Is owning a Mercedes any cheaper than owning a BMW is the latter

I'm specifically talking about anything 2003+ but all stories are welcome

>>14231544
No and especially not daimlerchrysler mercs

>>14231544

Depend on a model years.

Oldest generations, yes.

Current ones, No. You need a BMW/MB Technical Certificates, so it would be easier to DIY.

>>14231583
Why what was wrong with those I thought the transmissions on them were solid

>>14231585
Define older generations

>>14231544
Bump

The old diesel MB were basically bullet proof

The older ones are now so old that they're all going to fall to shit at any moment and require parts that will only become more and more harder to find.

>>14231785
So what about a 2003+ model

>>14231599
they were part american. Take a guess as to what could be wrong with them

>>14231544
BMW is the only way to go if you want to DIY. It has the best community in the world and you can find information about ANYTHING in the Internets. Mercedes is little bit more reliable in general, but forget about DIY, and repairs also can be more expensive

>>14231888
Parent company was German though it wasn't a partnership but a hostile take over

>>14231863
I'll give you a tldr and tell you to avoid any BMW made after 05

>>14231898
Even the c class?

>>14231941
The e90/e92 is much more reliable than the e36/e46 the 36/46 are just much more simple to work on

>>14231898
Both are going to cost you your first born child to fix

>>14231898
>BMW is the only way to go if you want to DIY
Unless you wanna change your own battery. Which you can't... It costs over $300 at the dealer.

>>14232034
F30

>>14231940

No, those transmissions were from American supplier that had a contract with DaimlerChrysler.

>>14231969

pretty much this.

The day of DIY for newer German ones are over. No more human mistake = more reliable

>>14232079
What about it

longgpost guy is sort of the authority on mercedes DIY but from what i understand mercedes repairs are less frequent, use more expensive parts, and are on average more difficult

bmws have a lot of little things go wrong frequently but they're usually easy fixes for not much

>>14232034
carly for bmw (the app) can do battery registration bruh

>>14231969
the e9x and e6x are NOT simpler to work on, they're actually a good deal harder, mostly due to more compact engine bay packaging, but i'll give you that they're more reliable

>>14232252
Is the only 3 series model with that problem and it can be worked around with an app old the turbo 4s are better than the old n52's

>>14233951
I never said they were easier to work on just more reliable than what they were replacing

>>14231612
Had no problems dailying a W202 Kompressor except some cunt crashing into the front end and bending the frame ;_;

>>14234759
Lawsuit?

>>14234752
oh whoops, misread it

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If I bought a E36 or E46 M3, got the repair manuals and tools and learned to wrench bretty gud, would I still get raped by parts costs when stuff broke, or would it not be noticeably more expensive than a normal car?

I'm good at figuring shit out with manuals and the internet and I'd like to own a cool old luxury car, but I'm wary of it becoming a money pit despite my best efforts.

>>14231599
Daimlerchrysler era airsuspension was basically a financial timebomb waiting to happen, keep that in mind.

>>14234993
if you get a 6speed manual one instead of the smg you`ll be good. Unless you buy one with a blown engine or something lmao

OP, if you are still around, I can answer pretty much any questions you have about DIY for Mercedes

>>14231544
Buy E46 or older and be prepared for random shit to blow up, though if you're handy with a wrench it'll be no problem.

Buy E90 or new and be prepared for a very few specific things to go wrong, and there's no reasonable way for you to fix it yourself, especially with 335i turbos.

>>14233937
This pretty much sums it up. I'd rather some small cheap things rather than one major expensive thing, which seems to happen to Mercedes a lot.

Why are Mercedes parts so much more than BMW despite both being sold at the same rate to the same markets?

>>14231969
>much more reliable.
Hah, you're fucking kidding right?

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>>14231544
1999-2006 were the worst years for Mercedes. Before that, Mercedes had floated around 2rd and 4th place amongst Toyota, Lexus, and Acura and in the 1970s to 1980s were even above the Japanese several times brands regarding reliability. When they merged with Chrysler they took on an entirely different mentality that didn't include making their vehicles overly durable regardless of cost and they cut a lot of corners and took shortcuts in their designs to save money. Between 99 and 06 they actually dipped below BMW and were even below Jaguar and Dodge.

After Mercedes split from Chrysler their dependability started to climb back towards the top. This was around 2007-2009 that things started improving. Now Mercedes is back in the higher range regarding dependability. I think they're in fourth place right now.

With BMW the inverse happened. They were more reliable during that time but around 2003, right after the E39 exited production BMW started making their vehicles needlessly complicated, with horrid electronic designs and fragile parts all going towards making their vehicles lighter and more profitable. When the E60 and E65 were reliased those two models alone dropped their reliablity massively. Around 2007-2008 the N63 and N57 begin to be phased in, which were full of issues. BMW has becoming increasingly less reliable since.


To summarize:

From 1980s-1997 Mercedes were more reliable.
From 97-03 BMW was more reliable.
From 03-06 neither were great.
From 07 till present Mercedes has been more reliable.

Hope this helps.

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>>14242742
Merc owner here.

98SLK

Easy to fix,just go on the forums.

Have fixed wiring in the roof mech myself with an ohm meter and mediocre electrical knowledge.

Repair quotes from Mercedes stealership are MASSIVE ($1000 inspection) but my trusted mechanic has been able to fix the only thing I couldn't (Crank angle sensor)

>>14237604
Which is cheaper to do the most basic of maintenance on and still have the car running fine

>>14242778
Preventative maintenance will keep anything running smoothly....But servicing yourself will always be cheaper in either brand..

>>14242742
Didn't the e46 last until 2005 (2006 for convertibles) and the 2003+ 5 series and 7 series were actually more reliable than than their replacements

>>14237604
Also are the 2006+ c classes really as unreliable as people say

>>14240112
If I'm getting a BMW it'd have to be one with the N52 for now. The water pump issue can be diy in the e9x it just requires a lift

>>14242777
SLKs are easy to work on because they were built on an already existing W202 platform and were spared much of Daimler-Chryslers dumbfuckery. They're super underrated cars. My first car was a W202 C-Class. Older Mercedes are great.


Also, yeah. Mercedes are only expensive to service if you go to a dealer. A lot of work can be done cheaply if you do it yourself. Longpost guy made a long term ownership chart of the costs of working on his M-Class as opposed to what they dealer would have charged him for the same work. He did everything for about 20% of what the dealership would have charged.

>>14242789
Yes. That's just a basic approximation.

The E36 was far more dependable than the E65, just as the E39 was far better than the E60, but the change in electronics suppliers BMW went through in late 03 (which would be model year 2004 vehicles) was a major source of many problems. 3 series were never particularly problematic until the E90 was introduced which spawned a multitude of issues, especially on I6 models.

>>14242810
>The E36 was far more dependable than the E65,
*Meant to say E38 not E36.

>>14242788
There are some things I know I'd be too scared to work on because it would be my daily

>>14242810
Electronically dependable or mechanically dependable?

>>14242822
This is why I paid for my brakes to be overhauled in the SLK.

Pads,disks and sensors all replaced.

>>14242810
This nigger knows his shit.

Listen to this guy.

>>14231544
BMW has a lot of online info. Probably the most. All mechanical jobs are on youtube. You can even do the computer stuff if you're a bit computer savy - the tools (INPA etc.) are available on torrents and the cable costs $20. Then you can read, reset errors or even do coding for new features or when you put new ECUs in the car. And for BMW there is probably 10x the information more than for the merc on the net.

>>14242835
How much did that cost you?

>>14242829
Both. Problems with everything from lighting and infotainment systems, to ECU, ignition systems and transmission controls.

At this time BMW was trying to become more profitable and they stopped making much of their own stuff and started moving a lot of the supply base away from their historical contractors like Bosch in Germany (and to a lesser extent the US & Mexico) to weird OEM suppliers in Malaysia, China and Slovakia who would were simply contract manufacturers. Similar practices are done with consumer electronics, like iPhones and Playstations which are actually made by Foxconn and Pegatron, not by Apple or Sony.

This led to a lot of quality control issues. On top of that BMW itself started basically cheaping out on parts quality to save money at their Germany suppliers too.

>>14242881
Will i guess the ultimate goal of a company is to make money, but if I wanted a 3 series or 5 series that wouldn't quit on me in the middle of nowhere it'd have to be 2003-

>>14242851
What kind of tools or machines would one need for this

>>14242922
http://www.ebay com/itm/BMW-INPA-Ediabas-K-CAN-K-DCAN-USB-Interface-Diagnostic-Cable-Tool-SSS-New-S3-/221972009931?hash=item33ae9013cb:g:~EkAAOSwNyFWc739

You mean diagnostic? This + a windows XP virtual machine with INPA installed (NCS expert for "coding", winkpf for flashing ECUs, tool32 for more advanced jobs). This works for cars such as e46, e39, e6x, e9x but not for newer I think (F10 etc.). Newer cars have more security and more advanced systems. Here you are basically talking to the car via a COM port.

It is possible to register a battery with this but it's not completely trivial.

Mercedes depreciates faster than BMW. You can pick up a used AMG for half the price of the equivalent BMW M-

>>14242881

DIS DIS DIS

It explains why their reliability has gone down.

It is not only Germans, I notice that some japanese ones, especially Toyatas declining reliability as well, thanks to most cars made in 'Murica.

>>14243144
Is a amg better than its M equivalent?

>>14243536
AMGs are autmatic, Ms were traditionally manual. It's a different philosophy. M are supposed to be more engaging, racing cars, AMGs are just insane amounts of power.

disclaimer: haven't owned any of the two.

>>14232034
Pls do your research first before posting such bullshit. It will cost you $20 for an OBDII cable

>>14243536
What a dumb question to ask.

>>14243768
I haven't owned ether so I would not be able to know