I’ve heard mixed reviews about Mercedes Benz vehicles. They are very nice and classy vehicles in my opinion. My question is are they actually unreliable or just expensive to fix and maintain? I have coworkers, friends, and customers that drives both old and newer Mercedes cars. They don’t seem to have any reliability issues.
I have never owned a Mercedes, but I have a BMW. I hold the two of similar quality through the years.
If we are talking old school Mercedes and BMW, they were built with quality in mind. Luxury meant quality, resilience, and longevity, back then.
But these days, it seems luxury means the fanciest features rather than a focus on quality.
In terms of reliability, I hold BMW to be relatively reliable. But just costing an arm and a leg for maintenance and repair, especially as they age.
Keen example is me spending more in maintenance in four years owning a BMW than 20+ years owning a Honda Accord.
From an observer view, I place Mercedes in the same boat as BMW for the most part. Reliable, but costing an arm and a leg to maintain.
Just look at how much they depreciate.
When I got rid of my BMW, it cost the same as a Yaris of the same age. A $60-70K BMW down to $9K versus a $19K Yaris down to $9K in the same time span. How is that for deprecation?
Embrace the healing power of “AND”.
Mercedes is built for a customer base that wants the newest and latest features, and is willing to trade in every 2-3 years to get it. Nobody who buys a Mercedes anymore cares if they last, so they don’t. 40-year-old Mercedes are still rolling. 10-year-old Mercedes are likely in 1000 pieces scattered across Russia.
There are exceptions, like Sprinter vans. But most Mercedes are expensive junk.
If you really want a nice Luxury vehicle that is reliable, get a Lexus.
You can give your friends in the Mercedes a ride when theirs is in the shop, or burning on the side of the road.
