m a x i m u s

found a P30 2009 C63 with 30,000 miles for $45,000. factory warranty for another 8 months, but not CPO. brakes at about 50% wear. im thinking to pull the trigger. you think it's a fair deal?

DuaneC63

What other options does it have?. P30 doesn't add alot to resale. Some of the other option are worth much more on the resale market. If this is a private party sale, you can get something almost as good as CPO. Under California law the original owner of the car can, prior to the expiration of the original warranty, buy the factory extended warranty. So have the current owner buy the extended MBZ warranty then sell you the car. If a MBZ dealer is selling this car without CPO, I would be suspicious.
.

m a x i m u s

sorry, i shouldve included the options list in my OP. interesting to know about the P30 not adding to resale. here are the options it has:


AMG PERFORMANCE PKG : $3,990
-174-mph top speed limiter
-AMG limited-slip differential
-AMG compound brakes
-AMG track-calibrated suspension
-AMG leather/alcantara performance steering wheel

PREMIUM PKG 2.: $1,100
-rear sunshade
- bi-xenon headlamps w/washing system
- corner-illum fog lamps
- LED tail lamps

MULTIMEDIA PKG: $2,980
-enhanced voice control
- COMAND navigation system
- 7" color display
- in-dash 6-disc CD/DVD changer
- harman/kardon LOGIC7 surround sound
- 6-GB hard drive w/Music Register
- Gracenote

AMG SEATING PKG: $2,980
-premium leather seat trim
- front seat memory
-4-way pwr steering column w/memory
-exterior mirror memory

IN-DASH 6-DISC CD CHANGER : $460

IPOD INTEGRATION KIT: $375


* And this is being sold by a car lot, not an MB dealership or a private person, that's why no CPO.

Would you be weary of buying it from a non MB car dealer?

BerBer63

id say fair deal if its in good condition and history

Fung63

pretty loaded actually. go get yourself a 3rd party warranty then.

Mikegpr03

Just to let you know..from one P30 owner to another
That "AMG track calibrated suspension" is going to knock the fillings out of your teeth! I swapped to H&R coilovers just to make the ride better. That suspension is super stiff. Don't bother getting spring to try to improve the ride ( I went down that road too ) the shocks are valved to be super super firm. Great for a track ( no pot holes and smooth road ) but for street use, no way jose..
Get some coilovers if you do get the car. Just wanna give the heads up and spare you some heart ache and hard earned cash too.

604 C63

I have one of these too but a couple more goodies, like Carbon Fibre interior, seperate ac in back seat etc. Here in Canada, I paid 56k but it only had something like 22000 km on it (about 13500 miles), I had them put bran new rubber on it, got 0.9% for 5 years and I got the extended MB warranty included also. I think the car was about 90 here new. It had a 62 year old owner, not an 18 year old leaser so it was mint. I had a non P30 before and I love the brakes and the LSD.

Springs ARE hard, but livable here in Van altho I put H&R's in also, but for the drop not the ride.

If the brakes are at 50% you better get them to do them under some warranty dodge, cos pretty soon thats a $4000 bill with the 2 piece rotors and all.

m a x i m u s

yeah, i heard about that, and thanks for reminding me. i dont plan on tracking the car at all, so maybe P30 would be wasted on me ...

m a x i m u s

i was worried about the super expensive brake jobs, but one member here told me that he hadnt had to change pads or rotors yet at some 40k miles, and that he wasnt anticipating having to do so very often.

have you had to change your pads and or rotors yet? how many miles do you have?

for example, on my C43 (and i know not the same as the C63 P30), i've been driving that thing for over 10 years and changed the front pads twice, rear pads once, front rotors once, rear rotors never replaced.

CoolBDPhenom03

Sounds like a good deal to me too. Definitely get those brakes replaced.

DuaneC63

With those options, it sounds like a fair price. See if you can get the factory BMZ extended warranty through the current owner then buy it. You'll love it.

m a x i m u s

the car is being sold by a nonMB dealer, so not sure if that's an option...

also, im still slightly worried about the expensive brake jobs, so i'm still looking around.

Paculdo

good deal.. got me a similar deal.. the only difference is that you got the amg compound breaks.. if this is the 2-pc rotors then that'll be a bit pricey to replace..

m a x i m u s

yeah, im pretty sure the compound brakes = 2 piece rotors. im thinking they will last for a while though. i've changed the front rotors on my C43 once in the past 11 years. we'll see.

w204nyc

thats not bad. I payed that price for an 09 without the p30 but everything else including the CF interior. Mine had only 12k miles though. I would still take that deal. Although last year, there was a black one with the same milage and options except p30 that sold for $42,000.

rory breaker

Asking price 45k or negotiated price?

Not bad as is....my last car had an asking price of 49.9k after i traded it in and was similarly equipped, sold for near that a couple months back.

dokebi1221

If you are really thinking about buying it from non MB dealer, I'd tell them one of the condition for you to buy that car will be taking it to the near by MB dealer for final check up. If that works out and car is good, then go for it!

Good luck!

dubaudi

NO.

I paid $42k for an identical car 6 months ago, WITH CPO.

DuaneC63

Looks like it's got all the right options on it. All you can do is ask them about the MBZ extended warranty. If the non-MBZ dealer has a good relation with a MBZ they might be able to make it happen. They might try to sell you some third party BS warranty. Don't buy it. In regards to expensive brakes, consider ceramic rotors at $4k a corner. After pads and labor its your basic $20K brake job (this is called the Porsche Experience).

Keithb

If you're worried about the expensive brake jobs, can you swap back to stock 1 piece rotors when the next brake job is due? I don't know, but if you're not going to track the car, the expensive 2 pce would really just be for show on the street (not that that's a bad thing, I'm just sayin'...)

tgibrit

this is a personal preference, i have the P30 and much prefer it over the standard suspension, i drove both versions extenaively before selecting P30 and i would suggest you do the same

m a x i m u s

dang, i need to learn negotiation from you. that sounds like a great deal.

dubaudi

Think of it this way. If I walked into a dealership right now with my 2009 P30 with 30k miles on it and wanted to trade it in for something new, the dealer would offer me maybe $35k for it....MAX. A wholesaler or used car lot might have paid the dealer another $2-4K over that price for it. So you walk in there knowing the car's only worth $35k and you make an offer that's still fair to them, and fair to you. Let them know you're damn serious. When they don't accept it...walk out. You'll get a call within 24 hours I bet..lol.

I just called the dealership and said "ok, you're asking $46k for this car. I'm in the biz so I know you paid $35k for it at the most. What's your bottom line, no BS number on the car, with the CPO." 5 minutes later I got a call back saying "we'll take $42k"....so I bought it.

c63insd

I would think the car would sell between $42,000 and $45,000.

What is the interior and exterior color?

I ask because (at least while I was searching a few months ago) it seemed that white C63's especially with white interiors had a $2,000+ premium on them....

I purchased my 09 C63 P30 about 6 months ago with 39k miles and paid $46,500. I might have overpaid by a bit but it had every available option and the exact color combo I wanted so it was worth it to me.

In my case I was set on White with white "Sahara beige" interior with black burlwood. The car I finally ended up with was in perfect condition and it had all records with only 1 owner who's history I knew. Original MSRP sticker on it was $77k

You are going to love the car but a couple suggestions and things to watch out for:

Vehicle history: Some of the P30's out there with low miles have unknown pasts and a good chunck of them have even had past lives as AMG racing school track cars. P30's were the primary car used at the school for the last few years and they have retired a lot of them to the streets. Although the mileage is low they these ones literally have thousands of miles of track time on them.

Warranty: Keep in mind that at this point most of the 09's that you are looking at are going to run out of warranty in the next few months (even if they have low miles) due to the fact that we are coming up on the 4 year mark. Check the production date on the drivers side door jam. For example, mine is 09/08 meaning that my warranty is up in September of this year even though I am still going to be under 50k. For this reason I was not overly concerned about my mileage because I knew that time would be the factor with my warranty not mileage... I have looked into and am still considering an aftermarket warranty from Mercedes but they are expensive so I might pass... Expect to pay between $2,000 and $4,000 for 1-3 years of extended coverage. A car with extended coverage already in place is definitely worth a bit more IMO.

Service: Have your local dealer run the VIN number on any car you are considering so they can give you any maintenance history on record. Also find out if the last service was completed? I believe at 30k miles you should have an A service and at 40K you need a B service. I think "A" service will cost you around $350 and a "B" service is about $750-$1,000 mostly because you also need to change the LSD fluid at 40k. ACG in San Diego did my service and they did a great job. I would highly recommend them if you are anywhere close to San Diego.

Brakes: Check the rotor thickness because you may only need new pads. When I bought my car the rotors were 34mm. The wear limit for maintenance service on P30 rotors is 33.5mm so I simply replaced the pads. After lots of research I settled on Porterfeild RS4's from foryourmercedes.com for about $425 and I replaced them myself. It took just over 2 hours in my driveway to replace all 4 pads with the help of a friend which was a huge savings and an easy job.

Tires: Tires do not last long on these cars just FYI. I had 1,000 miles on my tires when I got the car and within 5 months and 5,000 miles I am about to replace them. 6,000 miles / 6 months seems to be pretty standard on these cars believe it or not.

Suspension: I would have to disagree about the P30 suspension being TOO stiff. You definitely feel uneven pavement and bumps in the road but IMO its how this car should feel. That being said, I have heard that the P30 "track tuned" suspension does not do anything for the track in terms of better handling so if that's your reason for getting the P30 its probably not worth it. However, P30 also gets you the LSD which is an option a lot of people end up adding to non P30's for $1,000+

Steering Wheel: I would have to say that my only complaint about the P30 is the alcantara steering wheel. It does have the ability to look great but it quickly gets matted and easily starts to feel and look funky. Its a pain to try and take care of and I am thinking about getting a non P30 steering wheel.

Once you have the car here's a quick note on what I consider to be the best upgrades:

Resonator Delete: Replacing the resonator with a straight pipe makes the car sound even better. Louder at Startup and WOT, but still sounds stock under 2,500rpm and cruising on the freeway. This can be done for about $100 at most muffler shops.

ECU Tune: This is by far the best upgrade you can do. For between $750 and $2,000 (depending on what tune you go with) you can pick up another 60-80hp.

Intake: You can get new high flow filters and remove the stock carbon filters. I got AFE filters and popped them in within 10 minutes. I believe filters are replaced at the time of service so if you plan on upgrading to aftermarket filters save some money and don't have the dealer or mechanic replace your stock filters.

Anything after that and it starts getting very expensive and very loud.

I guess I will stop rambling now... Hope this helps and feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!

Mort

Nice write up.

Just one thing I noticed that is not correct. The warranty starts at the in-service date and mileage and not the build date on the door pillar. You need to contact a dealer for the in-service date and mileage or might find it on a dealer RO for the vehicle.