tjbrum

I've been out of the MB game for a while. I found a white 2014 E350 sport that the dealer is asking $34000 and won't budge a penny on price. car is just above 13000 miles and has nice features that are atypical of an E350. Can anyone give my any information on this VIN WDDHF5KB1EA875396 and tell me if you think 34000 is appropriate. this will be the first time I have ever paid asking price and I want to run it by your guys. thanks!

cetialpha5

What do you think is so special about this car? Doesn't really have anything super special, if it had the driver's assistance package, it'd have distronics which it doesn't have. No parktronic, no pano roof, nothing really special. If it were really special, it'd have night vision assist which is a very rare option. It does have lane recognition and blind spot assist, but those options aren't that rare, you can find many that have it. Also CPO is unlimited miles so you can buy an extra 2 years and be covered from the in service date for up to 7 years so low mileage doesn't really mean anything. You're really paying for the low mileage, not the options which this car doesn't really have.

http://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/check-...HF5KB1EA875396

sakodik

1071483 09/12/13 SEAT BELTS LOS ANGELES, CA WDDHF5KB1EA
1079425 02/05/14 VISIBILITY/WIPER VALRICO, FL WDDHF5KB1EA
1124202 24/11/13 POWER TRAIN 0 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL WDDHF5KB1EA

"Car exhibits a rough/unpredictable shifting and acceleration at intermittent intervals. Issue presents itself at random times and at random speeds so it is difficult to recreate at will. Especially dangerous when attempting to pass or avoid hazards at highway speeds; when you press on the gas sometimes there is a long delay before acceleration begins, and then the acceleration is more than expected for the accelerator input. Other times the car acts normally and will respond properly to accelerator inputs. At low speeds shifts from 3 to 4 and 4 to 3 are sometimes abrupt/rough which is not consistent with a car of this caliber. The car also had a rear end shake from new, so dealer replaced rear tires, and then when shaking persisted they replaced the front tires, but there is still a noticeable rear end shake which the dealer attributes to "road feel" due to low profile tires, but i've had automobiles with low profile tires and i am a mechanical engineer, so i know what road feel from a low profile tire is vs shaking which was clearly present otherwise they would not have replaced all four tires. Car has been in and out of the dealer multiple times, but the shaking, and transmission issues persist."

Get a vehicle report or carfax to make sure the vehicle is ok.

cetialpha5

Oh I wouldn't pay any attention to those matches about problems. That's just pattern matching and those matches were in CA and FL and it seems like this car has been Texas all the time. It's the last 6 digits of the VIN that make the car unique and it didn't match those numbers. You can't use that site too often though, locks out you if you run too many searches. The only thing really rare about this car is that it has real leather instead of MB-Tex which was standard in most cars. Not a big fan of that color though. But E550's had leather as a standard option and they usually have a lot more options.

sakodik

^^yup

OP, I paid less for more car 6 months ago, however it had 20k miles.

tjbrum

Hey guys, thanks so much for the quick replies. You're certainly right in about the options it doesn't have. I'm easily impressed by few that it does over the other 350s I've seen. Just so I'm clear, the rough driving and other issues posted above do NOT apply to this car? If those are complaints about this car, it would be easy to walk away from. Thanks again. Anyone else have any input?

cetialpha5

Those complaints apply to the first 11 digits of the VIN. The vin has 17 digits, so it may or may not apply to that car, but based on the location of those complaints, probably not. You can use that site to see what options a car might have, I wouldn't focus too much on the low miles if you're interested in a good price, otherwise you'll pay for it in a higher price. You can find cars with more options with higher mileage in the 20-30k range for less money. It's way more expensive to add options after the fact so that most people don't even try, probably 2-3x what it would have cost as a factory option unless you get the parts from a junkyard.

AkaSigFreak

People in other areas must get some great deals on PO/CPO Mercedes-Benz. That price would be a Good Deal around Central Florida. It is also very rare around here to find an E350 (New or Pre-Owned) with Pano Roof, Distronic, Parktronic etc. unless they are ordered.
Ask for the CarFax on the vehicle- If you are happy with...Get it!
I purchased a similarly equipped 14 E350 back in December for a little less but it had 20K miles and I couldn't be happier. The basically lowered the price to include the MB Extended Warranty.

cetialpha5

The best prices seem to be on the east coast and in California, just a lot more sales in those areas I guess. I see base models in the 25-30k range, but then again, those typically have more mileage and more likely aren't from the MB dealer with CPO warranty, but you should still be able to buy the extended warranty if it's less than 4 years/50k. Those are about 2k from the extended warranty forum, more like 3k or more at the dealer.

The last 2 cars I got had the Bixenons, parktronic and pano roofs with the power trunk closer. They weren't easy to find back then, they're a little more common now. It's fun playing with all the options, makes it fun to drive.

nws

I just bought the wife a CPO '14 Sport with 26K miles for 31K in South FL. Doesn't have a lot of the rare options. I does have real leather, upgrade steering wheel, AMG sport rims, diamond white, rear power sun shade, keyless go, blind spot brake assist or whatever the basic one is, comfort box, trunk opens and closes with your foot, etc. Only option it doesn't have that I wish it had was the active lighting package.

RetiredSD

I recently bought my first MB. I live in San Diego, CA and searched online using MB CPO website as well as cargurus.com. I found that by increasing the search radius to include LA (about 2.5 hours away) gave me more choices at better prices. Most E350s had the same 3-4 options but I wanted all the safety options including Distronic and for comfort, the active contour driver's seat. Only one car car met my criteria and the dealer was fair enough to drop the price by $500. Not much of a discount but, it was what I wanted. They also offered me 2 additional years of warranty for the price of one year. Point is, if there are several cars optioned the way you like, you have some choice in price as well. But if only one car, you have to pay if you want it. Simple supply and demand. I enjoyed a train ride to LA, was treated well and enjoyed the drive home in my new ride. Best wishes in finding the car you want at a fair price.

teksurv

It seems this car, if I read the VIN right, has the lighting package (a must IMO) as well as massage/heated/ventilated seats. Presuming leather with this setup? The miles are great, if you like this car, and are comfortable with the price, max out the warranty and enjoy.