delcbr

when did mercedes build quality suffer i heard the 190E was over engineered was it after that model that things took a downturn?

mykp

I thought it was when they got into bed with Chrysler?

Andy M3

I believe that is about right W123 was meant to be the best built merc, the W124 is the 2nd best, the rest is toss thereafter

apparently?

austinwrx

about 1994 ish......last of the square/rectangular headlighted models really.

wasn't just that, its was customer service etc- bottom of top gear surveys and so on.

GC8

When the W124 and the 190 were replaced by the E-Class and the C-Class.

v8voodoo

IIRC, they switched suupliers of the vehicles sensors in order to save money and the knock on effect of crap sensors was the reliability nose dived.

fatherpierre

About 1994/95 when the above happened. The W124 although not as well built as the 123 was still fine car and the end of the road.

The replacement for the W124 was a drastic lowering in quality which is why late, good 124s are really well sought after and command high prices.

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

First C Class was cheap and tacky inside. When I first got in one, dashboard aside, I could have been in something Korean. Cheap seat fabrics and carpets that were easily marked. The current model is massively improved.

j4ckos mate

My mates e class and its an 02, 200komp,

full of rust, round the locks, the arches, the doors the boot lock is almost rusted theu, as has the rain channel on the boot.
it has done mega miles but even so, get the newer shape after "52".

LC Geezer

My W210 E-Class was a rusty piece of ****. The rust warranty was OK though. I had 4 doors, tailgate, front wings, rear wings all replaced FOC under warranty.

The Chief

My stepmums 1997 E230 whilst reliable was a rot box, to this day its done less than 50k garaged every night and washed every week without fail, a couple of years ago found loads of rust on the inside of the arches and wings, cost over a grand to put right!!!!

My ratty old Mudano thats worth about 600 quid had less rot and i never wash it


Merc quality has turned to s***!!!! nowadays because a few years ago the bean counters took over.

StickyMicky

the boy at work has a B reg 190 diesel (23 years old?) and its still going strong!!!!

its just had to have a bit of welding for its MOT, but thats to be expected.

some of the newer merc we have in for work, are crap, cheap plastics and trim, and they do suffer from rust bad IMO

ScooByer Trade

I know a guy with an S500 and it might be from 2001 ( maybe wrong ).The other panels are black, the nearside front wing is mostly brown and no doubt the owners pants were, when he had seen it.Also it had done only 120,000 miles too and should have very little effect on condition.

Nathan.

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

Noooooooo!! The newage 211 model was an absolute disaster, and didn't really become reliable until 05/55 reg. On a 52 plate, the recalls would get done at servicing, and I have seen myself get up to £3500 worth of parts on warranty out, and it wouldn't even get mentioned to the customer!!!!
A 210 model from 2000-2002 is far more reliable, as long as you keep on top of the rust.

Fatherpierre, the 123 model could only be classed as a better car than the 124 because of the simplicity of it - take the parts that could fail on the 123 and compare them to the same parts on a 124 and there was no difference - it's just that a 124 had a lot more complexity on it as it tried to follow the the technology that was on the S classes. The 123 was a far poorer car to drive than the 124, and it always felt dated when compared to it's rivals of that time since it had spent so long being product tested.

fatherpierre

You're confusing build quality with moderness. The 123 IMO is the better screwed together car.

I've loads of 123s and 124s and agree the 124 is the better car to drive, but the 123s build qaulity (and the 116) is superior.

I love the way the 123 drives and it isn't that much inferior to the equivelant 124 model unlesss you're comparing it to a sportline model. The 123 wallow around corners is endearing!

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

I know that it sounds what I'm referring to is the drive, but that is just a side issue. Having worked on both models, I find that considering the 123 has far fewer parts than a 124, it breaks just as many parts.
An endearing drive to me is a 107.
And to be fair to later Mercs, a senior official at Mercedes let it slip that when 202's were released, if they had put the development time and tried to raise the standards to 123 standards, then the base models would cost at least £70,000. That wouldn't be realistic would it?

fatherpierre

LOL. Crazy really to think how dramatic Mercs have gone down in build in the space of 14 years.

I have found the M class to be particularly bad, with Rover-like build, awful to drive and as thirsty as the late Oliver Read after a week in Saudi Arabia.

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

You are correct on this, though a couple of years ago Mercedes realised this, and did a massive campaign through it's dealers promoting it's increase in build quality, and persuading it's dealership staff to enhance customer satisfaction.
I believe the 2 plants that let down the Mercs are the bigger non-European ones - one in South Africa for some C-classes (the chassis number starts with WDC for the non-european ones) and the American ML plant which is in Alabama IIRC- you can almost see it - "Hey Ma, Pa, I'm getting a dollar an hour to put nuts an' bolts on fancy automobiles - heh heh, sometimes I miss a few out here and there"
Built down to a cost not up to a standard.