Gs Reliability

[Parthiban]

There's a discussion over on the Mercedes forums about which is better, the Merc E-class or the new GS. As this is something my family has been currently looking into, I thought I'd add my 2p's worth.

Anyway, as soon as I started talking about bulletproof reliability, and that Mercedes has lost it over the last few years, I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

I just wanted to ask on here, whether that is actually the case?

[Tone the Bone]

bulletproof reliability, and that Mercedes has lost it over the last few years, I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

I just wanted to ask on here, whether that is actually the case?

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Some thoughts from a Lexus owner, I have had 2 GS's and am just about to take delivery of a third, a new GS, this week. My Lexus's have been very reliable, latest car has done 63,000 miles, no hint of any trouble at all, and I have never heard any hints of engine problems. I tend to buy new models, have main dealer servicing.

Plus Lexus remains top for customer satisfaction. If there was some "engine problem" none of us had heard about, maybe an independent body like J D Power would have mentioned it?

I have a number of Mercedes owning friends, they are universally decrying Mercedes' drop in quality, and are they are swapping to Lexus.

Regards,

Tony

[Claire G]

Not had a problem with my MkII GS300 Sport <touches wood, crosses fingers very quickly> and haven't heard of any reliability issues regarding the engine

[eXOBeX]

Even if there were engine reliability issues, "no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems?" How about the brand new V6 engine it uses instead of the old "unreliable" straight-six, surely that counts as a reason?

As for the 400/430 engine, I read somewhere recently that with proper servicing the 1UZ-FE and 3UZ-FE engines are good for 400-600 thousand miles, so the Merc mob can p*ss off.

[NickF]

I've never heard of any reliability problems with the engines or transmissions on the GS. The only major criticisms I have heard levelled at the GS, focus on the suspension.

[Rodders_UK]

I have over 170,000 miles on my GS-2 and it's still as good as the day I bought it - never missed a beat

[jaylist]

There's a discussion over on the Mercedes forums about which is better, the Merc E-class or the new GS. As this is something my family has been currently looking into, I thought I'd add my 2p's worth.

Anyway, as soon as I started talking about bulletproof reliability, and that Mercedes has lost it over the last few years, I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

I just wanted to ask on here, whether that is actually the case?

←

Well Is200 was best in class JD Power winner. Where were merc , languishing down the tables. :mat:

For reliability of Lexus.

http://www.lexus.com/about/history/

May 2003

For the seventh consecutive year, the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS)SM names the LS the Highest Ranked Premium Luxury Car. The same study also designates the GS as the Highest Ranked Mid Luxury Car, while the ES earns the title of Highest Ranked Entry Luxury Car.

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Most Dependable: Nameplate Rankings

Which 2001 vehicles produced the fewest problems in the first three years of ownership? In late June, J.D. Power and Associates released its 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study, which lists the top performers in 17 defined vehicle segments (car and truck). Based on problems reported per 100 vehicles, Lexus was the most dependable nameplate for the 10th consecutive year,

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?se...&referer=advice

Mercedes Ranks belo OLDSMOBILE HA HA HAH

Check this out, comes from warranty directs database of car faults etc.

BTW 112 is average. The higher the number the worse the car. Hence the Merc E Class has BELOW AVERAGE reliability!!

E Class

Reliability Index 117 :yack:

Average Age 7.8

Average Mileage 73183

Time off the Road 2.6

Average Repair Cost £267.95

Air Conditioning -

Axle & Suspension 40.40%

Braking System -

Cooling and Heating System 21.30%

Electrical 17.00%

Engine 19.20%

Fuel System 2.10%

Transmission -

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/search_r...31382522333596#

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Top Gear motoring survey 2003 - Executive / luxury cars

[01 November 2003]

Executive / luxury cars

2. Lexus IS200 - 90.2 - 4 :D

12. Mercedes E-Class - 81.6 - 57 :winky:

-----------------------------------------

Lexus News

Lexus claims fourth J.D power gold award ...

New record score reaffirms industry-leading status

Lexus has claimed an unprecedented fourth successive Gold Award as the number one ranked brand in the 2004 J.D. Power and Associates UK Customer Satisfaction Study. Not only has Lexus remained Britain's best, it has also succeeded in substantially improving its performance to set a new high score of 878 points out of 1,000. The figure marks a new record in the 11-year history of the survey.

Lexus improved its results in all four categories of the survey - Quality and Reliability, Vehicle Appeal, Service Satisfaction and Ownership Costs - demonstrating how the brand's legendary pursuit of perfection continues to deliver real rewards to the customer.

Industry-leading quality of service has always been a Lexus hallmark, yet in this category an improvement of 34 points was achieved, increasing the advantage over all other premium market rivals. Notably BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz all performed worse in this area - and overall - than in 2003.

The IS200/300 range remained the standard bearer for Lexus's emphatic performance, improving its ranking from third to second highest placed model overall and increasing its advantage as number one in the upper medium segment to 42 points ahead of its closest rival.

The 2004 J.D. Power survey, presented in conjunction with What Car? Magazine, was conducted among drivers of cars registered between 1 September 2001 and 31 August 2002. The results were drawn up from more than 23,000 completed questionnaires from both private owners and company car drivers.

Success in the J.D. Power survey sustains a successful start to 2004 that has seen Lexus achieve excellent first quarter UK sales and record high March registration figures. Lexus also retained its number one position in the latest Dealer Attitude Survey conducted by the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) and gained the highest approval ratings in Sewells' annual Fleet Operators Attitude Survey for the third year running.

Karl Schlicht, Lexus Director, said: "To win a fourth Gold Award is excellent, but to do so by improving our performance by such a degree is a tribute to the fantastic work done by our national network of centres and the Lexus GB team.

"Success in the J.D. Power survey is all the more rewarding for us as it is based purely on the opinions and experiences of our customers. Their satisfaction remains central to all our endeavours and we shall continue to work to set even higher standards in the future." :

IS that enough info for the mercedes drivers

P.S The Mercedes tagline used to be "The Best or nothing", then in the late 90's they started to build cars to cost and changed their tag to "A Passion for Design".

How sad. :iraqi-info-minister:

[Parthiban]

Thats a lot of good info! Thanks! :)

I thought there were no real problems, obviously the odd one can occur, with any car, and I'm sure they're probably dealt with in an excellent manner anyway

The only thing I thought a bit strange tho, is how come Lexus is not on that reliability survey, would be nice to see how they compared

[Parthiban]

Some thoughts from a Lexus owner, I have had 2 GS's and am just about to take delivery of a third, a new GS, this week

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Which model did you go for?

[Tone the Bone]

Some thoughts from a Lexus owner, I have had 2 GS's and am just about to take delivery of a third, a new GS, this week

←

Which model did you go for?

←

I have had a GS430 for a few years, now buying a GS300 SE-L.

I had a test drive last Saturday, having ordered it about 2 months ago :D

I was happy to know power from new V6 is 250bhp, whereas 430 engine produces 289bhp, which makes a very rapid car. 250bhp is enough for me, I must be getting older. :)

New car drives very nicely, difficult to really tell improvements in handling in what was a short drive on city roads, but gadgets and gizmos will keep me amused. ;)

Regards,

Tony

[Parthiban]

Have never driven the old GS, but was really impressed with the new one, especially the 430, awesome machine :winky:

Could you let me know whether the 300SE-L has smoked alloys, or is it just the 430? The guys at the dealer didn't seem to know

[lexicon]

I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

←

I thought the 300 engine (IS, GS etc) was based on the Supra block and was pretty much regarded as bulletproof??

[Tone the Bone]

Have never driven the old GS, but was really impressed with the new one, especially the 430, awesome machine  :winky:

Could you let me know whether the 300SE-L has smoked alloys, or is it just the 430? The guys at the dealer didn't seem to know

←

Hi Parthiban,

The GS300SE has 17" alloys, the SE-L has 18" ones.

see specs at http://www.lexus-europe.com/lexus_cars/gs/index.asp

plus the www.lexus.co.uk website

Tony

[peter026]

There's a discussion over on the Mercedes forums about which is better, the Merc E-class or the new GS. As this is something my family has been currently looking into, I thought I'd add my 2p's worth.

Anyway, as soon as I started talking about bulletproof reliability, and that Mercedes has lost it over the last few years, I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

I just wanted to ask on here, whether that is actually the case?

←

They are talking out of where the sun doesn't shine

[Tone the Bone]

Have never driven the old GS, but was really impressed with the new one, especially the 430, awesome machine  :winky:

Could you let me know whether the 300SE-L has smoked alloys, or is it just the 430? The guys at the dealer didn't seem to know

←

Hi Parthiban,

The GS300SE has 17" alloys, the SE-L has 18" ones.

see specs at http://www.lexus-europe.com/lexus_cars/gs/index.asp

plus the www.lexus.co.uk website

Tony

←

More info, on UK website it says 18” 5-spoke alloy wheels (245/40 R18 tyres, 8.0 JJ wheels)

The new GS430 demonstrator at Manchester has 18" wheels, but 8 spokes, so mine may have 8 but I would prefer 5 spokes.

Tony

[Parthiban]

The 8 spoke wheels are in the list of accessories, they're not an option, I asked about them because they look rather nice

Both the GS300SE-L and the GS430 both come with the same 18" 5 spoke alloys, but the alloys on the 430 demo they had, had a gunmetal finish. They didn't have an SE-L to compare, and weren't sure whether they would be the same, or silver

[Glyn C]

There's a discussion over on the Mercedes forums about which is better, the Merc E-class or the new GS. As this is something my family has been currently looking into, I thought I'd add my 2p's worth.

Anyway, as soon as I started talking about bulletproof reliability, and that Mercedes has lost it over the last few years, I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

I just wanted to ask on here, whether that is actually the case?

←

I think your misrepresenting the topic on the Merc site which I have been taking part in. It wasn't a Lexus Bashing session at all, in fact some owners were crtitical of their pride and Joy so lets not start a war between makes!.

One chap pointed to a web site in the states, who I may have have had far more experience with GS's and their problems that we have.

http://calemons.com/toyota.htm which was about V6 engines anyway

When mind played up I quoted many of the issues raised on the USA sites to get the situation resolved... Having said that I hadn't heard of engine failiures either and my understanding was the Supra engine could take a good pounding.

We all love our cars and only the very honest of us will admit to their failings after we have written a huge cheque.

Both Mercedes and Lexus offer a quality product .. quite often let down by the poor after sales service. Which was my issues and the terrible depreciation I suffered!

I'd rather focus on the driving standards of B*W owners than start slagging off other cars.

I hope the new GS is a good car and a well sorted car as many people will be investing their hard earned cash into it!

[Parthiban]

I think your misrepresenting the topic on the Merc site which I have been taking part in. It wasn't a Lexus Bashing session at all, in fact some owners were crtitical of their pride and Joy so lets not start a war between makes!.

One chap pointed to a web site in the states, who I may have have had far more experience with GS's and their problems that we have.

http://calemons.com/toyota.htm which was about V6 engines anyway

←

Sorry mate, I didn't mean to imply that at all :shutit:

I actually had never heard of that kind of unreliability within Lexus, so when it was said that there were a multitude of engine failure cases, I wanted to make sure whether or not it was indeed a real problem. While my IS has been fantastic, I've had no experience with the larger engined Lexus models, so if they do have problems, its something I'd rather steer clear of as well.

I agree, the discussion was not a Lexus or Mercedes bashing at all (well until one guy tried to turn it into that )

[eMJay]

My 1996 Series I has done around 87,000 miles and no problems what so ever and as far as I can tell from past receipts and service reports etc the only thing that has needed doing is the front lower ball joints. Not bad for nine years old.

[jaylist]

There's a discussion over on the Mercedes forums about which is better, the Merc E-class or the new GS. As this is something my family has been currently looking into, I thought I'd add my 2p's worth.

Anyway, as soon as I started talking about bulletproof reliability, and that Mercedes has lost it over the last few years, I got shot down saying that the current GS300 has been very unreliable, with numerous engine failures, and that there's no reason to say the new one won't suffer the same problems.

I just wanted to ask on here, whether that is actually the case?

←

I think your misrepresenting the topic on the Merc site which I have been taking part in. It wasn't a Lexus Bashing session at all, in fact some owners were crtitical of their pride and Joy so lets not start a war between makes!.

One chap pointed to a web site in the states, who I may have have had far more experience with GS's and their problems that we have.

http://calemons.com/toyota.htm which was about V6 engines anyway

When mind played up I quoted many of the issues raised on the USA sites to get the situation resolved... Having said that I hadn't heard of engine failiures either and my understanding was the Supra engine could take a good pounding.

We all love our cars and only the very honest of us will admit to their failings after we have written a huge cheque.

Both Mercedes and Lexus offer a quality product .. quite often let down by the poor after sales service. Which was my issues and the terrible depreciation I suffered!

I'd rather focus on the driving standards of B*W owners than start slagging off other cars.

I hope the new GS is a good car and a well sorted car as many people will be investing their hard earned cash into it!

←

I don't mean to imply that Mercs are bad cars. They are very good cars, some are great cars, new slk is v nice. I would have bought the old style 55 AMG (but it looks like a Taxi). New SL 55 would go down a treat though!

But they seem to have lost their 'bullet proof' reliability which they once had. This is solely down to the bean counters, not the actual merc engineers. That is the sad part.

On the plus side their cars are more driver oriented and their handling/steering is much improved.

Lexus seemed to have retained their build quality when BMW and Merc (although Audi are getting great) have declined.