2004 Mercedes-Benz Vito 111CDI from UK and Ireland - Comments

Accelerator pedal broke off (made from plastic, hmm)

Rear window wiper packed up (dealer fitted new switch, but still hasn't cured problem)

ESP failure warning light comes on after about 20 minutes. of driving (dealer seems unable to fix)

Floor covering has worn through already where my heel pivots to operate the accelerator pedal.

Premature & unusual wear patterns on tyres, back & front, the fronts were shot at 20,000 miles, the rears 30,000.

Airconditioning has packed up 3 times, have given up having it repaired.

Gearshift gaiter badly split through wear.

Centre arm rest ratchet broken after very short time.

Side sliding door hinges keep coming loose so that they don't shut properly.

Gearbox jumps out of first occasionally.

Corrosion on tailgate already (1 year)

The engine is quite torquey & is getting better with the miles.

The 110bhp engine gives the van a surprising turn of speed at times, however Mercedes have electronically limited the torque in the first two gears (so that the wheels don't spin up so easily, but the van already has traction control) ; this means you struggle to get a quick getaway on say roundabouts or junctions.

The engine too noisy at low speeds, but is reasonably quiet at motorway speeds.

The handling is very good for a van & it has a very tight turning circle.

The mirrors are the worst I've experienced on a van; they're huge, but there's no convex insert that you get on other vans & consequently you have to strain to check blindspots.

Who's idea was it to fit a foot-operated parking brake on a van with manual transmission?

With the bulkhead fitted the seat doesn't go far back enough -I'm 5'10" & feel cramped.

The dealer's technicians don't seem to have all the technical info they need to service Vito's satisfactorily.

The interior it has to be said does have a quality air about it.

There are a few nice touches such as a quick flick of the indicator stalk will initiate three flashes of the indicators for lane-changing & the window wipers revert to intermittent when you're stationary. Also the rear window wiper gives a swipe when you select reverse gear & the front wipers are on. The steering wheel is also adjustable for rake & reach.

The load space light is feeble.

Fuel economy is only average for a diesel.

The brakes take some getting used to as they feel spongey initially, but have good stopping power.

I have heard of several similar problems this type of minibus like these with friend of mine mercedes benz need to improve otherwise vw ford and ldv will take the market.

Update at 43000 miles: Just had new brake pads fitted all round & a week later the pad wear light stays on all the time. The reversing lamps have stopped working. The steering wheel rim is showing signs of excessive wear & looks like the steering wheel you'd expect to see in a vehicle that's covered 100,000 miles, not 43,000. The electric windows are getting very noisy. The jumping out of first gear is getting worse. Minor service coming up soon, hopefully some of these problems will be sorted. My boss asked me today what van I would like next year when they change it. I'm leaning toward a VW Transpoerter.

Van went in for minor service, they had it for two days trying to fix the problems, but as they don't supply a courtesy vehicle I had to have it back with some of the problems un-resolved as I couldn't afford to have it off the road any longer. The brake assist control unit is faulty, but I'll have to get that fitted at the next service as it has to come from Germany. The same goes for the rear window wiper motor. I kept having to adjust the driver's door mirror as the glass swivel joint was faulty; it transpires that the mirrors aren't covered under warranty, even for manufacturing defects. As they have to break the plastic covers off to gain access they have to be replaced too -over £100 to fix this in the end. Bit of a joke considering it was a manufacturing defect. The driver's armrest ratchet has broken again; I wouldn't mind, but I only rest my arm on it, I never put any real weight on it.

The brake pad warning light was a sensor fault. All four wheel covers have fallen off, one by one, along with one of the plastic mirror covers. The passenger door has dropped on it'd hinges & is rubbing on the front wing. Funny, this door is hardly ever used on my van. The reversing lights work only intermittently. The differential is now starting to whine. The gearbox is still jumping out of first, even though the dealer claimed to have rectified this. The synchromesh on second gear is definitely getting weaker. The side-sliding doors are coming loose on their hinges again, making them difficult to shut. The passenger door electric window seems to have a mind of it's own. This is at 50,000 miles & 18 months old. I honestly can't wait to see the back of this van.

I purchased a 115cdi extra long wheel base, and it has spent more time at our local dealer (currently 74 days) who seem not to have the information to repair it.

And I have only had the van 8 months and 7k

most of the problems have been electric related apart from the air conditioning leaking on your feet after about 15 min of driving, they have had 4 goes at repairing

it and now it has a modification!!!

Electrical items

electric windows have a mind of there own in the wet.

Service assist count down timer is set to 10k miles as standard, some days mine is in miles and when it feels like it in hours and then I'm 7 days late for my service

and I'm not even due for a service.

Radio also has a mind of its own, some times it will come on with the ignition and then it doesn`t, then the cuts out the sound when being used, but all the other features still work until you turn off/on again.

Alarm key fob some times fully dead locks and sets the alarm,and other times will only dead lock leaving the alarm off.

The time lag for turning light/wipers etc on is a very long time!! is this normal, I can turn the headlight switch on and count to 4 (slowly) then the lights arrive.

Front near side anti roll bar bolt came loose sounded worse then it was, (the day after I got it back from mb) it seems the bar was changed, but know one knows about it!!

Mb currently has my van (2 weeks) but I do have a service van from them this time, they have decided that all my problems are down to the radio getting to hot and are fitting a fan to the back of it.

I will let you all know!!

Like others I have purchased a new Vito 111, it is 8 months old and a number of items have failed.One new number plate glue came loose uhh and fell off a new roof lining new floor (cushion) new plastics ie seat handles door covers under drivers and passengers side no end off gear box adjustments now after that a brand new gear box fitted after 12k gone back again for further adjustments to cap it all off the windscreen washers have now packed up. ps. ongoing problems with the gear box synchro's useless.

My Mercedes vito van is only 1 month old & 600 miles. During a wet trip on the M5 motorway for about 10 miles max the wiper blade end cap must have fell off which resulted in the rubber blade falling apart at the end half of about an inch.

Please note that the glass is of so poor quality I now need to replace the windscreen as I have deep scratching over the swept area of my windscreen where the backing blade made contact with the screen.

I purchased new 115 cdi compact from a Sydney Merc dealer. On route from dealers yard to my home,1 front wheel cover self removed and was lost. At 1134 kms ignition switch fell behind facia cover after bezel ring came unscrewed.. At 5772 kms workshop mechanic was unable to close engine cover (bonnet) and found that the two bolts securing latch to cover had fallen out needing to be replaced,,, at110 kph on the M5 what would the result of a self opening bonnet be???...At14590 kms bad transmission fluid leak occurred, large pool of fluid under van parked overnight. Merc service dept replaced trans pan gasket & returned van. Next morning a large pool of trans fluid again on driveway. Returned van to dealer w/shop again, after 1 week van was returned to me and was told two small "O"rings on part of auto-trans were replaced and this should stop fluid leaks.. At other kms several other problems occurred,,3 more times ignition switch fell out. Both sliding doors had sliding support brackets replaced along with both side rubber weather/dust seals replaced..4 times the operating cable for one sliding door handle dislodged from internal brackets, unable to open door from outside of van, this cable was replaced.. Limited adjustments in front suspension/steering showed up when left front tyre had to be replaced at 18000 kms.. Apart from these "minor" problems the van was good to drive, good fuel economy (one tank Sydney to Melbourne)...At 35000 kms on M5 on-ramp I had to stop because of traffic volume on racetrack and was hit from behind by a car travelling at speed{90 kph zone}and pushed into Falcon station wagon.. Damage assesssed to be in excess of $28000, vehicle written off by insurance company. Would I buy another VITO? I still can't decide, Vito or VW TDI???

Personally I would not have taken things quite so lightly. If It was my Business at risk I would have given the Van back to them directly. By that I mean driven it staright through the doors of the Dealership.