I'm not sure I get why people around here treat AMGs like a ticking time bomb.

Someone in another thread was surprised that a C63s AMG owner hit 87K miles.

87K miles on a Mercedes isn't a lot of miles. Really not a lot of miles on any decent modern car.

Is it just that people drive their AMGs so hard that they anticipate the cars will just fall apart that much sooner?

Wouldn't logic suggest that a hand-built motor by some of the finest engineers in the auto world would last that much longer?

 

I was planning to actually own my 2019 C63s for a long time, but after the misfire at 1400 miles… I now have second thoughts about keeping the car after the lease ends.

 

I agree... and more so, people are driving them like they are delicate flowers..!! drive them like the race cars they are!!

I have found that more people that baby and Sunday drive these cars, have more issues than those that drive them hard as they were built for... Just my observation.

 

Other than this car eating brake pads and rotors like me and chocolate bars, I see no other mechanical component at risk for at least 100K. All cars built today are pretty good, with the crazy issues happening around software. The software is a function of the manufacture and their maturity around coding, so I don't see this car as being any more risky than anything else on the road. If things do break, they will tend to be more expensive, and the labor is higher, but some of that can be managed by taking the car to other shops when out of warranty and in some cases, other non MB parts (rotors and break pads being an example).

With my Audi S7, I took it to a specialty shop to have the brakes and rotors changed and saved over $1K even though I used Audi parts.

I'm not sure what I'll do with my car, but it won't be based on high mileage concerns.

Thus far the car has been a blast. I wish it had more pops and bangs with Sports +, but otherwise its been great. This is my 1st MB.

 

Preventative maintenance goes a long way. Aside from maybe the oem turbos going out around 80K miles, I wouldn't expect any other issues. The occasional lemon car aside.

 

Agree. I drive mine daily, no matter how many miles

 

I think it's along the same lines of many folks scared of owning a German car out of warranty. Part of it is not being able to afford repairs if they do occur. Many people unfortunately buy more car than they can really afford. Maintenance and repairs are usually not factored in. I'm also a strong believer of driving the cars as much as I can. I don't buy cars to look at them sitting in the garage. I also think that cars that are driven properly have less issues or the issues shake out sooner while still under warranty. I picked up my C63CS in Germany and already put 6200 miles on it in 8 weeks. I consider them proper run in miles on its home turf. The car has seen speeds and forces that few cars will properly ever experience in the USA. It held up well and I can't wait to be reunited with it. It's currently at the LA VPC and hopefully it'll make it here before the end of the month. I typically put about 80,000 miles on my cars in 6 years, although over the last few years my annual mileage has dropped, because I've been telecommuting and haven't done as many road trips. Still, accumulating miles has never kept me from enjoying my cars. I also never lease anymore, because I don't want to watch my miles. Have owned several German vehicles out of warranty, and yes sometimes costly repairs are needed, but I've never bought aftermarket warranty and so far it's been cheaper just paying for the repairs. Many times dealerships offer goodwill repairs or if it's a known issue occurring outside of warranty the manufacturer may even split the cost. For example I had a transmission sensor fail on my RS5 out of warranty. It's a known issue. The part costs like $120, but requires the entire transmission to be dropped, taken apart, then put together again, so list price was something like $6000 for the repair. Audi dropped the price to $5000, which is what they reimburse dealerships for this repair under warranty and then agreed to split the cost with me 50/50. A well maintained German car that is driven properly usually lasts and if you have a lemon or faulty parts it will show up during warranty. You won't know if the car has issues unless you get some real mileage on it and exercise all those parts. The more initial miles, the sooner the issue will reveal themselves and can be addressed under warranty.

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I will never drive mine in the rain, I will wipe it down every day and wax it monthly, and I will drive it less than 100 miles a month. After a couple of years or so I, I will trade it in and receive about one half of what I paid for it, if I'm lucky, and someone else will buy it and have one beautiful car. I will move on, having never really enjoyed the car, to a replacement and the cycle will continue.

 

A lot of people spending this kind of coin just like something new every couple of years.

 

My commutes are longer (time-wise due to traffic) and hence use other means for the daily-drive commute. I have been driving my C63S everywhere else and especially during the weekends. I like spirited driving and weekends work best for this. I definitely don't baby the car while driving, but still do take good care of it at other times. I still put (relatively) lot of miles (6k - 8k) this way per year.

I feel it's usually not the engine or the core drivetrain components that fail, but sensors and other electronics in the drivetrain or elsewhere that fail. Replacing even a small such sensor is expensive with these German cars.

 

I bought my girl her c43 (2019) 2 months ago... she is at 12K miles already .... :-)
She uses it for going to client and meetings (which is all across the state/country) but still she drives it like its was built to be.

 

I don't get it either. I put >20k miles a year on my car... Have just over 40k now (and actually it's not even at the 2 year mark) and have had to change the tires ONCE, rear brake pads and rotors ONCE. And then the usual fluid changes (engine oil, transmission oil, tease diff oil)... Running EC Stage 2 and 0 problems/misfires/codes. Plan on keeping this well past 100k miles at this rate.

 

These are complicated cars, with a lot of technology, gadgets, and with miles ticking on the odometer, they are more prone to fail. These are expensive cars to own, and if you buy a high mileage car, you must be prepared to pay the price. If you can't afford the repairs, leave it.

Why is it that a SL65 AMG, cost new over 200K USD, after less than 10 years only cost 20K USD ? Maintenance cost are huge, and they are like any other high end MB, money traps.

 

That is the key

 

I feel it is to an extent correlated to how long somebody plans to keep the car. The service costs for these cars go up after 100k miles in general, mostly w.r.t. electronics, sensors and other non-mechanical parts. Fluid changes, and wear-and-tear part replacements also tend to be on the higher side. Many people who buy these cars (usually for the first time) do not factor these in and get burnt.

People who keep their cars less than three years mostly lease and the mileage is bound by their lease terms and/or how much extra they are willing to pay for the excess mileage. Unless they hit any repairs/maintenance that are not covered by the warranty, they are good in paying just the depreciation.

Those who keep their cars for more than three years usually buy. If they keep it for less than 6-7 years, 10-15k miles a year is common and by the time you sell the car you're around or under 100k miles. This is also a good sweet spot to sell the car, avoid spending big on any service/maintenance and move to something new. Generally the mileage driven doesn't affect the depreciation too much for these cars when selling, but the number of years of ownership is rather the deciding factor.

However, folks who (plan to) keep the car longer than six years generally tend to put lesser miles on the car just to minimize the service costs.