DiamondKomp

I'm looking into adding an SLK55 to my C230K. Found one but it has 85mi on it. My C230K only had 14mi on it when I bought it 2 years ago. What are people's thoughts and experience about mileage on a new car? Is 85mi too much, a red flag? I'm also trying to find out the production date of the car, but don't know that yet.

Thanks!

DiamondKomp

Thanks for the reply, but I think you misunderstood my question. I'm asking about mileage on a brand new, never-owned car. As in, you walk into a showroom, there's a new car there, but it has 85 miles, probably from test driving. That seems like a lot of test driving, though.

e1000

lol, I wouldn't sweat 85mi.. just my opinion... If you want super-low miles, just special order one.

tifosiv122

As you said it's most likely just a bunch of test drives.

When I picked up my car, new order, I got it with a bunch more miles then expected. Turns out each of the salesman wanted to try a stick shift coupe since it was the first they ever had. I was a bit upset but I got over it.

Just make sure you check and see there aren't any scratches or dents. If there is, make them fix it before picking it up.

Erik

DiamondKomp

They all went for a joyride? That sucks. How many miles did they put on it?

coin

Sorry I was too excited in reading your post
Anyway, my friend bought a new 5 series with around 140 miles on it ..
Probably the manager use it to chauffer his wife .

But, seriously, maybe the car has been transported from another dealer or a few ppl have test drive the car ..

MB-JIM

One of my tourist delivery cars, an E Class Wagon, had 76 miles on the odometer when delivered at the factory. I asked the technician who delivered the car to me and he said my car had been selected off the line for extra testing. It turned out to be one of my most trouble free cars.

tifosiv122

I think around 30 miles. I asked them how it was possible as it was delivered the night before, he basically was like, well, we all wanted to try it. I had already waited months for the car, I wasn't going to refuse it and wait again. I know the cars have a few test miles when delivered, but 30 is too much.

Erik

DiamondKomp

I'm surprised they admitted it, but I guess at that point there's no other explanation. Another concern (raised by someone on the E55 forum) is that because it's an AMG, salesguys and customers might have pushed it during test drives beyond recommended limits for the break-in period. I wonder if a little bit of hard driving in the first 85mi could do any real damage to the engine or transmission.

tifosiv122

Eh, I've said it before and I'll say it again, not sure why people baby their car for the first X miles.

Ferrari builds a car and takes it straight to a track and beats the hell out of it to make sure it's good enough to sell. I doubt they would do it if it harms the cars.

Erik

METC240

I agree, you should IMHO baby the look but the insides already go through a rough test and inspection. Just get in and ....

DiamondKomp

"baby the look"? Do you mean put extra effort into detailing?

I guess if the engine and tranny couldn't withstand a little hard driving in the first 85mi, it wouldn't be a Mercedes.

e1000

after a proper warm-up of the engine, it should be driven

patrick_y

Going back to the point. 85 miles in my opinion is too much. My car came also with 14 miles. Keep in mind, the first 1000 miles are truly the most sensitive time for a car. So, if the people are test driving it aggressively in the first 100 miles (even more sensitive time period), then although you won't have problems later on, the car is still not broken in properly and will suffer very slightly (difficult to notice) in the future.

When you get into exotics, it gets worst. Ferraris often come with 100 miles on them, although it's not from test drives. The Maybach is actually road tested prior to arriving at the dealership. Those come with about 100+ miles. The normal Mercedes, not really tested on the road. They have a simulator dyno in the factory where the car is tested.

e1000

I don't believe in break-in periods for newer engines. As mentioned before, MANY manufacturers dyno each and every car before you get it. This means it's done a full dyno pull up to max rpm's before it leaves the factory. You should drive a new car without holding back!

MHPHOCKEY

I have never broken in a car. They all work fine. Most of the time I dont let it warm up either, but its never that cold in LA that it would make a difference.

mctwin2kman

85 miles is nothing. Could be from test drives, could be AMG selected it for testing, could be due to it coming from another dealer.

I have seen cars with as low as 4 miles and I have seen them with a few hundred on them. Warranty starts from the mileage the car is sold with so you are not going to lose 85 miles of warranty either. Now what I really used to like was buying a nice demo with a steep discount and less than 10,000 miles on it. That way she has been driven for 10K and you still get full warranty from 10K on to 60,000 in MB's case. But no one does this anymore. My father used to when he owned the Dealership back in the day, but stopped years ago and started driving nice used cars he picked up at auction. I do not recall what changed but something did to make him switch from brand new to a used one. Probably more cost effective.

tifosiv122

Sorta beg to differ. I was at my service center this week and they were prepping a SL65 for delivery. It was used, under 10,000 miles, by Mercedes of Montvale as a Press Car. The owner picked up this $191,000 vehicle for $150,000 and is going to be the first title owner and have a full 4/50 warranty.

Erik

mctwin2kman

So he gets 50K or 60K as the end point?

If 50K then I think that is the rules that changed and basically force the dealers to stop doing this. Then again this was in NYS that my family had the dealership and he was using New Vehicles and Demos, which is against the law using a dealer plate. Well driving around with a dealer plate in general, outside of test drives and such, is against the law.

DiamondKomp

Thanks for the replies so far, everyone. I decided to pass on the 85 miler and continue the search.

tifosiv122

Not sure what you mean but the buyer saved about $40K (he still had to pay taxes and such). Mercedes of Montvale is MB's headquarters, it was owned by MBUSA for press shots and stuff.

Erik

mctwin2kman

Normally you warranty starts at the mileage on the actual title for the first owner of the car. So if the car has 500 miles on it when you purchase it then it ends at 50,500 miles. So back in the day my dad would demo a car for about 10,000 miles. These were dodges with factory warranty of 3/36. So when someone bought the car the title started at say 10K miles. So the warranty would end when the car hit 46,000 miles in that case and not at 36,000. Due to the buyer not driving that first 10,000 miles. Yet if something happened to the car we could warranty it even though it was not titled yet or sold.

As for turning it down due to 85 miles! That is not even a 1/4 tank of gas worth of miles. My wife crabbed when she bought a Saturn with 140 on it. I told her not much damage can be done in 140 miles, and her car came from another dealership so it was driven down to the one we were at, hence the 140 miles.

I mean come on, I let the driver from the dealer drive my car after they pick it up and I have no problem with that. I have also seen what Techs do to cars on test drives if they want to be an ***. That first 85 could have been babied, beaten or from the factory. I would worry more about what happens to my car when the Tech is test driving it after I complain about a small noise for the 5th time, he will be pissed and he will abuse it. And no I have never had to send my car in 5 times for a noise that was just an example.

tifosiv122

Gotcha, I thought you were talking about money, you were talking about the warranty. I completely understand what you mean, and yes, he did get 4/50 which is actually 4/60, your correct.

Erik