I have just bought Autocar and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

Mercedes have posted (this is true) a 32,that's THIRTY TWO page advertisement for their cars.Is the pointy starred one having problems?

I have only heard stories of woe just lately.One friend bought an SL350.Been in the garage since Feb having the brakes sorted apparantly and its still there :eek: The same family have a new C230 which again spends its life back and forward to the garage.

Must say I wouldn't touch a newer make with a bargepole.Seems the unreliability issues are very true (allegegedly)

Feel like I have only had half a magazine after wading through pictures of shiney junk that seems to be all show and no go.Not good for an alleged prestige company (Ill have an SLR though )

I was a bit gutted, thought...'ooo Autocar is nice and thick this week', didnt realise it was an ad till i started reading it.

I think Mercedes are/will be having problems coming close to bottom of most recent reliability and satisfaction surveys.

This is what happens when a company relaxes a bit too much, and then finds itself having to "reduce costs" in order to stay competitive (read "cut corners!")

neighbour had a C class estate Sport. Hated every minute of it. Build quality and finish was apalling. Bit's falling off all the time. He went back to BMW.

Merc are not the only manufacturer's guilty of this.......

The fit and finish on my VW is, frankly, an affront to any concept of "quality", but the previous owner was a middle-aged woman who knew as much about cars as I know about quantum mechanics.... :eek:

Someone I know hasa C class that had a rattle which just wouldnt' go away. Took it to the dealer on 6 occasions and they couldnt find it.

One day the rattle stopped, he assumes that come service time they'll discover something has fallen off.

A lot is down to customer perception and expectations - and the fact that car quality in general is so much better than it was even 5 years ago.

I've owned Audis , Skodas, lots of Japanese, and (company) Mercs. The later Mercs are no better or worse in terms of problems than the (new) Audis I owned.

What delighted me about the Skodas was the sheer value for money including servicing. Mercedes are genuinely spending a fortune on getting the product quality (whilst actually as good as BMW and Audi) to the point where they can match customers' expectations of the brand - ie where it used to be in the mid 90's.

The problem with a lot of modern cars is complex electronics which unless your dealer knows what they're doing, what should be fixed first time, takes multiple attempts. Add to that the cost of servicing and you can understand people looking elsewhere.

I guess that Mercedes' idea is to actually show what an extensive range of products in makes and delivers a decent product. The CLS is a great car, the new 3.0 diesel going into the E and C class is making the car a genuine 3 and 5 series beater, and the new A class is a good (but expensive) car.

As Clarkson said - take a look at the S Class if you want to know what will be on your car in a few years' time. Perhaps if Merc had done more thorough testing before releasing key (mainly electrical) components, they wouldn't be spending the money they are now.

They'll be making great used buys in the next couple of years though when the old JD Power will be looking at today's 05 cars and saying, actually they're not bad at all

Mercedes are now Chrysler.....(think chrysler alpine......nuff said)