New to the forum - thinking about a 2017

[boxfullofyertoys]

Hey everyone - I've been lurking here for a while, but wanted to finally come out of the shadows as I have some questions.

I've got my eye on a 2017 that's about an hour away from me. It appears to be a dealer buyback that someone else bought after MB fixed the car. The Carfax indicates that it has been regularly serviced at an MB dealership. Obviously, I've still have questions around service history and warranty stuff for the current owner, but I wanted some feedback form the folks on this forum.

It appears that the biggest gotcha on these cars is coolant leaking into the electric motor and eventually ruining it. The MB fix appears to be just doing a wholesale motor replacement. Is that the biggest "gotcha" on these cars? I can't seem to find any on this form that have gone over 60k miles w/o a motor swap. The car I'm looking at has 25k on the odometer (and the price is right IMHO) but I'm not sure that's something I want to deal with down the line, especially if this car is out of warranty. I'm a car guy and have access to a lift/have done tons of work on cars, but given we'd be replacing an older but good low mileage Toyota for this, I don't think my wife would be thrilled if we had a car laid up for motor repairs.

My overall thought with the B is that we could step into a much nicer car (in terms of interior/features) and get our feet wet with an EV that won't cost and arm and a leg out of the gate. My wife and I both work from home full time and currently have two ICE cars. Goal would be to keep the around town stuff with the kids all EV, and take the ICE car when it's a longer distance or if we need two be in two separate places.

What are everyone's thoughts on this? Is the B250e a reliable round-town machine that will last us a few years, or is it going to be a time bomb? Has anyone maintained one out of warranty and done DIY work on it?

-boxfullofyertoys

 

[Hussain]

Hey everyone - I've been lurking here for a while, but wanted to finally come out of the shadows as I have some questions.

I've got my eye on a 2017 that's about an hour away from me. It appears to be a dealer buyback that someone else bought after MB fixed the car. The Carfax indicates that it has been regularly serviced at an MB dealership. Obviously, I've still have questions around service history and warranty stuff for the current owner, but I wanted some feedback form the folks on this forum.

It appears that the biggest gotcha on these cars is coolant leaking into the electric motor and eventually ruining it. The MB fix appears to be just doing a wholesale motor replacement. Is that the biggest "gotcha" on these cars? I can't seem to find any on this form that have gone over 60k miles w/o a motor swap. The car I'm looking at has 25k on the odometer (and the price is right IMHO) but I'm not sure that's something I want to deal with down the line, especially if this car is out of warranty. I'm a car guy and have access to a lift/have done tons of work on cars, but given we'd be replacing an older but good low mileage Toyota for this, I don't think my wife would be thrilled if we had a car laid up for motor repairs.

My overall thought with the B is that we could step into a much nicer car (in terms of interior/features) and get our feet wet with an EV that won't cost and arm and a leg out of the gate. My wife and I both work from home full time and currently have two ICE cars. Goal would be to keep the around town stuff with the kids all EV, and take the ICE car when it's a longer distance or if we need two be in two separate places.

What are everyone's thoughts on this? Is the B250e a reliable round-town machine that will last us a few years, or is it going to be a time bomb? Has anyone maintained one out of warranty and done DIY work on it?

-boxfullofyertoys

It is not a time bomb, it is Atomic Bomb ,do not think to buy it,people reported that they swap motors 4 times and first motor swap at 10k miles ,fortunately the car was under warranty and MB replaced motor 4 times.
Think about other cars.

 

[jjo]

My overall thought with the B is that we could step into a much nicer car (in terms of interior/features) and get our feet wet with an EV that won't cost and arm and a leg out of the gate.

My thoughts are exactly and that's why I was specifically looking for this car as my first EV. It's highly underrated: spacious, comfortable and an absolute joy driving around town (and a bit beyond). I've just sold mine, driving it for 3 years from 55k miles to 107k miles with no major issues, on the original motor. Since we do high mileage I decided it was time to part ways and look for a next generation replacement but it has been the best car I've owned so far.

There are a number of owners who got unlucky with their motors and will be very loud to tell you how bad this car is and advising you not to buy it. And it's perfectly understandable.

The truth is, if you buy it (AFTER CHECKING THE MOTOR FOR MOISTURE), just get the "coolant delete" installed from one of the manufacturers (QC Charge is one of them, I think they sell it for $599) and the car will drive you off the map without issues. This part diverts coolant away from the rotor and that notorious PTFE seal that is error prone while circulates the coolant around the rest of the motor. As far as I know the latest Tesla motor revisions also took this direction so it looks safe.

Despite being Mercedes' "pilot" EV model, I've found it very refined and well thought out. And since it's based on Tesla electronics, my battery still delivered the full range at 8 years' of age and 107k miles driven, charged to 100% daily. The extended range disappeared almost entirely by that stage but I think it's still impressive.

In Europe the only alternatives at this price range are Renault Zoe with 24kWh battery and the 24kWh original Nissan Leaf. Neither will offer you the range and comfort of the Mercedes (with the Leaf the battery degradation is a real issue too).