l3lue2010

I just purchased a C450 with 38k miles on it, car is clean and everything seems fine. I feel that I should be looking into the extended warranty as it's up in about 8 months. I've never owned a german car before but I really liked these. How are these in terms of reliability now that they've been out a few years? Do anyone of you work on your own cars? Just trying to get a feel overall Or if I should run and return the car now lol

RichardCranium3

First off, where did you purchase from that you have the opportunity to return it?!

To the meat of your question, engine-wise, the M276 has been around for a while proven reliable to major issues. Many on here, including myself, do our own oil changes and brake work. Your best bet is to find a reliable independent shop for service and major mechanical work. It's always better to have as much warranty as possible with German cars, but if you're willing to wrench yourself and have the opportunity to avoid the stealership, you should make out okay. As long as you don't expect kia pricepoint repairs, you should be more or less fine on the road to 100k miles.

l3lue2010

LOL They had a 250mile 5 day no questions return policy. I bought it for what trade in value is and got 3.2% APR on the used car loan so I think I did pretty well in that aspect. I will have to research of any local shops that would be good in the central florida area. I saw on the oil changes I need to buy a oil change vacuum to suck it out, is that correct? Seemed pretty straight forward after that

MatthewJ

That oil change tool is only needed if you dont want to get under the car. our oil changes are just like any other car. would recommend the oil filter removal wrench as they can be a pain to unscrew by hand.
im just west of orlando, lots of indy shops on colonial that have good reviews, i dont plan on taking mine in unless its for something i really cant do at home.

RichardCranium3

Ha! What a time to be alive!

Matthew is correct on the oil changes. You're absolutely not required to use a vacuum pump. It's just more of a convenience thing if you don't want to get under the car and pull the front skid panel.

l3lue2010

Thanks for the replies guys, Looking online it looks like there is a German independent repair shop in Leesburg if needed I could check out. The whole vacuuming of the oil thing was told to me by a guy at the stealership that was trying to sell me an extended warranty, which after looking up reviews online they were horrific, so I will probably skip the $4,500 for that. I will start lurking around here and see what I can learn about these cars. I have a Grand National that I do most of the work on so I believe I can handle most of the minor bolt on type repairs and maintenance myself.