Tell me if I'm nuts. I was looking around at cars to decide whether to get a regular passenger car rather than driving my pick up truck all the time. I decided to look at Mercedes, specifically S600 sedans with the V12. I notice that they really depreciate fast. You can get one that's a few years old for 20% of what they cost new. So I looked at the SL600 converts. They are more expensive. But the CL600 coupes seem to drop their value fast like the 4dr sedans. Here's one I found that seems like a really great deal. http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...5&doors=&transmission=&max_price=&cardist=208 Consider this... Four years ago in 2003, the car originally sold for $125K and has probably $20K in performance and wheel upgrades or more by RennTech which is for Mercedes what Yenko was to GM back in the day. Yes it has 87K miles on it but that's not much for a modern car. Has navigation system, satellite radio, and all the creature comforts available. It is probably in the 10s or 11s with 655HP and over 700 lb/torque. I'm sure it would be a blast to drive. What am I missing? Is there a downside besides getting too many speeding tickets? A new CL600 is around $150K now. $36,500 for a 4 year old model seems like a steal to me.
My coworker picked up a C500 with 30k for 24k. A steal imo.Granted late model MB have some serious quality control issues, but still. I wonder what a V12 long block would run ya ? I think id still rather have the V8 or AMG. DL
I think the car looks good but 87.5k , that car probably has been ridden hard and put away wet!! If that's what you want Mike I'd look for one with less miles. bill
Mike, MBZ are quality cars, no doubt about it, and this one would be fun to drive. Besides the continuing deprecation, you will have considerable maintenance bills. On this car, I am guessing it would probably be $5k minimum per year, and probably even more. Dealership prices for work are very high, they usually aren't near to your home, and many non dealership mechanics won't work on them. Warranty options typically run out at either 70k or 100k, depending upon the model. This is why you see a tremendous drop in value when the warranties are close to expiring. When I had my S class, I figured it would cost me a minimum $1k anytime I had to take it in for service (other than oil changes, which were only around $100. Here the dealerships are about $125 an hour. I would bet you that a brake job on that thing would set you back a couple of grand at dealership prices, and the upcoming 90k service is probably about the same. You aren't supposed to turn the rotors on MBZ, you just replace them, and slotted, cross drilled, oversized rotors ain't cheap!:grin:
Thanks for the quick feedback guys. Yes I'm sure that beast has been flogged and put away wet and I'd like to find one with less miles. And maintenance isn't cheap either, as Chris says. Although as for continuing depreciation, it astounds me that a Mercedes with over 500HP standard engine as nice as it is would continue to go down and down like a Ford Tempo to zero. If it's in good shape, I'd think there should be a floor somewhere around $20K like the Corvette ZR1s seem to have although they only cost half as much and only had 450HP. Harvey, our GSs are in general flogged hard, put away wet, and maintenance isn't cheap unless you can do it yourself. Lucky for you, you are more adept at that sort of thing than I am. The Orange GS455 is still turning heads around here. I'm not planning to jump on this one, but what I did learn today is that I will want to keep an eye on Mercedes cars. The V12 BiTurbo is something to be reckoned with. As I mentioned before, my first thought was to find a 4dr sedan that was pampered that is a few years old, owned by a widow that just drove it to church on Sunday, and selling for a song. With time and patience, maybe I'll find one of those. From what I think I've discovered so far, it needs to be 2003 or newer to have the BiTurbo on it.
My parents had some Mercedes. They are very nice cars. But just know that while things don't break often, when they do you aren't going to be going to NAPA or Autozone for parts to fix it. You are going to pay and pay dearly for service. My mother used to say that they should have an oxygen tank with a mask at the service desk when they hand you your bill. She would take hers in for just an oil change and tune up and it would end up being $1,000. And a high end one like you're looking at has all the bells and whistles. More things to break. There's a reason they depreciate like that. The maintenance costs will eat you alive. My advice is if you want a coupe that's fast, find a Z06 Corvette that's a couple of years old. Here's an '04 on ebay right now for $35K with only 11.6K miles: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004...oryZ6168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I would go for a supercharged AMG before the turbo V-12. LOTS of maintenance problems on those. I worked at a benz dealer and a guy came in with a really good deal on an S 600 he bought, and it was still sitting there when I left. He couldn't afford to keep it running. AMG's are nice and they have the HP.
