Originally Posted by ceindusa

Just a little insight on this subject... When a dealership offers a vehicle at invoice there is still plenty of profit in the vehicle. Most people assume that when a dealer prints out their invoice on that car that is mocked up or padded, that may be true at some of the sly or cut-throat dealers out there, but for the most part it is not. If they are going to sell it at invoice, a lot of time they will hold back the rebates. When they give the rebates to the customer the still have Marketing Support (usually towards the end of a model year). This can be from $250 - $20,000 depending on that vehicles expected depreciation and gap between invoice and MSRP. For example the MB CL, S & SL class has $15,000 marketing support for 2005 models. The SL600 has a base MSRP of $130,900 & an invoice of $121,737. So for the dealer to move a high end, 1 year old model like this (who's book value is only $115,300)... They are going to have to give one helluva price break on it. What I'm saying here is someone could walk into a MB dealership with a '05 SL600 on the floor and buy it for a little under $107,000 +TTL. So while they are still making money on the new models of the cars, the manufacturer is the one taking the hit.

The dealer has to pay insurance, detailing, gas, commission (which is usually 20-25% of front-end gross) etc… for every vehicle on their lot so, they have to realize a certain profit each month based on units sold. Outside of MSRP markup, addendum markup, and support from manufacturer, dealers make a helluva lot of money in finance (back-end profit). Finance guys are nothing more than salesman. Their biggest money maker is the “extended warranties” and “service plans”. There is usually about a 40% markup in those (even more on new cars than pre-owned). Most dealers will even markup your interest rate by 1-2% (I don’t know if they are still allowed to do this). There is also that wonderful $399 doc fee (it varies) that is nothing more than an extra $400 into the dealerships pocket. The salesman will usually give you a pitch on it like “Oh that’s to cover the costs of paying the employees to file and process the deal” (at least that’s what I used). If you think about it, that $400 added to the 200 deals a month the dealership is doing, that is an extra $960,000 they have made. If you don’t want to stop there, they also have all those nice factory extras to rip you on. Bottom line is, dealers will 99.99% of the time never loose money on a new vehicle. The only one that takes a hit is the manufacturer, and the hit is usually on the higher-end (overpriced) models. The part where the salesman gets screwed is he only get commission based on the front-end gross of the vehicle, so if the car is blown out and there is only a $500 front-end profit, they will only get a “mini” or “flat” (usually $100-$250 depending on the dealership). I hope this isn’t to off subject (not trying to hi-jack the thread), just wanted to give a little knowledge from my own experience.

Originally Posted by mick1

hehe. see the benefit of the keyless entry thingie ? Had Cruise got that option on his Bugatti, that door would just open. There would be no need for Katie to unlock the door for him.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

I dunno know about being miles ahead - drive them back to back and you might be surprised, especially a 6 speed vs an A/T (which most of the 320s in my area are). I have yet to have a 320 pull on me (including my friend who has an 04 non sport)

Originally Posted by patrick_y

I've driven the 05 and the 06 C230s back to back. I came to the dealership in my 05, saw the 06, went for a drive, and left the dealership in my 05. Now both of these were in automatic.

I like both of them, and I like how the transmission shifted much more smoothly in the 06 than in my 05. However, in terms of speed and acceleration, they're about the same. The 06 is also quieter than the 05. Still, either way, I think they're about the same. I actually prefer the 5 speed automatic transmission better because in the top gear of the 05 model, you can actually get very good acceleration; this you don't find in the 06 model with the 7 speed transmission.

Originally Posted by Gentlemanjim

Nice buy. I bought my 2006 C230 new and paid $32,700 w/o Full power seats, Xenons or XM. Those are nice features. How do you find the low end power when turning a corner it seems it only downshifts to 3rd. gear? I only have 2,500 miles does yours pull a little better now tht it has 8,000 miles?

Originally Posted by rrpnow

nice and clean car... now shave your face... hahaha, just kidding =]

Originally Posted by e1000

if that is indeed the car - it does not have the power/memory seat option

Originally Posted by patrick_y

Actually, the memory power seat option on the C Class is only for one side of the car. It's only for the driver's seat. The passenger seat doesn't have it.

Weird, I know. I didn't get it for my car since I thought that I would be the only driver of my car.

Originally Posted by e1000

huh? I don't think so. it's for both seats.

Originally Posted by e1000

huh? I don't think so. it's for both seats.

Originally Posted by moose1021

on the 2006 C230 the power w\memory seat is only on the driver side

Originally Posted by e1000

is this for the C230? my C350 has it on both seats

Originally Posted by e1000

is this for the C230? my C350 has it on both seats

Originally Posted by timsam

Yeah...my 05 C230 only has power/memory seats on the Driver's Side.

Originally Posted by mikec230

yup the car is in my possession sp? now... and I am a proud owner of a 2006 MB C230

Originally Posted by guhvies

I think you have enuf esses in there. Now we need to see your pics! The previous pics were of the dealer's car