tin369

Hi all,


I want to know from owners who are also responsible financially of what's the best way to get into a GL/GLS.


I do like to have the newest, but if that means shelling a lot of $$$ every month than I am comfortable getting the older model.


The GL depreciates a lot initially and a $80,000 car after 3 years can be had for around $50,000 or so, correct me if I am wrong with those numbers.


So if I lease I can use MB MSD to lower MF, but the monthly payments will still be high.


If I buy a CPO, than I can use the same money that I would have put into a MSD now as a down payment, or is it better to have a higher monthly payment and invest that down payment somewhere else to get a higher return.


The CPO appeal is that I can have it for 5-7 years and get out of monthly payments eventually vs. the lease cycle every 3 years.


If I do the CPO, which banks offers the easier loan approvals and has the lowest interest for 60-72 months?


Also, EW would be a must for a CPO correct?


And do you guys search for CPO on the MB site directly or somewhere else?

pjw1967

I've been studying CPO's since bought ours 9/16. You will get a 5th year of bumper to bumper included in the price. You can buy a 6th and 7th year. Pricing varies basis if you buy when you purchase the car or wait. Lots of threads on that. Can't help on comparing to leasing or what financing you can get. You can go to listingallcars.com to search for CPO's. Advantage there is you can put in a key word like distronic or ventilated to limit the the nbr of cars that come up. From there you can go to the dealer site to look more closely at the car. Some of the dealers will have a link to the msrp. Re depreciation, it seems that the higher-optioned cars depreciate more. My '14 ML350 2wd originally listed for $68,500. Had it been 4matic, that would added another $2,500 to the sticker. In any event, the dealer listed it as a CPO for $41,500. It had 30,400 miles on it. Here's a low optioned '14 ML350 2w for $41,700/29,100 miles. MSRP was $56,500. http://www.autoipacket.com/packet-sh...=58294932#MSRP Now to be fair, the prices are all over the place so you need to search hard. And what you want may not be nearby. Point is try for the most options on a CPO for the least cost. Good luck.

fabbrisd1

Frankly - it depends on your realistic ownership plan - which is best described by - "what do I think I will choose to do in 3yrs ?"

Auto technologies continue to move forward in Safety, Convenience, and Fuel Economy - and in three yrs - apart from "fresh" designs - more of more will be on the plate.

1) Lease - it you want to the newest technologies available now - and if you think you will want to move forward to the next "new" in 3 yrs. To maxmize leverage on a lease - you can alos search for a retired service loaner GLS, or a dealer purchased MB exec/brass-hat GLS - both of which also qualify for MBFS lease with any additional savings over new/new lowering your acquisition cost on the front end going into the lease. For "most" states - not all - those "most" states charge state sales tax on the payments - included in the payments - rather than charge sales tax on full acquistion price.

2) Sure - a CPO can have it's advantages - depending on the options on that CPO (as compared to your "must haves" or "would-like-to-haves") and the length of CPO warranty included. Again focused on your realistic ownership plan. You are not limited to Mercedes Financial on purchase finance rates - you are free to "shop" around. For example - I have had customers specifically join Penfed (which can be done by purchasing a $35 membership in a non-profit approved organization) - because at that time they could get killer rates. Please note - unless you are putting decent cash down - a 72 month note is certainly putting off reducing principal which may not be in your best interest based on your ownership plan.

Keep the beat !

tin369

I do like the idea retired loaner or exec demo, but how do I go about it. When I had my BMW, the forum sponsors would put that info on the specific dealers website and it was easy to find, the couple of MB dealers website close to me do not have that info on their website.


As for the ownership plan, if the car has most of the basic safety needs of todays standards than I don't mind owning it for 7-8 years.


As I know I will have to get a midsized SUV for my wife when her lease is up. So I don't really want 2 lease payments for us. My current car is paid off and want to get something nicer that I can pay off and keep for longer. but reading the maintenance cost and everything about German cars worries me about long term ownership.


CPO 2014 GL's in my area are priced around $50-60,000, but its hard to find the options they have.


from reading around these are the must have options
1. lighting pckg
2.3row easy entry
3. 3 zone climate
4. pano sunroof (would be nice to have)
5. massage seats (would be nice to have)


Am I missing any other key options. Also who should I buy extended warranty from?


I want to keep my payments in the 550-600 range lower would be better. I can put about 10,000 as down payment for the CPO with 60 month if that is a more favorable.


Here are a few listing I found, can anyone check and tell me which is a good deal if any


CPO - http://www.keenanmercedes.com/used-v..._filters=false


Demo/Exec - http://www.keenanmercedes.com/demos/..._filters=false

4everalone

I think you are more likely to find a 550 with those options than a 450. Have you considered a Designo appointed vehicle? I say that because I thought Designo was a waste of money until I saw it in person. It took us all of 30 seconds to decide to buy our 550 despite it not having easy entry and rear entertainment system which were on our list. We had test driven about 5 other GLs without Designo before we had seen this one.

tin369

No I have not considered the Designo, isn't it just the leather that included in it? is that kid friendly?


Do you guys search the MB website to see the CPO listings?

Jerzeyjoe

Massage seats are a novelty. Used them 1 time when I drove home from the dealer. Never used it again.

XboxMeister

To each their own but I make drives between Seattle and Portland all the time in my S550 and GL550 both of which have the massage seats. They have been a lifesaver many times on those long drives (often stuck in traffic on I5). I could live without but wouldn't choose to if I didn't have to.

XM

tin369

I am actually not even actively looking for the massage feature as the other options are more important. But if I do get one with it, it would be nice to have that option handy to use it when needed. Doe sit only come for the driver seat or passenger seat as well.


Also, I have been asking about the GL450 on other forums as well, and one of the comments that I keep hearing again and again is the fact about the size of the SUV and even on the car driver long term ownership said you feel the size driving in city traffic everyday etc. So the owners who drive them everyday, do you feel its not nimble enough to get in and out of traffic etc.

XboxMeister

Came for both seats in both of mine. Not sure if you can order with just drivers seat with massage.

For ride, my GL550 doesn't feel that big driving around the city. We had a Chrysler 300 before (don't ask) and it felt far bigger to drive in tight areas.

My 1/50th of a dollar.

XM

chewychiu

I drive only about 20 miles a day and it's a mix of highway and local. More local...The car does not feel that big at all. Just think I have to look for street parking when I get to the train station. Yes, some spots are too small for it but in terms of parking, I've become a pro at it. The drive around doesn't feel bad at all.

tin369

I wanted to also know if there are any known issues on the 2014 GL450 that I should be aware of.

Also just so I understand a CPO will give me an extra year and unlimited miles on top of the 4/50,000 miles.

So if I buy a 2014 CPO now it will only have. 1 year left from original warranty and And additional 1 year CPO warranty. Am I correct?

pjw1967

My 2014 ML350 CPO shows on the door as being built during Feb 2014. Carfax shows the car as being first sold on 3/2/14. When I added the car to the Mercedes Me app, it independently calculated the warranty expiration date as 3/2/19 with unlimited miles during that time. So I have a little over 2 years to go. So yes you are correct based on the first sale date.

4everalone

Sorry about the late reply. I was out of pocket on business. Points to note about Designo:

1) More sq-ft of door panels and other areas covered in leather.
2) Seats covered in 2-toned piped Nappa Leather seating.
3) Multi-Contour seats with massage (I personally like the massage and use it a lot on long trips).
4) Gives a much more up-scale look to the interior than non-designo (our "I'm sold" feature).
5) Super soft/cushion-y Designo floor mats. My wife loves to feel them barefoot when in the car.
6) Designo badging on the interior.
7) Alacantra headliner.

Some pictures from mine (IMHO, the real thing is about 25% nicer than what the pics here reveal):










I can appreciate this point of view. However, I have personally found them to be comforting on many trips. I would say I use the feature at-least twice a week. However, I do wish the massaging was less subtle.