Engine needs a re-seal according to dealer???

I picked up my car today. I was dissapointed to see that the Subaru dealership didn't even clean my car. They didn't wash the outside or the inside at all... plus there was no plastic to cover the seat or steering wheel. There also wasn't any of those paper floor mats that they always put in your car when it's being serviced. My mother's Infiniti gets washed and cleaned for free with each oil change and has the plastic on the seat & steering wheel + papar floor mats, but oh well. My car got a crap ton of work done to the engine, and I attached pictures of what was done. It was a $2,400 job (400 less than what was originally quoted). They didn't fully clean the engine bay either, only the areas where they took the engine out and such. They ended up changing the coolant and oil since they had to pull the engine out of the chassis. I guess I can't complain since Subaru is paying the full amount, but it just shows you how little the dealership I went to cares about its customers. They didn't even remove the old oil change sticker on the top left of my windshield...

I've found with the dealerships here that the washing tends to be sporadic - I don't expect them to, though - I expect them to clean whatever mess they do make (so if oil or coolant spills, I expect that dealt with - and it always has been) - when the short block was replaced in my car (Subaru helped about as much as they did with you, so still quite a bit out of pocket for me) the block was shiny and new, but everything else was about the same as it was beforehand, which is fine. I am not at all surprised to see an Infiniti (or Lexus or BMW or...) do more along those lines as it's a luxury brand and you pay accordingly.

For the interior, they have always used the floor protectors for me - or I should say they are still in there when I get the car - they may use other stuff, I don't know - my main concern is that the interior is as clean when I get it back as it was when I dropped it off, and that's always been the case.

Even though it’ll likely be a great car, a Benz will be a difficult car to own if you’re not used to regularly throwing money at it for maintenance. European cars are much more sensitive to maintenance than Japanese cars are and much of the maintenance is pricy comparatively, even if you do it yourself

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This statement is not true (I doubt you ever owned one). I have owned Mercedes for over 14 plus years. I'm on my second one. It is not difficult to work on them or maintained it all you have to worry about is owning a set of Torxs set and sometime special key tool there cheap. OEM parts for Mercedes is not that bad in price if you know where to order it from.

This statement is not true (I doubt you ever owned one). I have owned Mercedes for over 14 plus years. I'm on my second one. It is not difficult to work on them or maintained it all you have to worry about is owning a set of Torxs set and sometime special key tool there cheap. OEM parts for Mercedes is not that bad in price if you know where to order it from.

The only time I see a Mercedes-Benz needing money thrown at it is when it's neglected by the owner...

I'll politely disagree with the last 2 posts about Mercedes. I'd drive one if it was given to me and all maintenance was free but that's where it stops.

Could lease one. If you don’t plan on modding, leasing is great.

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This statement is not true (I doubt you ever owned one). I have owned Mercedes for over 14 plus years. I'm on my second one. It is not difficult to work on them or maintained it all you have to worry about is owning a set of Torxs set and sometime special key tool there cheap. OEM parts for Mercedes is not that bad in price if you know where to order it from.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. And depends on the model too.

For example, if you get a clunking swaybar on a CLS55, you may think it's a simple job of replacing the bushings and endlinks. But the swaybar bushes are molded onto the bar! So you need to replace the whole swaybar lol.

Need to change out the alternator? Sure, easy to pull out after dropping the subframe for clearance lol.

Rear antenna, or trunk switch, or brake lights not working? Probably one of the CAN Signal Acquisition Modules, $$.

Airmatic air suspension parts? Not inexpensive, even with Arnott parts.

Yes you will need nice Torx set, and STAR diagnostics or equivalent.

OTOH I recently got a 1992 300D like the car I drove through college, spent $2k on bringing the suspension, drivetrain, cooling system, and preventive maintenance up to date, and intend to get the million mile badge for it (it has 88k kms on it now).

The truth is somewhere in the middle. And depends on the model too.

 

For example, if you get a clunking swaybar on a CLS55, you may think it's a simple job of replacing the bushings and endlinks. But the swaybar bushes are molded onto the bar! So you need to replace the whole swaybar lol.

 

Need to change out the alternator? Sure, easy to pull out after dropping the subframe for clearance lol.

 

Rear antenna, or trunk switch, or brake lights not working? Probably one of the CAN Signal Acquisition Modules, $$.

 

Airmatic air suspension parts? Not inexpensive, even with Arnott parts.

 

Yes you will need nice Torx set, and STAR diagnostics or equivalent.

 

OTOH I recently got a 1992 300D like the car I drove through college, spent $2k on bringing the suspension, drivetrain, cooling system, and preventive maintenance up to date, and intend to get the million mile badge for it (it has 88k kms on it now).

yeah, the limited amount i've worked on german cars it seems to be they're both more and less straight forward than japanese. like the alternator example dropping the subframe...sure, you need to drop the subframe, but it's easy to do. you might need to move 2 systems out of the way to get at the system you're working on, but they're easy to move and once they're out give you a ton of space. rather than japanese cars where everything's pretty straight forward, it's just a little tight. both have their quirks, but i don't think one is more inherently difficult to work on than the other, just different logics.

yeah, the limited amount i've worked on german cars it seems to be they're both more and less straight forward than japanese. like the alternator example dropping the subframe...sure, you need to drop the subframe, but it's easy to do. you might need to move 2 systems out of the way to get at the system you're working on, but they're easy to move and once they're out give you a ton of space. rather than japanese cars where everything's pretty straight forward, it's just a little tight. both have their quirks, but i don't think one is more inherently difficult to work on than the other, just different logics.

Agreed, working on euro cars isnt hard per se. When you've done the trouble shooting and know what to replace, the job is usually straightforward.

But stereotypes exist for a reason and I've seen so much stuff break on many euro cars, that you would never even imagine a problem with in a Japanese car, that I easily see how the stereotype came about.

I'm not surprised when people say they arent that bad, but I'm not surprised either when other people say they wouldnt touch one without a comprehensive warranty lol! I've experienced both.

But overall, I would have to give the reliability and ease of maintenance edge to the Japanese, IMO.

Oh man.. I've got a 2010 Legacy 2.5i 6speed with 152k miles and its consuming oil and I smell burning oil sometimes.

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Oh man.. I've got a 2010 Legacy 2.5i 6speed with 152k miles and its consuming oil and I smell burning oil sometimes.

 

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Might be time to check your engine seals all the way around lol.