nirvana

I finally saw a C63 in person. Went to sit in one, and loved it; the car was a beautifully engineered work of art. People were going out in a C350 demo so I took a spin since I have zero experience with MB. I ended up loving everything about the car except for the sporting character and fun to drive aspects, of which the C350 had very little. However, I was thinking the AMG suspension and 6.2L V8 would fix that and then some... dealer wanted me to test drive the new one but I didn't want to as it listed at 69k. I could, but I'd rather spend closer to the 50k mark. The dealer said they rarely get used AMGs in. (On a side note, this was by far the most friendly, professional experience I've ever had at any dealership; the only other one that came close was a Porsche dealership).

So, as it turns out, I've found quite a few on search sites in the 50-55k bracket with anywhere from 1000 to 5000 miles listed online. Some are at MB dealers, while some are at private dealers or specialty "exotic and sports car" dealers. I know there's appeal to being the first owner, but I've traditionally bought my cars as the second owner and let somebody else drive it 5-10k miles while taking a 10 to 20% depreciation hit. Plus I'm not picky on options, as long as it has navigation and the audio w/ ipod it's great, and I've yet to find a listing that didn't have those options.

I'm just curious as to who else has gone this route, and what the experience and level of satisfaction has been. If this isn't the safest way to do it then let me know; I think one of the threads I saw pegged a replacement C63 motor at over 50k. I know 09's would still have warranty, but not if the first guy messed with it. I'd want a bone stock car (no tune or tune history) as I can't think of one thing that needs to changed on the thing. They are amazing as is.

Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:
2009 C63 - 8k miles

2009 C63, 5k miles

Thanks for the input guys.

mako

For the last 4 days I've been a new owner of a pre-owned, cpo'ed 2009 C63. I looked pretty hard at new vs. used and came to the conclusion that I could deal with a used car ....especially if cpo'ed.

I bought the car with 11K miles on it and paid right around 53k. I had a 2002 M5 w/ 100K miles for a trade-in and they were fair to me. VERY good experience at this MB dealer. This will be my first MB coming from 2 BMW's prior.

Good luck and hope your find a nice CPO'ed car like I did.