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Bremen, OH Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Looking at C300 [hlcastelo]

by jrct9454 on Sat Apr 05 06:33:44 PDT 2008

Our C300 Lux, with 6000 miles, gets 20-22 mpg in local suburban shopping runs, and 25-29 mpg on longer freeway runs. Pure highway driving will be between 27-30 mpg, depending on all the usual variables. We have had no issues with our car [August '07 delivery, June build from the Bremen plant].

I'll repeat...

by jrct9454 on Sun Oct 21 06:24:39 PDT 2007

...because it feels like I've said this in so many different venues in the past month: I've owned 54 cars since 1962, including 15 Mercedes. We took delivery of the first C300 delivered in the NW on August 9th, and then proceeded to leave on a 5 week road trip that brought us back home with 5100 miles on the car. There have been no issues whatsoever. Period. And in terms of the way the car behaves on the road, it is hands-down the best car we've ever owned [and I have had them ALL, including multiple Hondas, Toyotas, and everything German]. Our car was built in June in Bremen, and has a serial number in the 17xxx range. The only other time I took a risk like that was when we bought our '96 Acura RL a month after production began. The new C is so much better than that car, it is hard to know where to begin. Now I'm not big on the 4-matic, because we don't really need it here [Portland OR area], notwithstanding the fact that everyone seems to think they have to have AWD in this region. It just adds complexity and weight....unless you live in a serious snow-belt area, winter tires are all you really need to get around. The new 4-Matic system is simpler and lighter than the old design, so that's something in its favor. What I can say is that the underlying car is going to feel like a pleasant surprise to anyone coming out of any Honda product. Our '02 C240 was not perfect, but we never had any serious problems, and none of the electrical gremlins that plagued the early W203s. I deliberately stayed away from the features that were causing the problems [the memory seats, CD changer, and COMAND system]. So far, I have heard of no significant issues with the W204....certainly, our car has had none. As always, your experience could turn out to be different [we have had our share of less-than-perfect Japanese cars], but I couldn't be happier after 5k miles on our '08 C.

My Experience

by jrct9454 on Wed Oct 10 15:03:41 PDT 2007

Our '08 C300 Lux has 5000 miles on it [a long road trip soon after delivery, which was just over 2 months ago]. It was built in Bremen in June, and carries a 17xxx serial number. So far, there have been no issues at all....everything works, and this is probably the best of 54 cars I've owned since 1962 [including 14 other Mercedes, AND an '02 C240]. The difference in the way this car feels, how solid it is, how really well put-together, vs. our W203 C240 is hard to explain, but it is noticeable and notable. This car makes me believe Daimler may have its act together again. It's quick, quiet, very comfortable, and solid as a rock - we couldn't be happier. At this point in its life, our C240 had a couple of annoyances, including wheel alignment and a leaking differential, that had come up and been fixed. We never had any of the electrical gremlins that plagued the early cars, but then we avoided things like memory seats and the CD changer that were big sources of trouble. Before it was sold, the only other thing on our '02 was the failure of the horn, replaced twice. I liked that car, but the new one is on another level altogether.

2007 Chevrolet Aveo MAJOR Electrical Problems

by shortychell on Fri Jul 27 13:04:56 PDT 2007

My husband and I purchased a 2007 Aveo Sedan in October 2006. We had a good car for a while, until June. On June 19th, we had to take our car to the dealership we bought it from, in Anniston, Al, because of the brake light and battery light coming on for no reason. They said nothing was wrong, it didn't do it for them, sent us home. We took it back to the same dealership June 22nd due to the lights coming on and now, in addition to that, the headlights cutting off. They kept our car Fri~Wed, we got it back that Wed, supposedly fixed. They said they replaced the fuse block, along with fixing a recall on a piece of fuel line. The car ran okay for a couple of weeks, then the lights were coming on again! I then called them to let them know, they said bring it in first thing that coming Monday morning. Being as that the lights went off and we had not had serious issues with it, we decided to go ahead on our scheduled trip that Sunday. Coming home from Atlanta down I~20 just outside of Bremen Ga, the radio goes out, the lights go out, then ALL the lights on the dash come on! All of a sudden, the car drops from 70mph to 15mph (with an 18 wheeler behind me and 3 children in our back seat!) The car starts to spit and sputter, with a bad vibration. The car then just completely quit about 2 mins after I got onto the side of the interstate. After restarting it, my husband could not drive over 21mph. This is what they call the car going into "Emergency mode". It will only run what you have to have, so we spent 2 hrs getting from Carrollton Ga to Oxford, Al. Roadside could have come and got the car, taken it to Carrollton Ga, but could do nothing with us or our children. We had no choice but to get it back as close to the dealership we bought it from as we could. We ended up having to get our children's other parents come and get them, stay in a motel overnight, and my husband miss a day of work. Come Monday morning, we take it back, for the 3rd time in less than a month, for the same problem and worse. They keep it 3 days, call and tell us there is NOTHING wrong with our car!!! Come to find out, they said this because it pulled NO CODES! By this time we are both flustered and I have filed a complaint with the BBB against the dealership's service dept. We are in contact with GM over and over again. We got our car back, GM says "take it somewhere else for a 2nd opinion" We drive to Boaz Al to another dealership. They pull no codes from the computer, BUT they did pull a history, proving something IS wrong with our car. It is losing voltage for some unknown reason, they replace the battery, but they will not attempt to try to find out where it is losing the voltage, due to them having a 2007 Chevy Aveo in their shop for 3 months and nobody, not even the engineers, being able to find the problem. Well, we let GM know what they tell us, we wait, and in the meantime, the lights come on again and again. NOW, our car is in the shop for the 5th time in just over a month, at another dealership! We are having to spend money on insurance on a rental car, but they have been kind enough to pay for the actual car rental. We have yet to hear anything from them about it, but of course our car is still in the same spot 2 days after I dropped it off and got our rental, so I am assuming they have not even attempted to look at it yet. I want to know if anyone else has had this kind of issues, and if so, has it been resolved????? What ended up being the cause of the problem? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!!

Re: C350 on order [150mphclub]

by shanky on Fri Oct 21 23:29:44 PDT 2005

I ordered my C350 Luxury on 9/1, it was confirmed as built on 9/23 at Bremen, and till 10/14 it was waiting for a boat ride to LA. I expect delivery by end of Nov. I guess the most painful part is that the shipping takes so long...I am surprised why you were told that production would take more than 2 months! By the way, are these advances/deposits refundable at all MB dealerships?

Re: 06 FXT vs. 91 Loyale :) Impressions [nibs]

by xtsfo on Tue Jan 24 17:09:11 PST 2006

I've posted this in a couple of other places, but for completeness: Look at the just-introduced Pioneer AVIC-Z1. The -Z1 variant is the new one. It does hard drive-based Nav, DVD, CD, MP3, hard drive storage for mp3, bluetooth for cellphones, XM radio, XM NavTraffic, and iPOD control. It's a double-DIN unit. When Blaupunkt releases their new Bremen MPx6 within the next 60 days or so, look at that. I don't know what the "x" in the model number will be yet. This unit is going to replace the now-discontinued Bremen MP74. The non-obvious encoding of Blaupunkt model numbers is that the rightmost digit is the year of first introduction. That's why they killed off the MP74. It was getting long in the tooth. This is a single-DIN unit. You can put a standard Subaru single-DIN "pocket" trim piece below it. I bought one for $20 or so just in case I go the single DIN head unit route. I'm most likely going to do the AVIC-Z1 unless there's something annoying/broken about it. That's a LOT of functionality in a single piece of equipment. Finally, for non-USA-market equipment, take a look at www.audiocubes.com. It has some interesting equipment. Pay close attention to the differences between U.S. and foreign FM frequency spectrum. Even with a converter, you're going to lose access to the very top or bottom of the USA FM frequency range.