OT: it's raining here. Got an opinion on Mercedes GLK?

[benb]

You're not actually pinching any pennies if you just don't care for those cars.

If you don't actually enjoy the kinds of expensive cars enthusiasts lust over they have no power over you and you don't miss spending that money at all.

No matter how much a car costs it still has 2 too many wheels!

[froze]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Agree to disagree. Not realty

Jeff

All financial advisors, even the famous ones who have written books and have done radio talk shows will all disagree with you, but this is America, you be you, and I'll be me.

[tomato coupe]

Buying cars is no different than buying bicycles -- there will always be people that steadfastly insist that others that spend more than they do are misguided.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by benb

No matter how much a car costs it still has 2 too many wheels!

Ha ha, I was just thinking yesterday after finally being able to commute on my Vespa yesterday (44 degrees!), how I really wish I could make it work with just the Vespa and sell off my vehicles. They do have twice the wheels than I really want.
Wouldn’t sit well with the wife, though. Or trying to commute in a snow storm.

[benb]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Buying cars is no different than buying bicycles -- there will always be people that steadfastly insist that others that spend more than they do are misguided.

Also depends on how you use it.

If it's a luxury copy of a vehicle class originally targeted at people doing dirty activities (dogs, mountain biking, hiking, winter sports) and you actually try to use it for those activities you basically just have a more expensive car you're wearing out and you feel a little more guilty that you are absolutely not going to make time to clean and polish the car all day on Saturday since you are way more interested in going and doing more dirty outdoor stuff.

I mean for whatever reason they cancelled the GLK and the cheaper things the GLK copied are selling like crazy still.

[Nomadmax]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

https://youtu.be/bcF1CFKKuyI

Just standard Mercedes things.

VW/Audi had this too, but on coolant sensors.

Ten to fifteen grand

[Nomadmax]

I didn't say only buy new cars.

My point was, and still is, if a car cost more new than you can afford, you can't afford it when it starts to eat. IE the guy who has to have a Merc, BMW or some other luxury brand that isn't in his financial sphere until it's got a lot of miles on it and it's been years since it rolled off the assembly line.

I buy used, and during my job as a fleet manager, I bought hundreds of cars used. But I didn't buy cars with a maintenance/repair legacy that was out of line with other passenger cars. If someone chooses to buy a used car that was orginally out of their price range, they'd better have the financial wherewithal to feed it when it starts to eat.

Or not, somebody has to be broke for me to be in the middle, and I'm good with it.

Originally Posted by froze

A car is used the second you drive it off the lot, so do you get a new car every week? I know people who are multi-millionaires, and they never buy new cars. Buying new is for people who do not have good financial common sense.

I buy nothing but used cars, once I got away from American junk I have never had a problem. My longest mileage car currently is a 09 Acura, I bought it when it was 5 years old, and saved more than half the cost of what it cost new buying it used, it had 38,000 miles on it, and it now has 143,000 miles without a single repair. A 10 Toyota Tundra 5.7 4x4 was bought when it was 9 years old, had 75,000 miles on it, and it now has 118,000 without a single repair.

Not the least bit afraid to buy older cars, about 3 months ago I bought a 02 Lexus SC430 with 82,000 miles on it to play with, and it runs fantastic.

No repairs means no eating of money. This is why people who don't have experience with cars will always say that buying used is buying someone else's problem, that is not the case. Now granted, there are independent car lots, those buy here pay here places, they do sell a lot of junk cars, don't go to those places. If you want a guaranteed well-kept used car buy it from a new car dealership. They take in all sorts of used cars, some good, some bad, but they wholesale out the bad ones to buy here pay here places. The dealers keep the cars that they can find the complete maintenance and repair record from the time it was new, and if no repairs or a single simple repair shows up, and the mileage is under 100,000 and not older than 15 years they sell as uncertified, certified used cars I think the mileage has to be under 40,000 plus not older than 5 years? they keep those cars to sell. And all the cars they think they want to keep are gone through to make sure the engine, transmission, and everything else works, along with the usual safety inspection.

I bought my Lexus from a Lexus dealer, they had it on a manager special sale, normally they won't put a car on their lot that is older than 10 years old, but this particular car they serviced since it was new, and it was in new like condition.

But a person buying nothing but new cars is wasting a lot of money, cars depreciate on average 50% during the first 5 years, and trucks depreciate the slowest, especially Toyota. My Acura sold new for 43k, I only paid 15k, I am WAY ahead on the money side of things from buying that car, and all the cars I ever owned. That is the way it is with new vs used cars.

By the way, I never get loans for cars either, I pay cash only.

[dgauthier]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

Ten to fifteen grand

Originally Posted by eddief

(...) I know not economical but is it a reasonably good car?

Back to the OP's question: NO, it is not a reasonably good car.

My wife drove a new '98 C280 for 18 years. Nice car, but stuff breaks on a Mercedes that should never break. My wife sold the car to her friend, who had the car inspected by a mechanic. He said "The car has been meticulously maintained, but you could have bought another car with what the maintenance cost."

So Nomadmax's words ring true.

There are plenty of other brands that age better. Stay away.

[zap]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

My wife drove a new '98 C280 for 18 years. Nice car, but stuff breaks on a Mercedes that should never break. My wife sold the car to her friend, who had the car inspected by a mechanic. He said "The car has been meticulously maintained, but you could have bought another car with what the maintenance cost."

Interesting.

We had a '98 C230. Bought new. Most reliable car we had until the end.....the last 5 years we had close to no maintenance costs......just one oil change. We intentionally killed the car (rust due to many winter miles). Junked it last summer so we had it for close to 26 years.

We did recently sell a '13 Mercedes C250. It ran just fine, was reliable but that turbo engine.........not built to old Mercedes standards so it was time for a new vehicle.

So we purchased a new Lexus to replace the '13 Mercedes. Well sorted port/direct injection engine.

We are keeping our '06 Mercedes E500 wagon. One of the most reliable drivetrains made. The rest of the car is a bit complicated (brake by wire and air suspension) and not cheap to maintain. But it's a solid rust free car.....and a wagon.

[capt_velo]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

As someone who used to run a fleet, I'll let you in on a universal truth. If you can't afford a vehicle when it was brand new; you definitely can't afford it when it's used and starts eating money.

It's all a matter of when. Some used cars are good for another 10 years without a major repair.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

As someone who used to run a fleet, I'll let you in on a universal truth. If you can't afford a vehicle when it was brand new; you definitely can't afford it when it's used and starts eating money.

Especially BMW, Merc, Volvo, Jags, etc etc And Land Rovers from the start. All my friends when I said I was looking at used ones would ask "how many miles?", I'd say 35k and they would ask "how many on the road VS how many on the hook?"

I did have a 9 year old Merc/450SLC way back when. Was lucky to find salvage exhaust manifolds when they cracked. For $600.00 each in 1985 dollars. New they were several thousand IIRC.

[froze]

"A typical millionaire lives in a middle-class home, drives a two-year-old or older paid-for car, and buys blue jeans at Wal-Mart"

"Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity."

"Debt is so ingrained into our culture that most Americans can't even envision a car without a payment ... a house without a mortgage ... a student without a loan ... and credit without a card. We've been sold debt with such repetition and with such fervor that most folks can't conceive of what it would be like to have NO payments."

...quotes by Dave Ramsey, he knows a lot of millionaires including himself.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by froze

"A typical millionaire lives in a middle-class home, drives a two-year-old or older paid-for car, and buys blue jeans at Wal-Mart"

"Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity."

"Debt is so ingrained into our culture that most Americans can't even envision a car without a payment ... a house without a mortgage ... a student without a loan ... and credit without a card. We've been sold debt with such repetition and with such fervor that most folks can't conceive of what it would be like to have NO payments."

...quotes by Dave Ramsey, he knows a lot of millionaires including himself.

... Ramsey also filed for bankruptcy back in 1988.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by Ozz

... Ramsey also filed for bankruptcy back in 1988.

Well, he's in good company...

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Louis

Well, he's in good company...

a lot of good people file for bankruptcy...not all of them start doling out financial advice. I find it funny.....