Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[Sliver]

No shame in a 43 whatsoever, dude.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Icantwhisper

Any thoughts on 2022 Mercedes GLC amg 43? Took one for a test drive and pretty impressed. I know it’s the baby amg but the 63 just seems like too much as far as tires and preventative maintenance

How much warranty left? Reliability has been poor with these vehicles.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars...2/reliability/

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

How much warranty left? Reliability has been poor with these vehicles.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars...2/reliability/

2 and half years left, okay with the odd glitch but don't want a vehicle that's in the shop every 2 months either

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Icantwhisper

2 and half years left, okay with the odd glitch but don't want a vehicle that's in the shop every 2 months either

Auto purchases are highly emotional so you gotta do what makes you happy and it comes down to risk tolerance. I'm sure not every single one will be a money pit so just do some research on common issues so you can stay on top of them.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Icantwhisper

Any thoughts on 2022 Mercedes GLC amg 43? Took one for a test drive and pretty impressed. I know it’s the baby amg but the 63 just seems like too much as far as tires and preventative maintenance

Preventative maintenance is largely going to be the same on a 43 and 63. Tires are more expensive given the larger diameter and wider fitment, but that's the cost of going with the big daddy.

As far as the reliability score in Consumer Reports, ignore it. Buy what you like, fix it when it breaks. A Mercedes or any other proper luxury brand (ie: not Lexus) is going to have higher incidents of repairs and so on because of 1. complexity and 2. owner expectations. When you drive a vehicle with 39 different control modules, it's mathematically certain that things are more likely to go wrong, but most of the time it's weird quirky crap.

[Bill Bumface]

I wouldn't ignore reliability completely, I'd look into power train histories. Some engines and transmissions are much much more likely to grenade than others. A grenading engine or transmission in a European luxury car is going to be 5 figures to deal with.

Going with a proven engine and transmission combo will let you sleep well at night and not care about all the other little crap that is inevitable to go wrong as TorqueDog said.

[Acey]

My S5 did great in the snow as advertised... one incredibly annoying thing though. It was slush city and about halfway into my drive to Lethbridge enough of the sensors for the adaptive cruise get covered in snow, and it nukes your entire cruise. Once I hit Vulcan, the roads were bare and dry.

The car should just let you just be able to use cruise with no adaptive functionality once the radar and sensors and whatever else get covered up.

[FLAME ENVY]

Originally Posted by bill bumface

i wouldn't ignore reliability completely, i'd look into power train histories. Some engines and transmissions are much much more likely to grenade than others. A grinding engine or transmission in a european luxury car is going to be 5 figures to deal with.

going with a proven engine and transmission combo will let you sleep well at night and not care about all the other little crap that is inevitable to go wrong as torquedog said.

b58/zf8hp ftw!

[Icantwhisper]

Would be buying from Mercedes dealership and it does come star certified, I’ve had a Mercedes before and it wasn’t anymore troublesome than I would have expected. I think I’m just bothered by all the electronics in new cars but that isn’t brand specific and I feel like it’s somewhat luck of the draw. Previous owner had this for 2 1/2 years so I’d think if it was troublesome it would have been traded in earlier

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I wouldn't ignore reliability completely, I'd look into power train histories. Some engines and transmissions are much much more likely to grenade than others. A grinding engine or transmission in a European luxury car is going to be 5 figures to deal with.

Going with a proven engine and transmission combo will let you sleep well at night and not care about all the other little crap that is inevitable to go wrong as TorqueDog said.

Yeah, I make sure to double check the stuff that could cause you to get stranded, but I don't sweat the inevitable other small things that might need fixing. I had a TL that was an absolute ####ing lemon though, so I cashed out after about 3 years. The stuff that was going wrong on it made no sense. Other TLs weren't having the same issues.

I had a cornering light or something go on my current vehicle. I thought it would be a pain so I kinda ignored it/researched DIY for like half a year. I was getting an oil change anyways so I asked how much it would cost. I think it was like $60 for part and labour. Awesome surprise that made me feel stupid for not asking first before putting it off.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by FLAME ENVY

b58/zf8hp ftw!

The most reliable and arguably greatest overall commuter powertrain to ever come out of Germany.

[Table 5]

Anyone know how long you can drag out an Out of Province inspection for? I had a new car shipped in from the states, but its on summer performance tires and generally not really something I want to drive now that they are sanding, so would prefer to just store it till spring. I think there's typically a 90 day window, but what happens if you go past that? There's gotta be a fun car loophole!

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The most reliable and arguably greatest overall commuter powertrain to ever come out of Germany.

That and Audi's 3.0T Supercharged engine are your two best bets for owning a sporty German sedan for an extended period of time. Just don't get the DSG with that one.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

That and Audi's 3.0T Supercharged engine are your two best bets for owning a sporty German sedan for an extended period of time. Just don't get the DSG with that one.

They are using the ZF8 now. Are they not?

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

That and Audi's 3.0T Supercharged engine are your two best bets for owning a sporty German sedan for an extended period of time. Just don't get the DSG with that one.

Having owned a 3.0T Audi for a number of years, the caveat is to keep an eye on carbon build up and the secondary air ports. I was quoted $8k before I wrangled them into covering it on extended warranty. My opinion is as long as they get driven a reasonable amount at highway speeds they are fantastic but short trips around town where they don't get up to temperature aren't great for them. But that can be said for a lot of engines it seems.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

They are using the ZF8 now. Are they not?

They don't make that engine anymore as far as I'm aware. It was replaced by a 3 litre turbo.

I'm not too sure what automatics they used throughout its life as they put it in a lot of different cars. For the S4s and S5s it was always DSG or 6MT I believe.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

Having owned a 3.0T Audi for a number of years, the caveat is to keep an eye on carbon build up and the secondary air ports. I was quoted $8k before I wrangled them into covering it on extended warranty. My opinion is as long as they get driven a reasonable amount at highway speeds they are fantastic but short trips around town where they don't get up to temperature aren't great for them. But that can be said for a lot of engines it seems.

$8k for carbon cleaning!? I assume this was a dealer? Even for them that's egregious.

[Dion]

Truck made of Lego pieces:

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I wouldn't ignore reliability completely, I'd look into power train histories. Some engines and transmissions are much much more likely to grenade than others. A grenading engine or transmission in a European luxury car is going to be 5 figures to deal with.

Going with a proven engine and transmission combo will let you sleep well at night and not care about all the other little crap that is inevitable to go wrong as TorqueDog said.

No, don't ignore reliability completely, but Consumer Reports is a dubious source if you want to know what the complete picture is.

Powertrain history and previous service history are important. Especially when you know certain powertrains tend to have certain issues by a certain mileage, you can see if the work was done, and if not, how much will that work set you back if you're the one stuck doing it. I'm showing my hand a little here, I bought my RR because I knew the timing chain fix with the updated tensioners and guides was done already.

[Ryan Coke]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

That and Audi's 3.0T Supercharged engine are your two best bets for owning a sporty German sedan for an extended period of time. Just don't get the DSG with that one.

What’s wrong with the DSG? I’ve had no issues on mine.