MDXLuvr

man, i thought for sure you were kidding. based on your next post, I guess I was wrong.

hmmm, you imply that MB is better b/c they stick to old classic styling for years and refine it? interesting. Most people would conclude that they are too cheap to improve their product line.

and the almighty MB's quality recently plummeted in the recent JD power 5 yr surveys.

PLYRS 3

i think you got a "lemon", for lack of a better word......

other than my S2000, the only other japanese cars i've owned were a '91 and '94 legend in the past.....yes, they were bullet-proof - never needed anything except routine maintenance.

BUT, i'm not sure i could compare the way the legends were driven/used/abused compared to my '03 C32.

you don't "treat" the cars same (you know what i mean).

you can't really beat the shit out of a legend - what's the point?

the C32, on the other hand, has seen very aggressive use - and yet has only been in the shop for a day - that for it's first "Service A" in a year of ownership.

the characteristics of the car will determine how it's used, which in turn will determine how reliable (or not) it may end up being.

Saab9-3

If you are looking for real-life stats, we have bought about 15 Lexus's in the past 5 or 6 years and have had zero problems with any of them. However, in the same period of time, we have had 4 MBs and 2 BMWs and have had large mechanical problems from both makers (engine catching on fire, electrical failure while driving on the highway, etc).

jvils

JD Power just posted their 3yr quality rankings last month - Toyota's Lexus Brand was at the top again (1st for 7 years in a row) for initial quality and 3-year quality rankings. Based on reported defects per car from the factory (initial) and after 3 years.

Lexus led all makers with 3 cars ranked "best in class." MB didn't have any, and was middle-of-the-pack in quality rankings. I posted the link to the CNN artical:

Outtake:
But Chrysler, Dodge and the now-defunct Plymouth brand all outranked Mercedes, which had 318 problems per 100 vehicles. Ivers said Mercedes' troubles were concentrated in its M-Class sport utility vehicle and its E-Class sedans, which accounted for roughly half its sales.

"The M-Class has had a lot of problems since its launch," Ivers said. "The rate of deterioration on the E-Class is greater than on any other vehicle in the industry."

Top Vehicles
These vehicles had fewest problems in their segments.

Vehicle type Top ranked
Premium luxury Lexus LS 400
Entry-level luxury Lexus ES 300
Luxury SUV Lexus RX 300
Premium sports car Porsche 911
Full-size car Mercury Grand Marquis
Compact car Toyota Corolla

Here's the whole article:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...threadid=134943

jvils

The greatest enemy of the truth is not the lie, it is the myth.
- JFK 1962, Yale Commencement Address

It is a myth that Mercedes is a quality leader.

Nice-Face

actually BPU, weve owned quite a few MB's..and i was just joking about the 'bulletproof' part,(i meant the double windows,,for soundproof..).i am not biased at all, however i do agree that they did kinda go downhill when merging with chrysl....later

rusty97

I can see your point here but I don't think overall it would push MB down that far. I mean if this were the case wouldn't Porsche be near the bottom of the quality rankings? Also wouldn't you expect BMW to be lower as well?

BPUKiller

You are telling me a car that is advertized having a 349HP hand built engine, 13" rotors, sports suspension, and top of the line for a C-class can't be driven like a sports car without having it break down??? I babied that car. I never took it to the track, and drove it like I would drive a Civic most of the time=). I took it in so many times for the same things. They would say they fix it then a week or so later the same error would flash up telling me to take it in for servicing. To show you I drove my 89 pick-up like I stole the sucker. I was 16 and drove like a 16y/o. The same goes with my GS-R, I thought it was fast and was fast for its time. The supra I went crazy. You don't drive a 650HP car like a sedan if you know what I'm talking about. There was never a day I didn't mash the throttle just to feel the rush and going north of 140mph, like going to 90mph in my other cars. By the time I bought my C32 I matured enough not to drive it like a bat out of hell. I didn't drive my s2000 that hard either, maybe if I had it 5 years ago that would be a different story. I drive my Audi pretty hard, much harder than my C32 and its had problems, although nothing I can't fix on my own i.e. boost leaks. Feel lucky your C32 has been perfect. There are always those owners who don't know about the 2000prm lurch, ESP error, EGR pump failure, or weird chirping sound the super charger makes every time it engages. As for the fixes, I never experienced a lurch at 2000 rpm like a lot of C32 owners, MB fixed that with a software upgrade. My ESP error caused the most trouble, it broke 4 times and had to replace the whole unit twice until it worked. My EGR pump went bad and they fixed it with one visit. The funny thing is when I posted the EGR problem on C32life I has several people post back talking about the exact problem. The ESP error is so common there are a dozen or so long post about that problems and possible causes. There strange chirping sound when the supercharger engages is almost heard by everyone who has the car. MB tells us to live with the problem. My parent's supercharged Pontiac Grand Prix never made any chirping sounds, why should a car that cost 2X should is beyond my reasoning? Funny thing is the supercharger in the C32 is made in Japan. Like I said the C32 is a great car but the electronic system is a problem MB has to fix to get me back to buy another.

Sam

DFul4d

I read in a previous car mag that Lexus leads the industry in initial quality. A measure of problems a car has in the first 1000 miles (I think). I do not remember the exact figures, but Lexus was number one and Mercedes had a pretty high number of defects comparatively and the author of the article made a comment about Mercedes qualilty slipping.

JoeD

Agreed. Mercedes are unreliable cars.

Therefore, a Toyota Corolla is a higher quality vehicle and better engineered than any Mercedes (or BMW, Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley, Maybach, for that matter) because they are much, much more reliable. My aunt has a 91 Corolla LX with 330,000 miles. All she does is fill up gas and change the oil every 10,000 miles or so at Jiffy Lube. But it has been to the shop once for a busted radiator. Other than that, the car have NEVER had one single problem. Try that in an under-engineered, low-quality, POS of a Benz.

Whenever she is at a light and an S600 or 750iL pulls up next to her, she laughs because they paid 13x+ the amount she payed for her car, while her's his of higher quality. And while some can argue those cars are more luxurious, the Corolla has everything those luxury cars have at less than a fraction of the price. AM/FM cassette stereo (HA! you can't even get a cassette player on some current Benzes...you call that luxury?), AC, automatic transmission, alloy wheels, power steering...everything except leather, which she doesn't like anyways because it kills innocent animals (she likes to hug trees in her spare time).

Some people just can't see over a badge...