gtr886

I was at the MB dealership and singed a lease contract for a C63. the trade in value is only 10k!!!

Should i sell it myself for just trade it in for less headaches?

jturkel

what yr is your car? miles? options? condition? so on and so forth....10K is quite little imo....unless you have high mileage. i was offered 15.5K for my '02 and its got 73K and has everything but nav.

obviously, given the condition of the economy, it may not be easy selling the car privately. i guess it comes down to if you need the 10K they are offering you now or can you afford to wait to get a couple more G's selling privately.

hooleyboy

Dealers make bank on used cars. IF you own the car outright keep it and sell it on your own if you can afford to do so. Trading a car in that you own for a lease is never a good combo IMO. You have one of the best performance cars for the money right now with the C32. With prices dropping on C32's they are becoming more affordable to the average joe. Young tuners are going to see the C32 a highly tunable car and might want to get into a C32 for its pedigree, and the fact thats its a Mercedes. I see young guys who like fast tunable cars taking the C32 over a Cobalt SS or a Scion TC, for around the same price. I know I would. IMO it would be worth more to me to keep a car like a C32. I would never let go of a car that was as much fun to drive for 10K. Name something you can drive for 10K that would offer more excitement and refinement as a C32? To me if i had a C32 i would just keep it if the market got to low. It you could get 15-17K for then sell it. but for 10k i would park that car in the garage and sell it at Auction in 20 years then I bet you would make some loot. Bottom line, its a rare car, you really never see them. Infact i see more F430's than i see C32's. I think C32's are going to bottom out soon price wise. You trade it in for 10k and in 10 years the new owner i bet would still be able to get 10k for it. Not to ramble but with the Forced induction rage as of late it might just help to sustain the c32's value. What ever you do dont trade it in unless its a P.O.S

TemjinX2

1+

i agree with hooleyboy. At $10k its not worth trying in. see if you can get a better deal from carmax or try to sell it privately.

If not just hold on to it for another yr. its more difficult for people to get car loans now a days because of the current credit freeze, so thats hurting the resale values on a lot of cars thats not a corolla, civic or prius.

pshek

I agree with all of the above

Wait a little bit longer...I bet all the C63s sitting on dealer lots will be cheaper soon because of the economy.

Saprissa

aaaccckkk

don't lease a C63

c32AMG-DTM

+1

There were a few threads on the w204 AMG forum detailing just how bad the lease terms are for the C63... the bottomline was, if you couldn't afford to finance a purchase, it probably would be better to pass for now.

Agree w/ others that the depreciation curve slows way down on some of the more rare cars like these european sport sedans. If you look at E36 M3's (which weren't all that rare) - $40k new, and 10-13ish years later, a nice one still costs $12-15k. It may be a similar story for the w202 AMGs, IDK.

Saprissa

C32's are going between $14K (2002s) to $20K-$21K (2004s).
Obviously dependant on mileage and service records.

bud4ya

+1 I was reading on the C63 board and the lease numbers suck for the most part. Do yourself a favor and check out the board and find out the deal with the leases on the C63. That may save you a some cash right there. Just an example was I know some had entertained leasing a new M5 as they were less of a lease than the C63. I am not saying to do that just giving you an idea on the price of the lease.

On your car if you own it outright and can afford to hold it and sell it on your own that would be the best. But I can tell you there are others on this board including myself that can not sell out C32's. In my case and some others here it is not because they are overly priced it has to be the economy.

I have had mine for sale for months now and very little interest. If you have the cash and dont care trade it in and be done with it. But I can tell you 10K seems way low. Do you have like 100K + miles on it?

kindafast

All used M3's are way overpriced

gtr886

Yea, I have 105K miles on the car. The sad thing is that i just paid 9k for a new tranmission and converter.

Newzchspy

Sounds like you already made your deal???

Plus, 105 K miles on a luxury car just kills the value as well. I know a guy who bought in April 2008 a 04 C32 with just 22 K miles for $20,000. 10K doesn't sound bad to me based upon the mileage of 105,000.

hooleyboy

9K WTF!

greasybenz

Wow 10K is VERY VERY VERY!!! generous! Looking at how many ran through the auction with half the miles they are in the $10-12K range. So $10K for a C32 with double the mileage and with the economy the way it is id be happy to get $10K for it.

bud4ya

I agree with Newzchspy and 10K is probally about right on a trade in with over 100K. For the extra couple thousand you may get selling it private it may not be worth it. I have had my 2003 with 36K miles and warranty for sale for months for $19,750 and not many bites. I have been considering trading mine as well. I may just bring it down and see if I can get an idea of what my trade would be.

That sucks and also scares me on the tranny. Did you have performance mods? Did you change the tranny fluid at 50K.

I guess when you finally get behind the wheel of that C63 you will forget all about the the price of the C32

bud4ya

That is why the leases are lower than MB's because they hold value better for whatever reason . Look at a 2003 C32 with say 30K miles is selling for around $18 to $19K. Look at an M3 same year and miles and they are selling for mid 20's.


I have noticed other people in my area selling their same year/miles M3's for mid/high 20's and they have come and gone and I still have not sold the C32 .

Newzchspy

Until he remembers again what he paid for the C63 (which are not being discounted too much, particularly with the perf package!! )

Quick Silver

FrankW

+1

with the price dropping like stones in the used car market you will find them around $45-50k or less in a year or so. better yet, you can probably get a 2006 M5 or E63 for that money.

Newzchspy

+1 Frank!!

viper501

The problem with leasing a C63 is that the residuals suck wind. The typical used C class buyer is not interested in spending extra money for an AMG. The performance just doesn't justify, in their minds, the extra cash. After all, most C class buyer are shopping it against Accords and Camrys. Most of the folks who do appreciate the AMG performance, and are in the C class market, look for a new C, rather than used. That is why after two years you can buy a C55 for almost half what it was new.

I'd wait for a few of the used C63's to hit the market before going for one and then I'd buy it.

OTOH, leasing it does lessen the pain of the two year depreciation. If you're committed to leasing a C63, do a two year lease. I'd also buy some points off by paying a couple extra security deposits but don't put any money down up front.

FrankW

shoppers for C-class are shopping against the A4, 3-series, G35/37, IS250/350. there's no Accord and Camry in this category. If I'm shopping for Accord and Camry I would've choose the Mazda 6 over both.

also people who buy AMG these days simply because they can spent on the top of the line model, not because they appreciate the performance etc. I've seen and met tons of people that have no clue what AMG stands for yet they drive one. No offense to C63 AMG buyers, but chances are most of them that are on this board in the C63 section bought it because 1. the engine/exhaust note sounds bad ***. 2. it's faster than the M3 (in straght line) as in bought it for bragging rights.

personally, as much as I like AMG's prestige and craftsmanship in attention to detail vs BMW M where it often gives you a "mass" production feel other than the M6. I'm dissapointed with the C63's performance and weight. sure it's fast in straight line, but what happened to the effort that was put into the previous AMGs to make it not only faster, but also handles better. i.e. the C32 was very appealing to a lot of people because of the overall package it brought up to the table and the C55 was made to be better. They didn't sacrifice the handling to make massive power by stacking the supercharger on the V8, instead they made it handle better and finally caught up with the E46 M3 that it was even able to run the same time on the RING with the M3.

The C63 to me went back to the stone-age with that heavy V8 causing the car to weight 4000lbs and handles like one. BETTER could have been done and should have been done with this car without the Performance package being an optional package especially after having driven the w204 C350 of my own and w203 loaners. The W204 is a vastly improvement in terms of handling over the W203. YET the AMG took a giant step backward. I'll gladly take the new M3 sedan over the C63 any day.

agreed with the rest about the lease and value.

Zeppelin

Funny you mentioned the Accord, because that is exactly what these cars are worth - the same price as the same year Accord. Really sad considering the Accord sold for $26K back then.

1qikctr

My was price at 57k june 2002. Still love it when i get behind the wheel! I really dont give a Horse SHI* about KBB, I say keep the 32, buy a 63 too.

more151please

i agree with 1qikctr, maybe it's time to have a dedicated track car, that's what im planning on doing. When it comes time for a new car for me, im sure my c55 will be around the same cost. My c55 has 63k and it's an 05.