People complain a lot about Jaguar and its issues, the tensioners as just an example.
But how about this one?

My wife has a 2006 SLK, that fancy little Benz with the Vario roof.

This week, all of a sudden, hydraulic oil started to leak from the edge of the headliner - the o-ring from the cylinder operating the window locking mechanism gave way.
Well, new O-ring, simple cylinder rebuilt, bit of clean-up, and fixed, right?

No freaking way ... the cylinder is part of a kind of hydraulic octopus, without the possibility to disconnect the cylinder from the hoses.
All hoses go through all of the car, at the most unreachable places, and under all panels and other stuff.

According the SLK forum, the MB dealers in the US charge some 3-4000 (!) US Dollar to solve it, basically stripping your car empty, take them out, and install new.

And the most horrible?
It is all caused by a 1 dollar MB seal, which is not resistant to the MB hydraulic fluid they used.

So now, next time if you meet a little problem, comfort yourself that Jaguar is not the only one having some strange hick-ups sometimes ...

 

Fords big mistake was not addressing the reliability perception along with fixing the cars. The XJ was fixed by the time of the early 95 refresh and the XJS at the same time 1994 . Ford spent billions .. they were one of the leaders in the CPO selling model to prop up used values ..... but the never attacked the reliability perception the way the Korean makes did.

It was spoken of at the time of the introduction ..... many wanted them to extend the warranty period and include full maintenance and start the CPO back in 1994. Here we are 25 years later and people still talk about "electrical problems" ... "leaks" all things fixed a 1/4 century ago.

I have had a Jaguar and MB sitting next to each other in the garage my whole life -- not one of my MB's can touch any Jaguar XJ since 95 in the maintenance/ repairs department.

 

I have to say I am not a fan of Mercedes-Benz cars, they are not worth all the hype they get in my opinion. Their truck and bus products are great, but their cars don't do anything for me.

I remember collecting and driving a brand new E Class Estate AMG jobbie back from the dealership for director of a company I used to work for. I was not impressed by how plastic and clunky everything was inside and how basic it seemed. OK it did have a powerful engine and clever gearbox, but it's interior was woeful.

I have to laugh to myself these days though because in the area I live the Mercedes A Class is a very popular model. The people who buy it go around with this smug look on their faces and have their AMG badges on show, because the steering wheel is AMG spec. But the truth is the current A Class is a very poorly disguised Renault Megane, which looks better IMO.

 

Me neither, it is only the concept of the vario roof of the SLK which makes the difference.
With its 3 liter, it is a powerful nice little car with hardly any direct alternatives, only the Miata (very nice!) and the BMW come close.
And with the subtropical weather here, it is a dream to have a cabriolet if the sun shines, but also great to have a hard roof for the torrential rains.

That said, I am looking for an alternative car, but am almost immediately stuck.
Even looking at later X-types, but not sure at all if that is the way to go ....

 

Mercedes, BMW and PAG are now mammoth operations making so many models .... don't know how they keep them straight. At one time MB made very few models ... BMW fewer ... VW had the beetle and the bus.

I bought a 1988 560SL was 77k in 1997 -- that was not something an average consumer could afford ... 20 years later you could still buy a new one for that price. MB went mass market ... so did everybody else.

The early 00 "E" class cars were about the same build quality as the "S" class W220 -- all huge drops from previous generation cars. My early W140 was built like a tank .. but had major service issues. MB bought it back and I did not buy another for over 10 years.

The "C" class and all the other variants are just cars -- nothing special.

 

A German saying: alle kochen mit dem selben Wasser.

Translates to: they all cook with the same water.

 

The only good Mercs are now built in England and Lewis Hamilton drives one!

Seriously though they've made some absolute classics but I fear being involved with GM has compromised their 'truck like' build quality, every model pre GM is bullet proof, post GM???

My father and I restored a 230SL and that little car took my breath away with it's driving and charm, the fact Rudy Uhlenhaut designed the car from the tires up - new design in steel belted radials meant his brief was structured around this - and it matched a Ferrari 250 SWB around the Green Hell (Nurburgring) meant it was a serious drivers car. Oh to have guys like that around now, or cars of that quality from MB!

 

Sean -- they linked with Chrysler in the USA. The 300 in the USA is built on the W210.

I still have thee of the vehicles that I grew up with. My mothers W112 -- and my dads W109. We also had an early W108 -- that was my first car when it was about 10 years old. The W126 was the last great MB .. The W140 had too many problems but was still engineered like nothing else at the time.

Sadly ..lost my SL in a fire a few years ago. I wish I had left my W126 (300SDL)

 

As much as I love the stupid levels of performance available on cars like the w215 and r230, the lat trying great and well made Mercedes were the w126 and r107.

Worst car I've ever owned was a 2004 Audi A8L. 5k in parts alone over 5 years and 24k miles. And I used used parts and rebuilt assemblies on it when I could. That was PARTS alone, no routine maintenance. I owned it from 2011 to 2016 and 115k to 139k. The two previous owners were Audi then a lawyer... just a horrific piece of garbage for reliability and serviceability. Fantastic drive though.

I've owned my XKR, 2011 to current and 67-106k miles; and my XJR since 2015 and 83-98k miles. Both have been easy to work on, parts are pretty cheap, and overall easy cars to live with. Stuff breaks, but usually fixed fast, easy and reasonable on the money. Big fan of the R models for the much better transmission and other inadvertently improved reliability components. Hate the ZF 5HP24 SO MUCH.

 

I find mainly in the USA that they tend to exaggerate and whine about how 'unreliable' Jaguars are while ignoring utter pieces of crap like some of the stuff GM churns out. I know because as I keep going on about- my Caddy has been the biggest POS this side of a cow farm! The strength/stupidity of the GM fan boys cant be underestimated.


My old W124 400E was fairly ok for its age but the drive by wire throttle actuator gave issues, as did the transmission (a consumable at that age). The thing felt solid. The body condition was incredible for a car that spent all its like outside in the Midwest. I think Mercedes hit a good setting in terms of ride/handling compromise. The car was austere and didn't excite me the way the XJR does (I'm not referring to the immense power advantage the XJR has over the Benz- I mean things like the but walnut and the styling etc). I would consider getting an R107 560 SL as an investment car.

 

This is exactly my thoughts, I see and hear a lot of people banging on about "Jaguars are unreliable" or "Jaguars are all Fords" because they're too stupid or ignorant to take the time to look into things properly.

The reason main Jaguars, or any car for that matter, become unreliable or dilapidate is because they aren't looked after properly. If they are not regularly serviced, washed or cleaned they will begin to deteriorate quickly. If something breaks it should be fixed straight away because it will only get worse.

 

A centralized hydraulic system... for door locking???

Reminds me of one of the older mercs, maybe 80's, that were some of the first to have true climate control. They used a pneumatic control system which ran a bunch of hoses from the control panel up front to a pump and valve assy in the trunk. Most don't work anymore, of course.

One of the things I've come to appreciate more and more about the x308, is under its skin, once you get past the known issues, it really is just standard car parts in higher quality. Sure there's oddities here and there, and NLA parts, etc. But after all that, it's similar to most other cars, no hydraulic door lock actuators, brake-by-wire, etc. that you see in other brands' cars in its class.

 

Nilanium, I'd say exactly what you did, they are refined but traditionally engineered and executed well with decent materials. Conservative on crazy tech.

 

Worst car in terms of trouble that I bought new was a 2001 Mercedes C-320. Warranty repairs must have cost Mercedes 40-50K between leaking rear window (which required replacing rusted body parts, engine/mechanical failures (replaced the whole front end at one point) and electrical failures. This was after owning a 1997 BMW 540i which had almost no problems from new. The cats had to be replaced, but I think that it was because I had it in Europe for 3 months (European delivery) and the gasoline still had lead residue in the storage tanks.

 

MB used vacuum control for locks starting int he mid 60's and the W107 had vacuum control in the early 70's ...... it was very reliable. Remember we now expect reliability out past 15 years .. this was not the case years ago ... most cars had turned to dust in 10 years.

Jaguars reputation was well deserved in the mid 70's and again in the late 80's -- the XKE and XJS particularly bad ... The British electrical systems being the main problem. Jag was forced to purchase many parts vs have them specifically built .. they were always a bit cash strapped.

 

Worked on a few MBs and grew to loathe them.

I remember a 1974 230 sedan (four-pot) that was brought to me - a pig of a car; it needed a new carburetor (Stomberg) and they wanted 900 bucks for a new one. The owner told me to jerry-rig it and I told him to not bring it back to me. The car also used an engine driven pump for brake booster vacuum, which was shot. Routed the hose to a vacuum port on the intake manifold and solved the problem.

My boss has a mid-nineties 500 series with the big V-8. It'll eat up some interstate but has barge-like handling. My '02 VDP is much more nimble. The Merc has some unnecessary (IMHO) features like a remote controlled center mirror. I'll give him that the beast has 250K on it but I'm catching up with him and dealing with a lot less trouble doing it.

British cars are pretty much what I drive every day and I've never experienced the nightmares people go on about concerning reliability. My daily driver right now is a TR7. I do have a Chevy pick up but that's because I haven't found a Bedford or an Albion I can afford...

The only issue I see with the Ford-era Jags is the use of craptastic plastic parts on some things such as the secondary tensioners (replaced mine at 100K). I suspect this was due to Ford's notorious bean-counters getting involved.

 

metalbasher -- Having rebuilt countless TR4a's and 6's ... I can say with some authority. Fine cars they were not. Simple .. yes. Thankfully.

Ford spent and lost billions on Jaguar .. had they not Jaguar would not be around today. I will give them a pass for the few mistakes they made as they wasted and wasted money along the way.

Not increasing the warranty and free maintenance cost them dearly

 

I literally have burn damage from an electrical fire in my Triumph GT6 MK3 (1973) on my legs. Holds the record for biggest piece of s*** I've ever owned. Very cool looking but absolute trash.

 

My dad bought his first Jaguar back in the 50's -- before my time. I was about 6 when he bought my mother a late W112 coupe. We has a series of XJ's with two XJS's tossed in for pain.

They all leaked -- always something up -- electrical. The annoyance was endless -- they looked good. Having good service was important. MB's were better built ..

Unless you have been a long time owner -- I don't think you can understand what progress the X300 was. Jaguar had really fixed the XJS by 1994 ... the 95-6 being the ones to get.

 

Yeldogt -

Don't have any experience with the TR4 and TR6 but my Spitfire was my work hack until the TR7 was put on the road. Not much power but it would give it all it had all day long (turning 4 grand at interstate speeds). The little beast never left me stranded. It's awaiting refurbishment (and an overdrive) after 25 years of everyday use under my stewardship.

I'm glad Ford saved Jaguar - but they could have done a better job. I know, preaching to the choir...