Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-50
Everything:
Oil leaks.
Water leaks.
Double alternator failure.
Broken pulleys.
Broken doors.
Broken ashtray.
Broken steering system.
Blocked gear.
Disintegrating tyres, etc...
In short: every month another surprise and it is always the first time this failure occurs following my MB garage. MB already gave me a new engine, a new water system, two new turbo systems and new tyres in the first months. Bit by bit they became more reticent to accept responsibilty.
They were only ready to change this Spanish built "monday-in-the-middle-of-the-holiday-season" car if I was ready to pay for the higher price + half of the value of the old (1 year old) car. All the options were lost in this proposal. Apparently the problems with this 1997 model are very well known to MB but no solution is offered.
You have my sympathy. We bought a new Merc V-Class. It was an auto model though it was delivered with a clutch pedal fitted!
We had a total of thirty plus faults in the first fifteen months of ownership.
The dealer and Mercedes were as unhelpful as they could have been and didn`t really seem the slightest bit bothered. We will never buy another Merc and every opportunity I have I tell people about our terrible experience. To my delight I have persuaded at least ten people not to buy from Mercedes-Benz. I will keep up this effort till the day I die. They treated us terribly.
I can't believe this! Since the first day I really enjoy my vito. It's a 108 D, built in December 1997. Since the day I bought it, the only time I returned to the dealership is to change the oil, there were no other problems. But I recognize that the vito is not very suitable for heavy works like bearing heavy loads or pulling trailers.
Fast accelerating is also too much for a vito 108, he loves easy riding!
I drive a 113 Vito (petrol) for work and have had several problems. I also find my very local dealership not very helpful. All they worry about is what budget is the repair going to come out of as the van is now out of warranty, but the problems persist.
My V class has had numerous faults from new including:- Poor brakes, clutch replacement at 8000 miles, faulty air suspension pump, engine oil sensor faulty, trim rattles amongst others.
I cannot believe that Mercedes can keep their reputation for reliability.
It seems that all the problem vehicles are those built outside Germany.
In fact my dealer was advising customers not to buy the South African built C Class.
17/6/2002.
My Vito van has been fairly problematical and Mercedes have covered some of the fixes by warranty. But for the money I paid I expected a lot more, especially in the reliability stakes. At 80000 I have just paid £1060 plus VAT for a new sub-frame and am currently investigating if this is a design problem. I have received some information that leads me to believe this is a pretty common occurrence. A (not quite) 3 year old vehicle should not need a new sub-frame!! If you have had the same please e-mail me on movinginfo@aol.com.
I have had a V series for 3 years. It has been reliable with nothing much needing changing.
I would consider buying another one, but I need to take the seats in and out. They are so heavy this is not, in reality, practical.
I drive a 99 Vito 112cdi.I have owned this van from new, and it currently has 54000 miles on it with a full Mercedes dealer service history. This is my 3rd Mercedes, 2 190 2.5 Cosworths, (both of which gave quite a bit of trouble).The vito has more or less from day one has given trouble, everything from fan blowers (2),central locking systems, to drive shafts and gear boxes. I found my dealer of little or no help. My van is due for changing later this year, and one thing is for sure, I won't be buying another Mercedes.
A new 112 CDI was not delivered to spec. Nor was the next; with similar out of spec problems for two acquaintances, but a lot of extra cash was then demanded of me to get what I had carefully ordered in the first place.
Delivered with wheels visibly out of alignment and parts ordered missing... never to be delivered at all.
Troubles with door locks, drive-shaft, elec harness, fuel leaks, sudden jack collapse, seats, many coolant leaks, suspension, brakes, vibrations and more all within 6 months: all fixed, but not by the dealer.
Warranty? M-B dealer had "no parts" and "could not get them" thus cleverly avoiding any warranty claim at all. I went elsewhere thus negating the (useless) warranty.
M-B customer service referred me to the dealer who refers me to Victoria (factory) who refers me to customer service who refer me to the dealer...etc. Clever stuff by bean counters wreaking havoc and trashing a once famous name.
No more M-B for me and I feel so sorry for the designers and engineers of integrity. Management isn't. QC isn't and neither is customer service.
Vito 100D -97, 2.3 Automatic bus:
I have ride over 460 000 kilometers with my Vito! The biggest trouble and the most expensive part is an automatic transmission box - what are the engineers' thinks when they put a small-car-type transmission box to big (van/bus) car?! Vito -96-99 automatic models have only 4,4 liter oil size in automatic box and the Americans have 10 to 15 oil liter big boxes for big cars and that's a reason why US cars' automatic boxes working up to 1 million kilometers =)
No other big problems are presented, only typical using parts are changed as well as brakes, filters, gaskets, etc.
I'm very satisfied to my Vito if an automatic transmission box will bear up! =)
From Singapore,
Being the country that have the most expensive transport cost in the world, I have no regreds buying my first vito 110CDI.It provide me the realiablity, power,speed, ect. Recently I exchange my 2000 vito to a 2004 110CDI, cos the new vito cost too much here, hopefully it don't give me problem. last of all only those that can afford it can drive a vito, expensive servicing and part must be considered before buying a vito.
From Singapore. Was told by another Vito Owner that once his battery went dead, the engine management computer went dead as well. I was advise to change the battery before it dies or the engine won't start even with a new battery. I'm also having problems with the locking system. It can unlock itself even with the alarm switched to armed and I got to unlock it then lock again. Quite troublesome. Unlocking the back doors is also a challenge as it gets back to locked just before you can reach it. Quite a hassle.
I purchased my Vito 112 CDi in Sep 2000. No major problems though I sympathize with the comments elsewhere about unhelpful dealers. At the first service the MB dealer decided it was necessary to replace the rear shocks, very expensive and I'm still not sure why (no, the van had not been abused with overloading). Also the van had air collector box inside engine compartment missing from new. The second service dealt with a glow-plug problem, but not before telling me they might wreck the engine if the plugs were difficult to remove. It seemed they did OK until I noticed a top engine oil leak... someone had stripped one of the rocker-cover bolts (fixed in plastic cowling). But other than that I am pleased: good to drive, just not so sure about the MB service. Oh the glowlpugs have gone again.
My 1995 Vito 108cdi has never let me down in 58000m, but it has had it share of faults. My biggest moan is that the brakes are poor and the vehicle pulls to one-side when hard accelerating. However it is still on its first set of tyres and it drives just like a car so I would consider replacing it with the new model with the improvement of rear wheel drive, ABS and airbag as standard.
We bought our Vito 110 TDi Van in 2003. We are very disappointed with it. From day one we had trouble with the doors not closing properly, and the boot jamming. The fuel tank takes 20 minutes to fill because the diesel froths up. The back door won't slide open properly either after we've put diesel in it. The tank seemed to swell up! The windscreen wipers didn't work properly if we turned them to the high setting. Bits keep dropping off the inside of it. The dealer keeps repairing things (at our expense), but they keep breaking again. We're due to change it, but will never go near Mercedes again. It's been a real disappointment.
I just bought a used Mercedes Vito 1997 which has gone 73000 km. After 2 weeks it has already stopped working. It is overheated, and I suspect that the fan is broken. I hate this since my Toyota Hiace haven't given me any trouble at all trough the years. I am wondering if the dealer tricked me or if there are allot of problems with the Vito. They certainly are cheap here in Norway and I am wondering why.