kvolkan

Hi Everyone, I am thinking of trading in my well loved Mazdaspeed mx5 and getting a C300. Been feeling a bit beat up after driving the highway in the miata and thinking its time for a change. the local so Cal mb dealer (Oxnard) has a nice 08 6spd car. I drove it thinking I would find it boring and under powered (like the 05 c230 I drove) and was surprised how much I liked the car. Great handling, comfortable, nice usable power. The 6spd was very smooth if perhaps a bit sloppy. A very balanced car. It has the p1 package and thats about it and is a cpo with 40k, a yr of factory warranty and a hear of cpo coverage. They are asking 25.9k for it. Does this seem like a reasonable deal? A new stripped down 2011 can be had through carsdirect.com for 32k. Any advice greatly appreciated!

Sportstick

Welcome!

That car sounds similar to mine, although you don't mention the sunroof. I paid $32,000 new for an 09 in November 2008. I suggest running your model and content through edmunds.com for a confirmation.

kvolkan

Thanks! It just has regular sunroof, not a panoramic one (is that even an option on these cars.) Edmunds say this car certified should be 23.5K but no one around here and in LA is advertising them that cheap. I may use this as a starting point in negotiations....With regard to KBB it is a little under for a dealer price

Sportstick

Mine has the standard sunroof as well. I would not expect the advertised price to match edmunds, as the dealers anticipate negotiation. However, as edmunds is essentially reporting the eventual transaction prices for similar cars in your zio code, I would be more assertive about achieving close to that price point, considering any variations which might merit a modest change, such as incredibly pristine condition.

Is carsdirect showing you a remaining 2011 manual trans car for $32k? When you say "stripped down" do you mean without even P1? I would give some thought to three years newer car over some feature content, if you can afford the $32k.

Doanster

$23.5k'ish is what I'd pay for this car. Pretty close to Sportstick for me: my 6MT with P1 and iPod integration was $31.3K new in Sept. '09.

Sportstick

Add $720 for Palladium over Black and we're there!!

Stevedotmil

I paid 29,600 for my 2010 with only heated seats. 11k on the odometer. Black on gray.

kendricksoares

id say thats a little high too, id have to agree with doanster,probably be looking somehwere around 23, 24k not sure how the prices are in cali, but here ion florida thats what one of those would be going for, and becareful cuz you probably only have 5k miles left on that warranty

kvolkan

Thanks Everyone. I paid just a tad over 25K. They wouldn't go down further and MBs tend to be higher around here. I did get him to go up quite a bit on my trade so its all a wash (at least that is my rationalization!). Car had 2 solid years of warranty on it and I got another 24 months up to 135K miles, which I am happy about. Just loving the car! Really surprised how quick it is when you step on it. Also liking all the little features that show some real thought went into the design. I hope to be here on the forum some more now.

Doanster

Congrats! No rationalization to "us" is necessary. If it's the car you love and will look fwd to getting into each day, that's all that matters. Getting the warranty to 135k miles is worth much more in peace-of-mind vs the extra $1k you may or may not have been able to slice off further.
Now... to mod or not to mod... THAT is the question!

kvolkan

Uh oh, did you say mod!? Gonna have to check this out for sure! Need tomfind what works with the warranty

Sportstick

Congratulations and welcome! You are now one of a small but dedicated group who knows real cars have three pedals! Keep in mind, this may be your first and last MB, as they dropped the stick after 2011, so take great care of it and enjoy it for many years.

Stevedotmil

Congrats on being one of the new "Few". Now to figure out how to get all of us manual owners together to get TWM Performance to make us a Short Shifter.........enjoy.

kvolkan

+1 on the short shifter

Bummer they are not making the car with the stick anymore...my guess is that is for NA Market and the stick will continue for other parts of the world. Drove the 7sp auto - it ok but a bit like sex with 2 rubbers on....feel was lacking!

kvolkan

BTW my 'butt' dyno says the car is a little faster that the turbo miata at least to 60. I think overall performance numbers are similar - the Mazdaspeed should have been a lot faster. Also feels a bt lower than my 06 GT mustang, but not by much!

Stevedotmil

I wonder just how many manual drivers there are in here. We need to do a poll or something then send TWM the link. I had one for a loaner and didn't care for it. Even with it in Sport and stuff it just wasn't my cup of tea. Not near as fun.

kvolkan

The autos are great for what they are. I test drove an SL550, SL500, and an SLK350 all with autos. Everyone was telling me I would love it along with all the bells and whistles in the cars. Instead i just felt blah - the SLs felt like an old man car - an awesome old man's car, but too disconnected to me. I liked the slk a lot but it REALLY needed a manual - if it had had one I probably would have bought it. The C300 just felt better than all these much more expensive cars. I think the Germans do simple, direct, and overengineered well - better than anyone else. These are sort of core teutonic values. When they start trying to pimp out the cars they are not as appealling (or reliable) to me at least. Our C300 MT cars are really represent the best of the german tradition! (no bias here!)

I am surprised they are not selling MT cars - seems when I was pricing new ones it was still an (not)option?

Sportstick

It's a downward spiral for them, starting with the apparent premise that they have given up that market (us!) to BMW. They don't market these cars, so dealers don't order them, the lack of orders=low production, which leads to low inventory, which leads to low sales....self fulfilling prophecy. The eventual rate was about 3-5% of where available (on rear wheel drive C300 only). With the addition of a new powertrain for the 2012 C250, they apparently decided to hold down plant complexity, and the low runner was the US certified manual trans/3 liter combination...gone.

The point missed on them is that with some modest effort, they could gain incremental sales/prevent defection among some of the most enthusiastic owners, who tend to talk up the brand among other prospective buyers. Meanwhile, the video game generation is happy playing with their thumbs on paddle shifters. A sad state of affairs.

kvolkan

But they have to still be selling MT cars in europe? The ratio of MT to auto cars there is much higher. It used to be that in some parts of the world MB would only sell MT cars because of the lack of infrastructure to repair the autos. I remember seeing 70-80's SLs in Turkey with stick shifts and thinking of trying to import the parts for my '78.

Seems like BMW is also going towards auto only. I saw very few BMW cars with a MT. They are also pushing the SMG trans. Tried it and did not like it much. Very complicated and sort of the worst of both worlds.....

Sportstick

Yes, manual trans is still available in the rest of the world. But, US powertrains are part-number specific due to having to be certified to meet US NHTSA and EPA requirements. Therefore, they had to make a decision on whether to have an additional powertrain in the plant, which, in all fairness, can have significant facilitization investment costs. I just assert they chose the wrong one to drop because they were myopic in assessing the consequences.

It will be a long time, if ever, before BMW drops the stick from a 3 series. It is still available in the 5 series, although not with all engines.

kvolkan

Bummer. I agree with you that this is short sided thinking on the part of MB. I think our cars are more fun than a comparable 3 series. Hopefully MB will see the light, but I am taking your advice and thinking about my 300 for the long haul.

Stevedotmil

I drove an SL55 when I was looking and agree with you that it was too soft. Nice but too soft for me. I had a friend who had an 08 C300 with the auto and drove it a couple of times before I decided on my car. The only manual in 250 miles. Bonus for me.

kvolkan

The SL was big too - really huge feeling. It was interesting to drive an 03 and then the 07. Biggest difference was the amount of rattles and creaks in the 03.

I wonder how many manuals there are around where I am - there are 2-3 for sale on CL in LA compared to maybe 30 auto cars. 10% seems high and I would bet it is less. Where I am in Ventura county I got the only for sale either by a dealer or private party.

Emailed the dealer this am about adding the UMI nav+ 4 to my car. Surprised they didn't tell me about this when I bought the car. It is listed as an official cpo upgrade. I even sent them the part number.