chrissy0874

Hi all,

I am looking to purchase the C43 soon (currently driving a 5yr old Audi S4).
1. Can any of you share what you had paid for yours (either brand new or slightly used, purchase deals only, not interested in lease).
2. I usually keep my car for about 5 yrs. Would you purchase extended warranty if you were to keep them for 5-6 years?
3. What about prepaid maintenance plan? Would you recommend purchase them? I am a girl, so I can't change oil and service car myself and I would have to pay someone to do it for me.

I am in Los Angeles area, so if you had scored a great deal recently and have a dealer to refer to, I would appreciate it.

Thanks so much guys!

Chrissy

MVEOVR

The below thread should be of some use. As for the extended warranty and prepaid maintenance I think it depends on your situation and preference. Personally I'm purchasing and I'm not opting for either and just hoping no major issues after factory warranty expires.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c450-c43-...d-you-get.html

netboy

YES on prepaid maintenance. it's cheaper then paying each times for maintenance . look at mbusa website to see pricing, my dealer tried to rip me off, tried to charge me 2000$ when website showing 1475$ for 4 years maintenance.
NO on extended warranty. I regret paying 2000$ for the extra 25,000 miles (7 years / 75000 miles). if there's something wrong, it usually already happened before the car 5 years 50,000 miles warranty. plus I think don't think it cost 2000$ to fix a problem after warranty.
NO NO NO on ding coverage. what a regret, I paid 469$ for 5 years coverage.
​​​​​​but I did get 8000$ off msrp so it's not that bad.

C43Ayemgee

I would get the prepaid maintenance/extended warranty if you plan on buying & keeping the car for 5 years

boosteddub69

While I'm not usually one to try and talk someone out of a purchase, you should reconsider your choice. I'm driving an almost 5 year old S4 and aside from the new tech and different aesthetics, I think the two cars are remarkably similar. Both are AWD, Both are blown sixes (one supercharged one turbo) acceleration figures are in the same ballpark, I know the C43 is faster but it's still relatively close. The C43 is a little bigger than your S4 and has a little more legroom in the rear.

If it's at all possible, consider stretching for a C63 (non S) that would be a different experience. Like you I considered the C43 but ultimately decided to go for the C63 to have something that was a little further away from my current S4.

Of course this is all my opinion and if you're settled on getting a C43, then good luck to you. As the initial hype subsides and dealer inventory gets better, it should be easier to get deals on them.

MasterTowlie

I got mine a few weeks ago, a certified 2018 C43 Sedan for $59k from North Carolina with 2,200 miles and pretty much all of the extras (LED adaptive lights, pano roof, distronic, multimedia package, performance exhaust, self parking...) except for the HUD. I'm not convinced this was the best price I could have gotten, but I'm fine with it. I skipped the extended warranty to start because I was told, with certified at least, you can buy it later as long as the car is still under the five year original + certified warranty. I ended up buying it from a dealer across country and had it shipped to me because I found C43's in my area (Seattle) that were the base model, certified with the same mileage for the same price. In all honesty I wouldn't recommend that dealer though, maybe in person they're fine, sending someone the better part of 60k you expect a certain level of communication that they failed miserably at, the only thing that let me sleep at night was knowing I could (at my own expense) send it back to them in a week and get my money back.

I somewhat agree with boosteddub69 - the S4 and the C43, on paper, are basically the same car. But in reality (seriously, drive them back to back) they feel very different. I liked a lot of things about the 2018 S4 - it had a much softer ride and lots more standard tech inside. But I liked the rawness of the C43 more, louder exhaust (especially with the PE, but even without it sounds better), and more driver choice in mode selection. The S4 tries to be clever and adjust based on how you're driving, the C43 makes you chose but then lets you stay there (adjust suspension, manual shifting mode, etc). The one thing that killed me in the S4 was the lack of buttons for options, if you wanted to turn the self steering on or off it was inside the MMI (fun fact, during test driving the sales person was trying to show this off and couldn't find it in the menu), on the C43 it's a button on the dash. Then there's how each looks, and obviously that's very subjective, but I personally just generally liked the styling and interior of the C43 more. That said though, I agree, if you have the budget check out the C63, that car is awesome.

MasterTowlie

That's a really good point, it's actually why I didn't look at it, I only wanted an AWD car due to snow trips.

boosteddub69

I agree with pretty much everything that you've said. I was making the comparison of the older S4 and the C43. The old S4 is a bit more raw than the new car.

boosteddub69

Again, very true. There are lots of folks running around in Camaro SS, Mustang GTs, and other high horsepower RWD drive cars. It doesn't mean they can handle them but modern stability controls make the cars pretty driveable as long as you're not stupid. Having said that, if I still lived in the north I would not want a C63.

Carlo Cc

Thanks for reassuring my perplexity, I'm waiting for my 2019 C43 order and was considering changing it to the C63. But living in the coldest capital city in the world Ottawa, 4MATIC is superior for a daily driver.

guhvies

^^ there's always the E63, that has 4MATIC...

boosteddub69

I would say, any high horsepower car is dangerous near it's limits, particularly on public roads. As for "Detroit garbage", those cars have their purpose and their audience. I like them and it would be a hoot to drive one, they just don't fit my life style.

boosteddub69

No, I got your point.

As I said, any car can be dangerous and your assertation that they are garbage is at best uninformed.

boosteddub69

Uninformed, rude and elitist.

I doubt that this is helping the OP anymore.

Mr. J

I actually like the current generation Mustang.

FCA OTOH is basically a collection of nice hi-output na motors ensconced within ****ty old metal boxes.
Dodge took retro styling milked it for all it's worth. Now it's just dated.

Mr. J

1. If you're a decent negotiator you can expect to get 8-10% off from MSRP.
2. I would but the dealer prices can be more than double. I bought mine from a different dealer than the one I purchased the car from. It was well under 2k for a 7yr/75k coverage plan. If you're a real LA girl you probably rack up the mileage PM me if you want the contact info of the guy I bought mine from.
3. You don't really save much on the maintenance plan. However, it might save you hassle later on.

chrissy0874

Thanks so much for the info. I haven't thought about purchasing a car from a dealer far away or in a different state without actually test drive the car. I do notice that for a CPO c43, there aren't a lot to choose from.

MasterTowlie

I hear you with the lack of choice, I was pretty surprised that with three Merc dealers, two of them AMG ones, within 15 miles of me I had about 3 cars to pick from at any point in time (I think part of this was due to the 2019's not having come out yet). I searched for about 3 months before finding one in North Carolina. If you're going to go through the bother of doing a long distance buy I'd definitely recommend it's the exact car and feature set you want.

In the end, because it was CPO and very low miles, I figured it'd be the same as if I ordered it, which is buying sight unseen of the final product too, so just went for it. If you're really uncomfortable there's a couple of national services that you can hire for a couple hundred that will go inspect a car and test drive it for you.

chrissy0874

Excellent advice. Thank you so much.