ace10

Just a little poll to gather some opinions on the value proposition of the 2014 E63 S.

I'm thinking in terms of relative value compared to other new performace vehicles.

In the United States, the base price of the 2014 E63 S is $99,770. In Canada, it's $110,000CAD

I don't think it's practical to consider markets outside of North America, but feel free to chime in with other reference points.

HPMan

I'd say either just right or a bit low based upon demand in the market (it was difficult to get allocation at Canada dealers in a timely fashion).

PeterUbers

Conaidw

PeterUbers

Considering performance for 100k, it's priced average, however considering the steep depreciation it's overpriced

Overall I think it's 10-15k overpriced based on Msrp. I paid 92,500 for my 106k sticker... And Benz bought back two of my e550s without any financial penalty to me so it's all less of a burn for me

kart125

I think base price is in the correct range but price for options is steep. It's like they dont consider the value of the "basic" setup when charging for options (13k for CCB meens the stock brakes arent worth anything? The parts for CCB are 13k...). Same thing for B&O...


But for the performance and practicality I dont think you can get a better 4 season car in Canada in 2014... and even in 2015.

rory breaker

When did you buy, and what programs did you combine to get 14k off msrp??

Either you made some magic happen or you were taken for a ride on the buy backs. If the former, would love to hear how.

PeterUbers

I think it's better priced than the M5 and audi RS6 -- however you can get cooler "toys" in those cars which will jack their prices... and from what I understand from others telling me, you can't negotiate as aggressively on new Bimmers or Audi's

sdg1871

I think it is priced just about right for what it offers -- class leading power and acceleration, and excellent suspension, handling and ride.

TheTherapist

At $279,000 in Australia for the "s" model minus all wheel drive I would say overpriced. Man I hate luxury car prices in this country!

rory breaker

Problem with the M5 and rs6/rs7 is lease rates. M5 deals can be had but the Rs cars are ridiculous. Rs7's msrp'ng 10k more are leasing 1700-2000/mo.

sdg1871

Holy crap that is ridiculous. The Australian dollar has about the same value as the US dollar. In the US, the E63 S bases at $99,770 US and nicely optioned it is about $110K although it is a decent bit more if you opt for the carbon ceramic brakes and the B & O sound system and some more options you will be looking at over $120k.

For the kind of money you are talking about you about buy a Ferrari 458 Italia here or buy a nicely optioned Porsche 911 Turbo S and still have tens of thousands of dollars left over.

ace10

So, nearly half the respondents are indicating that the E63 is overpriced.

At which price point *should* the car have been priced in order for it to be a fair value?



On carsdotcom, the median price for the M5 is in the $112-114K range, and the highest is $136K.


For the E63S, the median price is $108, with a high of $121K.

PeterUbers

Mine was predriven with a whopping 86 miles on the odo... A customer who had a change of heart, he paid sticker apparently. They asked 98k for this "used" 2014 and I got them to 92.5k... I live in chicago and purchased from Wilmington De, those guys will deal out there unlike my local stealerships. Car has clean title and carfax and one owner.

TheTherapist

A car that sells for US$100,000 should be worth AU$160,000 by the time it hits the dealers showroom in Australia and that's accounting for import duties, dollar conversion, freight, handling and the luxury car tax (which is erroneously blamed by most Australians as the reason for the high prices.) Yet they generally sell for between $240-280,000.

A few other examples: the Ferrari 458 you mention costs $599,000 (plus on road costs) in Australia. If you would like a Bentley Mulsanne be prepared to hand over $723,000 plus ORC's or how about a really fast Mercedes; an SLS AMG will set you back $693,000 plus ORC's! Or for those with really deep pockets a nice Rolls on the road will drain a cool mill from your savings...

To put things in perspective I purchased my 2004 E55 less than 12 months ago so it was already 9 years old. By the time I had repaired a few items to bring it up to scratch it had set me back $80,000 - not that far off from a brand new E63 in the US.

Most manufacturers make no excuses, for instance when the head of Porsche Australia was asked abut their exorbitant prices he said pricing was based on where their competitors positioned themselves; if Porsche thought their product was 10% better then that's where they priced it. Rolls Royce have had promotions where a quarter of a million dollars was slashed from some of their vehicles - and they still turned a healthy profit!

It's a supply and demand thing really and us dumb Aussies bring it on ourselves. Manufacturers need to sell sell x amount of vehicles for it to be viable to set up and maintain operations here and they will price them at whatever figure is appropriate to maintain those numbers. The alternative is either a different business model or to shut shop here altogether and that's no skin off their nose - Australia is just a drop in the ocean to these companies.

xxGenericSNxx

So if that's the case- what about arbitrage and import cars from other RHD markets? I suppose there's some sort of import limitation that's set in the land of Oz maybe based on age of the car?

TheTherapist

All sorts of limitations in the land of Oz, sheesh the government doesn't want you making honest money that's their job - wait hold on, remove the honest part...

Essentially you have to own the car and have it registered in the country you are purchasing from for 12 months prior to importing into Australia. There are a few exceptions but still a limit on number imported without holding a motor vehicle dealer license. One way around that would be to disassemble and load your containers to the hilt with "parts" although I'm unsure how you would make the vin accessible for registration upon reassembly. I'm sure where there's a will there's a way and if anyone can figure out sly ways of getting around something like that it would be a used car salesperson lol. - Again remove the honest part...

Oh and sorry op for getting a little off topic... my bad...

JumpinJim

The market would say they're all overpriced. AMG, M, RS. The higher up the line you go the more overpriced they are. The price increase over the non AMG model is very high, some nearly double, for just an engine, suspension tweaks, and some cosmetic stuff.

ace10

If the "market" thought a product was overpriced, it wouldn't sell.

JumpinJim

Once you get past the few early adopters they either sit on lots for long periods or have to be deeply discounted. Once they hit the used market they sink like lead balloons as the market won't suppor their price. There's a new never sold 2013 SL65 that's been sitting on the local dealers lot for 15 months.

ace10

"Few" early adopters?
Sit for long periods?

I don't know where your data is coming from, but it doesn't correlate to the market for the 2014 E63.

Today's deals are no better than the ones we "early adopters" got last Fall. USAA incentive? Yup, the same as at the beginning of the MY.

Lead ballons?
ALL luxury cars depreciate quickly. Whether it's the E350, the E550 or the E63. We don't see some massive difference between residual % on leases, it's just the Cap cost is significantly different.

You gotta pay to play.


And I'm not sure I understand what a single leftover SL65 has to do with the market for the current MY E63?