Mercedes C220 20,000kms Report. EDIT : 40,000 kms update!

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Mugen_Power

Hey GTO,


BTW How Much They Quoted For Wiper Blades ??

Cheers,
Mugen_Power.

Great stealth income - Honda City OHC - dealer - Rs 1200 for "syndicate" brand
Bosch - Rs 800

The latest mercs use some new type of blade which is expensive and am sure is cheaper in Opera house.

Fitment is another racket. In the UK,the delaer charged almost as much to fix the darned things.

[danlalan]

opera house...but how sure caN 1 be for gettin genuine parts there....

[Mugen_Power]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Great stealth income - Honda City OHC - dealer - Rs 1200 for "syndicate" brand
Bosch - Rs 800

The latest mercs use some new type of blade which is expensive and am sure is cheaper in Opera house.

Fitment is another racket. In the UK,the delaer charged almost as much to fix the darned things.

I Got A After Market Pair For Rs.4000 And Fitted Myself.
Cama Motors Ahmedabad Quoted 6200 Rs.

Cheers,
Mugen_Power.

[veyron1]

Service and spare costs are where the A.S.S's make money. Except for mechanicals, most parts can be avoided from them.

Originally Posted by GTO

Defective suspension balance rod (will be replaced under warranty).

Just out of curiosity..did you mean the sway bar? Or the centre link (front)? I'm sorry, my memory seems hazy at this hour..

[nitrous]

I Got A After Market Pair For Rs.4000 And Fitted Myself.
Cama Motors Ahmedabad Quoted 6200 Rs.

Fitment is another racket. In the UK,the delaer charged almost as much to fix the darned things.

Its very much a DIY thing.

[GTO]

Well, they did eventually change two balance rods under suspension.

@Mugen - Nope. The brake pads were never changed and I have asked them to NOT change it this time either.

[Ford Rocam]

[quote=GTO]So had the car go in for a scheduled checkup today. These are the faults that Auto Hangar listed out:

1. Defective suspension balance rod (will be replaced under warranty).

Rush
could this be one of the reason for your tyre getting worn out soon i remember i have read somewhere your review on Goodyear Eagle... on your merc getting worn out fast, wasnt the suspension components were checked on last service?

[sandeep108]

Originally Posted by GTO

So had the car go in for a scheduled checkup today. These are the faults that Auto Hangar listed out:

1. Defective suspension balance rod (will be replaced under warranty).

2. Brake pads worn out - I seriously doubt they require a change and told him to hold it. However, will check the remaining life myself.

3. Wiper blades worn out : In a year? Rubber quality issue?

Do let us know the estimated cost for both brake pads and wiper blades.

[GTO]

@Ford Rocam : Thats something that never really crossed my mind. But at the 10,000 km service, the balance rod was fine (atleast as per their check). And I was already unhappy with the Goodyears.

@ Sandeep : I dont know the price yet since I have not opted for either. Maybe at the 30,000 km checkup.

[Vulken Auto]

Originally Posted by GTO

Heres another perspective. So my wife drives the C220 back from Bandra late last night (distance of 6 kms). Her comments "Its too hard / heavy and not nice to drive. I prefer driving the Vtec anyday. The Mercedes is good for backseat travel with the chauffeur driving it." She also found the reverse gear selector and handbrake operations more complicated than they need to be.

What can you say to that, eh?

Yes, I had the same view about the c 200.Hard steering and not comfortable to drive too complex . I still think its the worst vehicle bought. Its squeeks, suspension sounds with in 5k kms, door lock dosent work properly instead of repeated complaints and we abandoned the car, its just lies in the garage poor thing... at 8k kms after2 years

[sandeep108]

Originally Posted by Vulken Auto

...and we abandoned the car, its just lies in the garage poor thing... at 8k kms after2 years

ouch...that must be painful

@GTO: Are you sure your insistence of not changing brake pads is correct? Do check them yourself physically - you will land up with worn out discs/rotors that will be much more costly to replace. Of course you ought to know...but still I could not help posting.

[GTO]

Thanks Sandeep. But I already checked them over a tyre-rotation job. They appear to be good for another 10,000 kms. The Merc guys asked for a similar change with my previous C180. Even there, the pads went on to 30Ks.

@Vulken - Sorry to hear about your Benz. Reminds me of a sorry saga with a certain C180.

[NikN]

I definately agree. I had the Carlsson chip piggybacked onto my 200cdi and a week down I started getting reports of a whole bunch of other users facing heavy overheating / traction related problems. out went the carlsson chip.
i wasnt going to wait for something to blow to have it fixed.

[GTO]

@NikN : Surprising to hear that you had a problem with the Carlsson box. I would have thought that Carlsson would have been high quality and reliable (at the least). The box costs about 80 grand compared to 30 odd for the Petes powerbox.

An update on my C220 : Took her out to Panchgani over the weekend and she was fabulous on the highway. Her handling and driver-orientedness was far out! The enormous torque makes overtaking a breeze, and theres no need to downshift even on inclines. The huge fuel tank offers convenience; we didnt even need to refill once and covered about 675 kms on a single tank.

However, the air-con is starting to act up. The cooling switches off for as much as 15 minutes, after any period of hard revving. Its going to Auto Hangar on monday. I remember old cars having the compressor-off switch on full throttle but am surprised to see the C220 behave this way.

[NikN]

yeah it sure is expensive . Even thought i didnt have any problems personally , I wasnt going to wait for them to start creeping in after what idd seen at the service station. Not with the threat of having to fix something on the benz atleast . The way i looked at it was .. prevention better than cure i guess.