Top W220 Issues

[Qubes]

I'm being steered in the direction of one of these lately, which could be worse of course, but like anyone else I'm wanting to make an informed decision.

There are (hopefully) more people who own W220's than those who have written about their problems here. If you would, as an owner of a W220, please indicate which major issues you've had with your vehicle in the attendant poll; if you've had none, that's great to know also.

TIA.

[eric242340]

With all Benz models there are issues but this needs to be balanced against the type of car you need. Despite the Airmatic/ABC/transmission/V12 engine problems many of my customers have had little problem, luck of the draw as they say.

I am sure your poll will reflect this.

[Qubes]

So far it does Eric, which is kind of what I hoped. I had a doctor say to me once "very few people go to the internet to tell everyone what a great experience they had." Most of what you read is going to appear overwhelmingly negative for that very reason. If someone just came in here and read the top 20 threads, they'd be scared to death to own one.

[eric242340]

Originally Posted by Qubes

So far it does Eric, which is kind of what I hoped. I had a doctor say to me once "very few people go to the internet to tell everyone what a great experience they had." Most of what you read is going to appear overwhelmingly negative for that very reason. If someone just came in here and read the top 20 threads, they'd be scared to death to own one.

Correct, just look at the number of people who post on this forum with problems and when they find the fix they do not reply back, no one likes bad things, but even less will tell you the outcome or even say anything about it.

To them it is over and fixed, history so why say anything good or bad? The bad things, however, are repeated and stomped on because it was an expensive fix.

[mghaz]

Guys believe me, many issues and problems that were tackled in this forum, could be very helpful for W220 owners, such as transmission, Airmatic, suspension, water in car, secondary pump and electronic/electrical issues, hence the number of problems have diminished enormously because the follow up and the check up is more often now to prevent total failure.

[Mr_Clifton]

I haven't had anything out of the ordinary since buying the car. The only thing I'd call out is that the soft close typically breaks on these cars. The actuator in the door either starts leaking or breaks. Fixing this is roughly $800 per door Of course, it's optional though

[jcvollmuth]

the only 'NEED' to fix issues on my s500 were the PSE pump and the airmatic pump, done at the dealership. Little things are starting to wear out as i near 100k miles, but i can live without them.

[Torrekens S]

It's true that the airmatic suspension needs maintenance around 90-100K miles.

But if you do this, replacing e.g. the valves in the system, it will cost you $800 to $1000 and you're OK again for another 100K. If you don't, you're at risk of falling victim to the typical issues of cars that "collapse", etc.

Worst issue I had was the COMAND. Bloody thing always packs up after a few years. Known issue, but never anything done about it.
My mum's Merc has now exactly the same problem.

[deucer]

Qubes/Eric you gentlemen are "spot on" with your comments. Many times individuals want the answer to a problem, but don't want to face the reality of the "cause and effect", not to mention the price to pay. Not to be condescending to anyone, but generally there is a prelude to an impending problem if one stops long enough to listen, feel, absorb then investigate. Others might wait for the disaster to occur then fume over the audacity of the vehicle to fail. It's all in the eyes of the beholder. "Choose wisely my Son".

[Mr_Clifton]

I think there's an option missing from the poll, and that's "Expensive ABC issues". While the 220 is much better than it's coupe counterpart (the CL), go into the CL forum and look for threads about ABC. It ruined the W215 CL