A lot has happened over the last ten days:
- Routine service + some extras
- AC problem
- AC diagnosis
My 2016 W212 Mercedes-Benz E-Class has run a little less than 52000 km till now. Mostly trouble-free, though there was a breakdown incident, along with a few other non-critical incidents (certain electrical equipment -- puddle lamps, steering adjuster etc -- going kaput) in the first year of ownership. And in early 2019, the air-conditioning mechanism was replaced. All of those were covered under warranty. Other than these, the car was fine.
Routine Service
The new Mercedes-Benz dealer in Kochi is Coastal Star (the old
Rajashree Motors shut shop (Shutters down for Rajasree Motors, dealers of Mercedes Benz in Kochi and Trivandrum)). Coastal Star has a showroom and a service center in Kochi (and also in Trivandrum I think), neither of which I have seen.
We told them to pick up our car and get it serviced. The usual stuff. They took the car away on a Saturday morning two weeks ago. They did what they call a "basic service" which includes the usual oil change, filter change etc, it costs around ₹30k. They mentioned this rough estimate amount upfront when I originally called them for booking the service.
In addition to this, I asked them to do the following things:
- Brake pad replacement. Just preventative maintenance. It was mentioned during the previous service that I should replace them sooner or later, and I had deferred it last time.
- AC filter replacement. Increasing blower speed only increased the noise and made no difference to cooling.
The car was back by Wednesday morning. Total bill came to a whopping ₹80k, but I've accepted this exorbitant Benz ownership costs.
Also, they recommended that I should change the engine mounts and shock absorbers because they're worn. I don't know about engine mounts, but the ride quality remains as good as ever. So I deferred these jobs. And besides, they don't have the parts in stock anyway. The estimate for that is below:
AC Failure
Last Friday I went to Trivandrum for the long weekend. For the record, the braking feel was exactly the same as before; I don't know if there is supposed to be a difference or not after brake pad replacement. Still, the stopping power was good, and so I guess it's alright. By the way, I never liked the feel of the brake pedals. Though the stopping power is good, the pedals feel spongy. There's no initial bite. It has been like this right from when we bought the car.
The car was working totally fine on Friday and Saturday. Even the AC cooling was pretty good after the filters were replaced; did not feel clogged.
We started our return trip to Kochi from Trivandrum in the morning.
This car has 3 zone AC, for driver, passenger, and the rear seats.
Immediately after starting the engines I noticed that hot air was coming from the passenger side, and cold air was coming from the driver's side and the rear. And by hot, I really mean HOT. Not ambient outside air, but real hot air.
Did some basic things like tweaking the temperature, turning off the zones so that all 3 zones pump the same temperature etc, turning the AC off and on, turning the entire car off and on etc. Nope, didn't fix it. Since we were closer to Varkala than Trivandrum, we didn't bother heading to the Trivandrum MB workshop. And besides, it was a Sunday.
So we made the journey back to Kochi without AC, with windows down. it was a very sunny day and there's no such thing as winter in Kerala. It was kind of hilarious; me sitting at traffic lights like an idiot sweating profusely in my Benz while those around me were chilled in their lesser cars (I don't mean any disrespect). This is what my life has come down to.
At least there should've been an option to completely turn off the zone for passenger side so that we would've been able to use some air conditioning. I consider this a design failure. This multi-zone climate control is something that always seemed like a gimmick to me, and a lesser car without this feature wouldn't have had this trouble at all by design.
I accept that these Germans come with high maintenance cost. What is unacceptable is having things break down even after paying those high costs.
AC Problem Diagnosis
Co-incidentally, Mercedes-Benz contacted me via email to seek feedback about the service that was done last week. I mentioned the AC problem that developed, and they said they'll get in touch with the local dealership to resolve my issue quickly.
Called Coastal Star on Monday morning. They picked up the barge on Tuesday (yesterday) and said that and actuator was faulty and needs to be replaced.
However, they do not have the parts in stock. So for the moment they're doing a "temporary fix" that'll sort the problem for the time being, but that it can fail again any time so I'll have to do the part replacement eventually. This temporary fix costs a little over ₹2000.
Doing the "proper fix" repair work involves removing the dashboard, and thus has a high labor cost. I'm not comfortable getting my dashboard taken apart, but I don't have much options anyway.
Here's the estimate:
So, this year these are the expenses we've had so far:
- Battery replacement that was done in April: ₹40k+
- Routine service: ₹80k
- Now they're asking for another ₹40k for doing that actuator fix.
- (This is in addition to the insurance cost)
My car is turning out to be a money pit, and even after spending the money it still fails! I'm thoroughly disillusioned by the brand.
For now the car is back home. They actually had the audacity to send a small flower pot gift. I mean, was that supposed to make us happy?! Their driver who dropped the car back wanted to take a photo of us holding the flower pot in front of the car. This was ridiculous and we refused.
If getting flowers and candies are what a luxury car ownership is (as opposed to peace of mind), then I don't need a luxury car. I want reliability over luxury.