1997 Mercedes-Benz Vito 110 TDI 2.3
Summary:
The car of the year - for a masochist
Faults:
Everything:
Oil leaks.
Water leaks.
Double alternator failure.
Broken pulleys.
Broken doors.
Broken ashtray.
Broken steering system.
Blocked gear.
Disintegrating tyres, etc...
General Comments:
In short: every month another surprise and it is always the first time this failure occurs following my MB garage. MB already gave me a new engine, a new water system, two new turbo systems and new tyres in the first months. Bit by bit they became more reticent to accept responsibilty.
They were only ready to change this Spanish built "monday-in-the-middle-of-the-holiday-season" car if I was ready to pay for the higher price + half of the value of the old (1 year old) car. All the options were lost in this proposal. Apparently the problems with this 1997 model are very well known to MB but no solution is offered.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 14th December, 2000
23rd Jan 2001, 17:48
You have my sympathy. We bought a new Merc V-Class. It was an auto model though it was delivered with a clutch pedal fitted!
We had a total of thirty plus faults in the first fifteen months of ownership.
The dealer and Mercedes were as unhelpful as they could have been and didn`t really seem the slightest bit bothered. We will never buy another Merc and every opportunity I have I tell people about our terrible experience. To my delight I have persuaded at least ten people not to buy from Mercedes-Benz. I will keep up this effort till the day I die. They treated us terribly.