? Surely not!

Paul.B


I had heard there was something of an unwritten rule whereby Mercedes were repairing cars that were rusty.

Wonder how much that will cost them? Man I hope somebody feels bad for that one.

mergli

32 posts

220 months

Monday 6th November 2006
quotequote all
pentoman said:
Paul.B said:
RUST? - What even on the W211? I have an E430 W210 with tin worm just starting to appear on the front wings and wheel arches. ('99 S plate 88k) Took it into Mercedes Southampton and got the expected response, excuse this, excuse that! If I hadn't gone in there expecting this kind of response I could have swung for the hair jelled little tw@t. I've had Mercs for over 10 years now. When it is time to change I'll be looking at Audi's, Volvo's & BMW's!

RUST! It's the 21st century for gods sake! I hope they pay dearly for that lack of care both in product quality and customer care. All I feel I can do is take my ££££'s else where.


Rant? Me? Surely not!

Paul.B


I had heard there was something of an unwritten rule whereby Mercedes were repairing cars that were rusty.

Wonder how much that will cost them? Man I hope somebody feels bad for that one.


Any Mercedes from 99 onwards will be covered by MobiloLife as long as it's got a full MBSH. It's under this that they *usually* do the rust repairs (I had the arches done on my 99 CLK with no hassle).
If it's not got full MBSH they aren't obliged to do it but I've heard that occasionally they do, you could always try a different dealer.

Good Luck,
Adam.

Paul.B

3,942 posts

271 months

Monday 6th November 2006
quotequote all
mergli said:
pentoman said:
Paul.B said:
RUST? - What even on the W211? I have an E430 W210 with tin worm just starting to appear on the front wings and wheel arches. ('99 S plate 88k) Took it into Mercedes Southampton and got the expected response, excuse this, excuse that! If I hadn't gone in there expecting this kind of response I could have swung for the hair jelled little tw@t. I've had Mercs for over 10 years now. When it is time to change I'll be looking at Audi's, Volvo's & BMW's!

RUST! It's the 21st century for gods sake! I hope they pay dearly for that lack of care both in product quality and customer care. All I feel I can do is take my ££££'s else where.


Rant? Me? Surely not!

Paul.B




I had heard there was something of an unwritten rule whereby Mercedes were repairing cars that were rusty.

Wonder how much that will cost them? Man I hope somebody feels bad for that one.


Any Mercedes from 99 onwards will be covered by MobiloLife as long as it's got a full MBSH. It's under this that they *usually* do the rust repairs (I had the arches done on my 99 CLK with no hassle).
If it's not got full MBSH they aren't obliged to do it but I've heard that occasionally they do, you could always try a different dealer.

Good Luck,
Adam.



The car has full MBSH. Even if I can get another dealer to do the repairs my confidence in the marque is slipping. Rust on modern cars is not acceptable. Also, how can they have things like unwritten rules and occasionally repair cars? I have a good mind to let mine stay rusty and park it outside the dealer with a big sign suggesting customers come take a look before buying. But that would be silly

Still not happy

Paul.B