Mercedes Boy

This isn't my Mercedes.

Well it is, for a few more hours. It's a loaner.

My fairly new car (9 months old) is already in for repair. Can you believe it?

The oil light came on, which in of itself is not a big deal.....until I started thinking about it. Nine months with about 8,000 miles on it and the oil is low?

I went through two Izuzus, one Jeep, one Volvo and a Infiniti without ever ever ever having to put a drop of oil into it between regular maintenance.

Don't get me started on the unreadable Mercedes dipstick. I could be full or not have a drop in it and I'm not sure you could tell. Horrible design.

So I put half a quart in, and there was no change to the warning light.

But that's hardly why it is in the shop. The day before and the next, for a while, every single electronic safety feature failed, lighting up my dashboard like a christmas tree.

On top of that, I would say at dead stops, the car lost 80% of its power. Eventually it would get up to speed, but very very slowly. The cars behind Blobby were not amused. Nor was Blobby. How they didn't run into me is a minor miracle.

So, I call MB and let me tell you, so far, I'm very very unimpressed with their customer service.

I expect when you buy that level of car, even if it is the cheapest model - like mine - you expect a certain level of service. So far......no. In theory, I'm still waiting for them to come out and program my garage door opener or call my insurance agent to tell them I purchased a new car..................nine months ago.

Yes, I did both those things, but they said they would and I haven't heard 'boo' from them since.

So after 187 telephone rings before they picked up - give or take 151 - they were oh so nice to say...."I think we can get you in at the end of the week....".  To which I reply, "well, I'm driving to you now, so be prepared and you'll be providing a loaner."  Of course, they then said, after being on hold for 7 minutes, "we can get you in at 1:30p."   Really!?

The intake guy was ok, but not great. He said that my car, two weeks after picking it up, had a letter sent about an electronics update. I said I didn't receive such a notice and he said I wouldn't because it wasn't a safety issue.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

I finally said, "losing power to your car seems like a safety issue to me.".  He thought for a second and agreed with me.

At least he laughed when I told him my loaner had better be an S Class.

But I got the GLX - and you know, I'm kind of sorry I didn't spend the extra ten grand for a used one. Yeah, I could never afford the new one. I'm not sure I could afford a used one either.

The interior set-up is almost identical to mine - save the radio/navigation display - but it sits higher, which I forgot how much I like. And even though mine has power, this one has power!  It seems to eat gas like a mo-fo though, but I've been doing a lot of driving these last few days.

I get my car back later today. Honestly, they had to replace a bunch of electronics and the accelerator.

Did I mention this car is nine months old?

I totally forgot to ask about the oil. I'm not sure if I was low or if it was just an electronic malfunction. Nor did they offer. I'll find out later today.



Song by: Pebbles