2000 Mercedes-Benz E-Class E240 Elegance from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing serious. Brakes squeak, headlamp bulb burned out.

When the time came to by a new car to replace my old 1995 E200 with 150000 miles on the clock it was a choice between Lexus and Mercedes. On past experience I chose an E240 Elegance with 30000 miles on the clock. Unfortunately as they say in the movies things ain't what they used to be. On the whole everything works, but there is a noticeable deterioration in the build quality compared to my old Merc.

The leather seats on long journeys become very uncomfortable, the driver seats leather stretched and looks old and tatty. The cloth covering on the bottom of the doors and various other bits is poor quality. The Blaupunkt sound system is a joke compared to Pioneer or Kenwood.

The paintwork some places especially on the plastic parts is wafer thin. Trying to "T Cut" out a small scratch I was through to the base after a few seconds of rubbing.

My biggest gripe is the automatic gearbox. It is one of the worst gearboxes I have ever experienced in some 40 years of driving a collection of different makes of cars. Lazy, noisy, unpredictable gear changes up or down.

I wonder how long Mercedes is going to try and live on the past glories of legendary build quality and reliability.

My honest opinion is that it's now no better than any run of the mill car at half the price. My next car will be a Lexus.

Looks like I'm not the only one to be disappointed.

I can wholly agree with the comments reference the poor gearbox, my own car a 1999 model E240 was bought with 12,000 on the clock from a main dealer, and the gearbox problems which have become worse, in some cases putting the car into 'Limp Mode'resulting in a random multiple misfire, are very alarming, it appears that the car was rushed into production, and the buying public used as unwilling guinea pigs, and for the first few months of ownership you feel that you have been rear-ended, such is the severity of the engagement into first gear when you need to come to a sudden stop. All these faults were unrepairable by the main dealer, and passed off as faults particular to me.

My 98 E240 also suffers from an erratic autobox, sometimes after reversing it sticks in first then changes roughly to second. Sometimes after an emergency stop will not go into reverse. Other problems with lack of vacuum in braking system make brakes very poor for first minute of each journey...I'm told the system is functioning as it was designed to. Not the quality they once were.

What is clear among all the negative comments is that it is crucial to get a good independent mechanic who has lived Mercedes Benz. Do this BEFORE buying a Merc, and ask their advice on years and model type. Mercs are innovative and have been at the forefront of automotive technology for over a century, but with innovation comes risk, and the risk is buying a new car that is also a new model. As for any make, avoid this. The end of the model run is usually best as all the design faults will have been ironed out. Second hand will mean all of the running faults will have been ironed out or known. Finally allow about 20% of the purchase price to bring the vehicle up to scratch. Prevention is cheaper than reactive repair. I have owned four Mercedes and the one I had the most trouble with was a 3 year old A-class. This was because it was a new model, and nearly new (23,000 miles). All the other Mercs I bought had already over 80,000 miles on them and my latest one - a 1997 E300TD - had 108,000 miles when I bought it. I have had other cars but they seem to be more of a problem except for SAAB. These really don't rust or chip!

I've had my E240 for 4 years now and the only comment I recognise is the not going into reverse after an emergency stop. It does go after a 5 second wait and as I don't do emergency stops regularly, it's hardly a major concern. Other than that, gear changes are imperceptible unless I do something silly to upset it mid-change. The seats are great over my 1-2 hour each way daily commute and whilst it isn't the fastest ship in the world, it silently and effortlessly keeps up with the traffic. The engine is the smoothest thing I have driven since a V12. Reliability has been mixed. It has never let me down, but the odd repair has been costly. Key failures have been Air mass sensor and Oxygen sensor which left me limping home and an irritating whistling fan regulator which I felt was unreasonably expensive.

Mercedes Benz E240 Elegance 1999 Dublin Ireland.

I have owned an E240 1999 for the last 13 months, it had 52000 miles on it when I bought it now has 83000.

I have had annoying problems with the headlights, tail lights, climate lights, cigar lighter / light, electric back window motor replaced, new air mass meter, bushings, and steering rods.

The gearbox also has that false neutral between forward and reverse when I stop quickly (not emergency), the dealer service is abysmal, the headlight was in to get adjusted 3 times, bulb 3 times, seals twice (front and back), filled with condensation and it cost a fortune and still wasn't right for the NCT (Ireland's MOT) and then the guess what oh yes their recommendation replace all the lights, oh yeah. Brought to independent expert who sanded the contacts and all was well again. Do these MB guys know their stuff or are they there to just rip you off - very disappointing.

The paint is now fading on the back drivers side, it wasn't crashed I checked it out with an expert. This is a full MBSH car with a body warranty of 30years, think I'll be on to them.

Whatever about the parts, the labour is ridiculous in my dealers up to €120 an hour which might be acceptable if the work standard was acceptable.

Other than those problems, it's a comfortable car, gets 18 - 37 mpg avg in town 23. It uses 1lt of semi synt oil about everyone 2k miles (keep it topped up - Don't OVERFILL), get 20-25k out of a set of Conti premium contact tyres, brakes 8-10k miles, handled well and is reliable overall.

I didn't own an old one, but I heard build was better, I always wanted a Mercedes, but thought electrical probs etc were a thing of the past for me, unfortunately not.

However, still like the car and would buy another one.

I am on my 5th Mercedes. The current model, (New in 2003)a 270 CDI has give problems has been in the the "shop"or out of action for over 6 weeks of its'3 year life. 1. About 30k miles - Turbo charger failed preceded by months of the car stopping on the road and not restarting until I had switched off, waited for 5 minutes and then try to restart.2. Flat battery- I was not informed of a recall about an electrical problem. 3.Odometer-When the electrical problem was fixed the car was returned with the odometer reading MPH when set to metric. Not our fault says the dealer. 4.-Keyless entry refuses to work occasionally- still not cleared up.And last, but probably not least, the gearbox: Just before the warranty was up, I had noticed a rumble in the gear box and mentioned it to the dealer.It has now been in 3 times for the same problem and it is still not resolved.End of warranty and over 3000 euro for a new gearbox has been mentioned. I had intended to buy a new S-Class but none available until 2007. With the rate of attrition on my current model I reckoned it would be only fit for the scrap heap by then.

Bye Bye Mercedes and Hello 7 Series.

I bought my Mercedes E 240 Elegance 6 months ago and I have all sorts of problems with the car. One thing I have realised is that when the weather changes, the car temperature also changed.

To the March 5th poster:

I wouldn't recommend you buy a 7 series. They are so bad that a dealer in Los Angeles actually had a sale on recalled 7 series that fell under California's lemon law. And several quality ratings organizations here in America have said it is the most unreliable car sold on these shores.

Unless you need a huge car, go with a 5 series. Don't know about the reliability of the new ones, but my 2000 528i was flawless.