SFBayDave

I am going to place my order on a c230k SS. I was told by the dealer there is a 3 month minimum wait. Does this sound average? How long did some of you wait?
I am Ordering: 6-speed manual, Granite Grey Metallic, Black Leather, 319 Lighting Package, 320 Entertainment Package, 324 Sunroof Package, split fold down rear seat, and power driver seat. I was told there are 0 in the US with these exact specifications at dealerships. If you own one with these options, is there anything you don't like about these options. I'd like to hear your opinions. Thanks.

wingless

My dealership was able to modify an ordered vehicle to match my specifications exactly. The elapsed time, from signing the papers, to keys in-hand, was 11 weeks.

wingless

Why not get the COMMAND? You've got all the other goodies. It has an excellent user interface and two hidden drives, one for DVD NAV and one for audio is very handy.

Sauceboy01

My dealer just found the one i wanted from another dealer..

-Danny

808_230K

yep, 3 months sounds about right, that's what my dealer told me... the scheduled build date was yesterday, so now I gotta wait for the long-*** boat ride to HI *sigh*

SFBayDave

My dealer wants $3,000 down to secure the special order. How much did you folks pay? I just want to make sure im not getting the runaround.

Anaheim_Drew

What is a special order in this case? Normally a special order is an odd color or something that might be hard to sell if the dealer get stuck with it.... If it is just options, a person with experience could find that car and get it before it is in route to a dealership once off the boat.....

mick1

whoa. that's a lot. I ordered a C320WZ in brilliant silver with black leather, split fold down rear seat, lighting package, sunroof package, manual transmission, dvd comand navigation, and 6-disc cd changer and the dealer (smythe european in San Jose) only required a $1,000 deposit.

SFBayDave

Thanks Mick. I thought $1,000 was the norm for a deposit. On top of everything after each option I requested, the response was " Whew, do you know how much this vehicle is going to cost?" Like Mercedes is out of my league. I just thought it was funny since I am the buyer and he is a car salesman. No Flame on sales reps, but this guy didn't like me.

DiamondNoir2K5

Dave, which dealer is this asking for $3K deposit?

Anaheim_Drew

Have you ordered it?

mick1

hehe. this one car salesman told me i should consider getting an e-class because the c-class with the options i ordered was close to the price of an e-class (with no options). I told him I would consider getting an e-class if he could find one with a 6-speed manual

CitronC230K_03

mine was just under 3 months. plus I had a required $5k deposit.

s4iscool

ask for a new salesperson, the guy sounds like the typical loser that works retail but has a smug attitude.

808_230K

eh? what was so special about the car you were going to order? I only had to drop $1k for mine... If I wasn't so hardcore about getting stick, there would have most likely have been a car in the system that was good enough.

I agree w/S4, if you haven't ordered it, find another salesman, he sounds like a monkey part of the reason I got the benz was the fact that my salesman treated me seriously from the day I stepped into the showroom. It's great, when I go in there, some of the other salesmen give me the *look*, like "who's this kid walking in here?" Audi was no different, which was what swayed me away from them

DiamondNoir2K5

808, I'm not referring specifically to you, because I don't know how old you are. So don't take this as a personal flame or anything.

But, imagine a kid who looks 16 or 17 or 18 who walks into an MB dealership looking for a $35K+ car. Can you blame a 40 year old salesman (no matter what you think of salesmen, they still work to make a living) for thinking, how the f*ck did this punk kid get the money to buy an expensive car like this? Must be daddy's checkbook.

Granted, at the end of the day if you're a paying customer, he should treat you well, but I could understand why really young people would get "looks" at a high-end dealership. Trust me, there's a lot worse things in the world than to be disrespected because you are (or look) young. I'll bet it sucks a lot more to be disrespected because you are old.

amdeutsch

Could it be that the stealership is asking for a high deposit because of the option load and the 6-speed? The majority of MB usually are slushboxes. Taking a piece of DiamondNoir2K5's post it could be that the stealer is uncomfortable. I'm not defending stealers here mind you. Just another suggestion.
Have you discussed this order with MarkusBenz, a forum sponsor, to see what he might be able to do?

wingless

Do you want the car or not? Is it a good deal or not?

If this is the car / deal you will go for, what difference does it make to put $1K or $3K down?

The dealer doesn't want to get stuck with a heavily loaded base model, which is why they order the floor cars with a lot less options.

wdougla1

When I started looking for my 2005 230K SS (6 spd, Brilliant Silver, Black Leather, Entertainment Package, Sunroof Package and Split rear seats) nobody had one on their lot. In addition, it seams no dealerships carry any
6-spd manuals. I emailed every dealership around me and I used the cars direct network to find my car with no luck. Thank God I was lucky to find a dealership who had 3 cars scheduled for production and they modified on of the cars with my options and all I had to put down was $500.

tommy

$3k does seem excessive to me; I ordered mine for $1k (took 11 weeks). I would have balked at that down payment. Of course, I would have walked before then if I didn't like my salesrep.

I went to my dealership 4 times until I got a rep whom I didn't hate. One didn't return my call, one told me that the car that I wanted wasn't a real Benz (wtf? ), and the other was too slimey, even for a salesguy.

I'd give the sales manager a quick call, to tell him/her of your concerns about the deposit, and to see if it's necessary, and why so much if it is.

laurier

I ordered a C230k with manual trans. On 7/19 and it arrived at the dealer last Saturday (5 weeks) and this was a new order not and existing dealer order changed to my specs.

mctwin2kman

Wow I feel special I did not have to put a deposit down at all, and they found the vehicle I wanted at port in Baltimore! Had it a week later! Of course I gave them a few color choices to search for! But yeah $3K deposit is just absurdly high!

808_230K

same sitch as mine, and they still only asked for 1k... if I walked, I'm sure a loaded, manual coupe will sit on the lot for quite some time

diamond- nah, it's cool I'm used to the "you look too young" thing, and I'm 27. I don't blame them, hell, I was expecting it. Which is why I was surprised w/Chris, who didn't take that attitude at all w/me. Probably doesn't help that I make a point of it to dress like crap when I swing by the stealership ^_^

CitronC230K_03

mine was $5k because of hi option load, 6 speed and color of car.

mb-scott

We just picked up an order from late June (so about 9-10 weeks) and only had to put $1000 down. It took about 40 days from the build date to get to this coast. I would also recommend the COMAND if you don't mind a little extra gadgetry. The new DVD-based one is great with the flip down screen. It doesn't have touch or voice-op like my Honda, but it seems nice from the little time I've been able to use it (it's not mine).