2015 Mercedes Benz C300

[Sporting]

Time to refresh car.
Been driving a 2010 Hyundai Sonata for 4.7 years without any issues. We're keeping it.
However, I'm being encouraged to exhibit more elegance and luxury while on the road. (I'll have to start dreaming up road trips)
Next car contemplated is the 2015 Benz C300. It seems it will be about $55k all in. This seems to me to be a reasonable compromise.
I'm interested in what the car buffs here have to say.
Will I have huge service bills, and are there better accredited options for servicing?
BBB's recommendation to purchase from a broker, and where can I find one.
I assume I can then attach to a dealer for servicing.
Lease or buy?
Best financing options? (It seems silly having a lot of cash tied up in a depreciating asset)
Thoughts on Benz, and this car if you have any knowledge would be appreciated. I am not mechanical, and tend to follow the dealer recommended servicing and leave all problems to them.

 

[westwoody]

Will I have huge service bills, and are there better accredited options for servicing?

Service bills will indeed be huge. If you are used to Hyundai prices you better sit

I am not mechanical, and tend to follow the dealer recommended servicing and leave all problems to them.

You are a dealer's dream customer. They are going to make a fortune off you.

 

[wetnose]

Personally I'd recommend buying a 2 year old certified pre-owned - most of the depreciation has been taken off and you'll still have a solid warranty.

Edit: OK not most of the depreciation but at least a decent amount.

 

[Lo-ki]

Personally I'd recommend buying a 2 year old certified pre-owned - most of the depreciation has been taken off and you'll still have a solid warranty.

Excellent advice..

 

[wilde]

It's a nice car but $55K for a turbo 4 banger seems a little much. Have you considered a plain Jane C400?

 

[EuroSZabina]

When you guy it bone new from the dealer they will want you to service it at the Benz. Servicing will be about $500 once a year.
I prefer the E-550 , it's a dream to drive it and you got everything in it.

 

[nickcan]

When you guy it bone new from the dealer they will want you to service it at the Benz. Servicing will be about $500 once a year.
I prefer the E-550 , it's a dream to drive it and you got everything in it.

Maybe in the first 3-5 years it will be $500/year, after that at least $1000/year or more depending on how much you drive.
Just a brake job is approx. $2000 at the dealer from what I hear because they don't re-surface rotors just replace them.

 

[1nitestan]

Get it 'pre-owned' or lease return. If you want a premium car, better pony up and shut up about how much it's gonna cost to maintain it. Just like maintaining a hot girlfriend LOL. Unless your car is still under warranty, there should be no reason to get ass-raped by dealership service. Ask around, there's quite a few very reputable Benz/Euro imports service places all of which are run by factory trained techs who decided to open up their own shop.

 

[EuroSZabina]

Maybe in the first 3-5 years it will be $500/year, after that at least $1000/year or more depending on how much you drive.
Just a brake job is approx. $2000 at the dealer from what I hear because they don't re-surface rotors just replace them.

Obviously you want to get rid of it after 3-5 years

 

[nigelplays]

C400 with Amg interior tops at 63k. Go for that as we have one.

 

[badbadboy]

Time to refresh car.
Been driving a 2010 Hyundai Sonata for 4.7 years without any issues. We're keeping it.
However, I'm being encouraged to exhibit more elegance and luxury while on the road. (I'll have to start dreaming up road trips)
Next car contemplated is the 2015 Benz C300. It seems it will be about $55k all in. This seems to me to be a reasonable compromise.
I'm interested in what the car buffs here have to say.
Will I have huge service bills, and are there better accredited options for servicing?
BBB's recommendation to purchase from a broker, and where can I find one.
I assume I can then attach to a dealer for servicing.
Lease or buy?
Best financing options? (It seems silly having a lot of cash tied up in a depreciating asset)
Thoughts on Benz, and this car if you have any knowledge would be appreciated. I am not mechanical, and tend to follow the dealer recommended servicing and leave all problems to them.

I'll send you a pm on the broker in a little while.

It's my impression from past dealings with brokers and fleet managers that getting a MB vs Lexus, Infinity et al is a bit of a challenge. From what I have been told the Euro made cars are imported into Canada with a low margin to compete with the ROW cars. The vehicle I am driving now had 15% margin on it. The Sales Manager showed me their landed cost versus my cost. Not a lot of room to move for discounts.

It doesn't matter whether you purchase or lease when it comes to servicing. You are responsible for the vehicle during the entire lease period just as you would as an owner.

Generally speaking the bills from European cars versus Japanese or North American cars can be startling but IMHO required less service overall vs N A Cars.

You will want to negotiate the best price as if you are buying it and then if you want to revert it to a lease. If you are considering owning it after the lease is over, you may want to tilt the payments such that your buy out at the end is lower.

 

[Chef99]

Mercedes is not good bang for the buck, at least new. A similar outfitted BMW is significantly cheaper. Also, BMW has no charge scheduled maintenance. http://www.bmw.ca/ca/en/owners/service/maintenance/scheduled_maintenance.html
Wetnose had a good suggestion above, no matter what you're considering it would be cheaper to consider one that is a year or two old.

 

[badbadboy]

Mercedes dealerships are all corporate owned with a no haggle pricing. The other German makers dealerships....Audi and BMW... are run by private auto groups so these have more room for maneuvering on the price.

Mine is one of those and they did not have much room to move on any pricing. They were able to give me some perks for service, accessories or options which I was going to buy regardless.

I agree with Chef99; it's a world of difference to get one under warranty that is one or two years old. The original owner bears all the weight for depreciation once it's driven off the lot.

 

[Cami Parker]

I don't know anything about cars technically, but I have been in a 2015 C-class and it was definitely lovely

 

[Edward Lei]

Mercedes is not good bang for the buck, at least new. A similar outfitted BMW is significantly cheaper. Also, BMW has no charge scheduled maintenance. http://www.bmw.ca/ca/en/owners/service/maintenance/scheduled_maintenance.html
Wetnose had a good suggestion above, no matter what you're considering it would be cheaper to consider one that is a year or two old.

Not many Euro cars are good bang for the buck when new. I find it hard to believe that between Audi, BMW and M-B there are any significant differences in cost when optioned up equally. Granted, I haven't bought a new car in many years so take my words with a grain of salt. As for the BMW free maintenance, it's just marketing and self fulfilling. Sure, it's free but during those first 3 years, you'll only have to do, at most, 3 services which mainly consist of oil changes and fluid top ups. The real maintenance money doesn't really start to hurt your wallet until the car is older - things like timing belts/chains, tranny flushes/service, etc. and of course, wear and tear items like brakes and tires.

The sweet spot for used cars is around the 3 or 4 year old mark as they start coming off leases and have lost close to half their value when new. Plenty to choose from if you don't mind taking the time to find a decent one as a lot of leased vehicles do get their share of "abuse".

 

[76duster]

Not many Euro cars are good bang for the buck when new. I find it hard to believe that between Audi, BMW and M-B there are any significant differences in cost when optioned up equally. Granted, I haven't bought a new car in many years so take my words with a grain of salt. As for the BMW free maintenance, it's just marketing and self fulfilling. Sure, it's free but during those first 3 years, you'll only have to do, at most, 3 services which mainly consist of oil changes and fluid top ups. The real maintenance money doesn't really start to hurt your wallet until the car is older - things like timing belts/chains, tranny flushes/service, etc. and of course, wear and tear items like brakes and tires.

I believe MB recommends the first oil change at something like 10,000km or 15,000km, then every 10,000km thereafter. In other words, they want you to not cost very much on maintenance to combat the notion that these things are expensive to own, and also make you destroy the engine by the time you're out of warranty so you pay exhorbitant repair costs to them. That's just an example of the many of the same things Euro car makers do. There are many more schemes like that.

I'd lease it with an eye to possibly owning it only if the car proves reliable. Having owned many German cars, I would say that if the OP is used to owning that Hyundai and other cars like it, he's in for major shock.

 

[bcneil]

If you like the 2015 c300. Like the style and everything. For pretty much the same price you can get a 2011-2012 c63 amg.

Then 5 years down the road it will be worth more than the c300.

 

[Chef99]

The real maintenance money doesn't really start to hurt your wallet until the car is older - things like timing belts/chains, tranny flushes/service, etc. and of course, wear and tear items like brakes and tires.

The sweet spot for used cars is around the 3 or 4 year old mark as they start coming off leases and have lost close to half their value when new.

Actually, I had a BMW 645 for 11 years and traded it last year at 170K km. Until year 10, it only cost me 2 brake jobs, a couple sets of tires, and regular fluid changes. At year 10, it did need a new clutch which was $1100 - not much of a premium. Bottom line, the cost of ownership was pretty reasonable and if it weren't for their mundane design these days, I'd happily get another.

 

[tedsweettangv]

I have had a BMW 5 series for 6 years. I purchased it new. The first 4 years are amazing warranty. I have been running it or 2 years no warranty. The only difference so far from in warranty and out is no more free oil changes and windshield wipers Since it only needs oil changes every 24000 km, and I have never had any problems, it has been cheaper to run than my Toyota Camry. People talk about service bills and I have no doubt that if something goes wrong it will be expensive, but these cars have much better engineering so they don't break often. Also NEVER NEVER NEVER buy a car that has been traded in after 1 year. That is somebodies lemon. That goes for all makes.

 

[EuroSZabina]

If you like the 2015 c300. Like the style and everything. For pretty much the same price you can get a 2011-2012 c63 amg.

Then 5 years down the road it will be worth more than the c300.

True, depends if you keep the mileage relatively low otherwise will loose of the value no matter what. It really depends how you drive it.