On the 14th of March 2023 we wrote an article asking what is Mercedes Benz Malaysia afraid of. This comes after a series of photographs with the Mercedes Benz S580e on tow went viral on social media. Said cars were less than a few months old and already have suffered a breakdown. This was a concern we had with the vehicle upon launch and in our previous piece, we covered what was Mercedes Benz Malaysia’s reaction was when we raised our concern to them. You can read the piece here.
Brand heritage is no guarantee in 2023
Mercedes Benz Malaysia offers a 4 year warranty for almost all of their cars with no service package options. This is the least number of years offered as a warranty duration in terms of years compared to any other luxury brand in the country. Even younger car brands offers a 5 year warranty for their car. But does that mean the over century old Mercedes Benz is super robust and reliable that it wont need the protection of a warranty on the 5th year?
Because every technology used is completely different
Take the W124 Mercedes Benz for example. It was famously known to be over engineered, and even came with a 30 year guarantee against rust. But absolutely nothing from that car is shared with the current E Class. So if you buy brand new, 4 year warrantied Mercedes Benz today based on the reliability and robustness of the W124, it might just be like comparing the current Perodua Ativa to the Porsche Macan.
The engine is turbocharged with direct injection, there’s a 9 speed automatic transmission, there’s a complete touchscreen infotainment system and the car’s required to save as much weight as possible, in the pursuit of safety and efficiency, but the amount of systems in place for the same reason means there’s a 1000 times higher probability for something to go wrong compared to its predecessor from the 90’s. We observed this difference when we reviewed the 2019 Mercedes Benz E350 vs our own 2011 E300
And the effects of it is obvious
After our article many Mercedes Benz owners, including S Class owners reached out to us sharing what problems their current generation Mercedes Benz’s have. Here’s one such video.
@route_hunters_malaysia A whole lot of creaking noise coming from the dashboard of an RM700k Mercedes Benz S Class luxury vehicle. Is it acceptable? #fyp #foryou #fypage #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #foryoupage #fypdongggggggg #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #mercedesbenz #mercedes #benz #sclass #mbm #cycleandcarriagemalaysia #hapsengstarbalakong #nzwheels ♬ Oh no Oh No (Cover) - Leasis
Its tough to not avoid all the complicated systems these cars have today, as manufacturers have to comply for ever tightening regulations and user requirements. Which is why there’s everything from vehicle warranties, hybrid powertrain warranties, battery warranties and service packages are put in place to ensure the cars are kept in perfect working condition.
But all the coverage in the world is useless if your over half a million ringgit pride and joy is in and out of the service centre multiple times in the year, and spend days and even weeks at a time each visit. Which is precisely what we questioned Mercedes Benz Malaysia on what processes they have placed to mitigate this undesirable scenario. And their reply is that “they are still in the midst of firming up plans and details”. It almost seems like Mercedes Benz Malaysia is not bothered about their flagship’s customers.
At the time of writing, we are still waiting for any response from Mercedes Benz Malaysia regarding this matter. Let’s hope for Malaysian Mercedes Benz owners, they make a proactive effort for our citizens. As any responsible company will have a contingency plan in place. We hope they will shed some light over this matter for us to share with our readers / community members. If you have had any issues with your Mercedes Benz vehicles, please email us at info@routehunters.co