One, two, three, four!
Rev up your engines!
[ENGINE REVVING]
It's time for the Scottykilmerchannel.
Today I'm going to show you why Mercedes-Benz often
turn into money pit machines if you drive them
for any serious length of time.
Now take this beautiful-looking Mercedes.
It runs good, rides good, but when
I hook up this fancy scan tool I have,
look at all the red trouble codes that it has.
It's got red trouble codes all over the place.
OK I counted them all.
There are 25 trouble codes-- that's
your problems-- this car now has.
So yes, this beautiful-looking and--
I must admit-- beautiful-riding vehicle has a ready 25
separate problems that exist in the car because
of all the crazy computer controls that they put them.
Now everything on this Mercedes is practically
run by a computer module.
As you can see here, there is suspension control module that
operates the rear suspension.
There's a computer just for that!
And if you're curious, just that module costs $595.
They also have computer modules that operate the lighting
system, that operate the stereo system, that
operate the transmission, and they're all
equally as expensive.
And take a look at the one shock absorber for the front right.
If you go over here, it cost $1,190.
That's the price of one shock absorber.
And if you look at the labor for putting that shock
absorber in one side, runs 2.3 hours labor.
And when I called a local Mercedes dealer here
in Houston, they charge $160 an hour labor.
So there's a lot of money changing these parts out.
And OK, if all this complexity lasted a long time,
didn't break, that'd be one thing.
But, hey, as we've already found on my little computer here,
this baby's got 25 problems already!
But from just bad designs-- as you
can see, the front rotor here, there's
a giant ridge on the edge.
And here's why it occurred.
For some strange reason, Mercedes-Benz
keep making brake pads that don't cover the entire rotor.
Now if this was a Toyota or a Ford,
or whatever, then it compares the right size so
they fit over the whole rotor and wear it evenly.
But not Mercedes.
They deliberately make the pads so they
don't cover the whole rotor.
So the rotors wear on the inside and leave a tiny ridge
the whole way around.
So when it's time to change the brake pads,
you have to change the brake rotors with it,
or the new pads will hit this ridge and squeak like mad.
And of course, like Toyota, Ford, Chevy,
you want a brake pad that covers the whole rotor.
The more surface area the brake pad touches,
the more heat dissipates you'll have
and the better your brakes will work.
This bad design-- it always creates a ridge on the outside,
and on the inside here too-- just requires new rotors
every time you do a brake job if you don't want noise,
so they can make a higher profit doing the job!
I just can't wait to see what the Mercedes lovers are going
to come back with when I upload this video on YouTube-- how
they can possibly defend this horrible design.
Scratching her head at that one!
Heck, even the lug nuts are designed to retire.
Look at this!
They're recessed way inside here.
So if something ever goes wrong, it's
almost impossible to work on them without ruining the wheel.
The lug nuts are so far recessed in, if anything ever goes wrong
and they get stripped, you're going
to spend a small fortune fixing something as dumb as a lug nut.
Heck, and don't even get me talking about these stupid low
profile tires.
They're great for a racetrack.
They corner great, and all that, but driving them
in the city, look what happens.
Not only does the rim get eaten up,
but the tires get chewed up all the time because they
don't have much side wall.
They'll hit curbs.
Bumps on the road will make them smash holes in them.
Planned obsolescence has gone berserk with these Germans!
Perhaps one of my favorite craziness is this-- watch.
You open the door, the window automatically opens itself
a little crack here.
And then when you close it, it automatically
closes itself the rest of the way.
The system breaks, as break they all do,
then you spend a small fortune to fix it
so the window can go down and then go up the whole way when
you close it, not go down and stay there and get wet
when it's raining outside.
Now they claim that's to save this rubber weatherstripping
here from getting torn when you open and close
the door with the window up.
But really, my 20-year-old Celica doesn't have that
and the rubber is still perfectly fine and not torn.
And there's no leaks inside when I'm driving.
Yes, the Germans are masters of over-engineering, if anyone is.
And of course, the market understands
the problematical natures of these cars.
Just look at the difference in value.
We sold for $80,195.
But today, eight years later, you can get one for $16,972.
So in eight years, this car has lost $63,223 worth of value.
And I don't know about you, but that's
a heck of a beating to take driving a car for eight years.
But if you enjoy riding around in fast, smooth money pits,
go right ahead and buy one.
Or be like my customer.
Buy the $16,000 one.
The only thing you can lose is $16,000 then.
And just pray that it doesn't have any serious engine
or transmission problems while you do
drive it before you sell it on to the next person.
And do realize, if push comes to shove,
they do make really good-looking lawn ornaments.
And remember, if your car has any problems,
just visit the Scottykilmerchannel
before it's too late.