MBZEnthusiast

Just wanted to post here and to say hi. I picked up an '09 CLK550 lease last week and have been just thrilled with the car. Feels familiar yet different from my previous car, an '06 C230 that I just turned in on lease end. I loved the classic styling and looks of the W203 and was very sad to see it go. It even had the manual, 6-speed tranny that I really came to enjoy. My only complaint with that car was that it didn't have quite as much power from stop as I would have hoped. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and being my first benz, will be very memorable. So just before Christmas I started looking for a new replacement and stumbled upon some the great deals being currently offered on the CLK-class. I know it's the last model year, which is likely the biggest contributing factor to the deals out there. The current state of the economy I'm sure also helps. Well to make a long story short, I started out looking at the base 350 but found that it didn't have the power I was hoping for. Next stepped up to the 350 w/ AMG package which I liked better since it had the steering wheel paddles, but I found myself really revving it up to find the power band. Then I stepped into a CLK550 and from the moment I drove off the lot for the test-drive, was mesmerized by the engine. Smooth at low rpm's with gentle throttle but click the left paddle twice and step-on it and holy toledo, that thing roars to life and leaves most things behind. I remember cruising at 80mph, pulling that move, and next seeing the speedo climb past 105mph w/o hesitation or whine from the beast up front.

Needless to say, I just leased this puppy for a song and can't be happier. Only thing I'm looking to do is to add the factory (or another good) bluetooth option as the car didn't come with that. I've already posted in the audio/electronics thread but if you have any leads, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Happy New Year!

ml3500

congradulationss


may I ask how much were you quoted on the lease of CLK350 and the CLK550?

pmb600

Congrats, I also would love to hear what these are leasing for these days.

Can you post pics?

MBZEnthusiast

Lots of good deals out there. I didn't work too hard on the 350 deals but what I ended up getting was the following.

Base 350. Appearance package and a few other things. MSRP $~50-52k.
$1000 drive-off
$440/month including tax
48 months
7,500 miles/year

Next, for the 350 w/ AMG Sport Package w/ an MSRP ~55-57k.
$1000 drive-off
$480/months including tax
48 months
7,500 miles / year

Lastly, for my car, CLK550, MSRP $61k
$500 drive-off
$540/month including tax
48 months
7,500 miles / year

Probably could have done better on the 350 deals, but since I wasn't super interested, didn't want to waste my time. Feel as though I got a pretty good deal on the 550. Again, could have probably squeaked out another 20 bucks a month but by the end I was tired of the car buying process and very happy with the car. Hope this helps someone get a good deal!!

Cheers.

pmb600

That's a great deal. Low mileage, but hopefully you don't drive too much.

MBZEnthusiast

Nope, don't drive much at all. On my lease turn in, the car only had 16,xxx miles even though I could've driven up to 23,000 over the three years. I guess that comes out to about 5,000 miles/year. I'm expecting to drive about the same, maybe less these next four years as I'll be walking to work more than before.

Toog4me

i have a clk550 as well, but a convertible. got mine in the beginning of the year, fully loaded, 73k msrp,

my deal was something like 2k OTD
$749/mo tax included
24 month lease
10k/miles year

this car replaced my clk350. but i have to say after adding a bmw 335 to my stable, the clk550 is not the performer I thought it was.

MBZEnthusiast

great deal, comes out in the same ball-park after price-adusting for the msrp. hope you're enjoying it as much as i am!

Toog4me

~$13k more, 2500 more miles per year, and 24 months. I don't think our numbers are comparable.

Revstriker II

Damn. Are you trying to make the guy feel bad about his deal?

MBZEnthusiast

To the original poster; sorry man, should have done your homework. Just called my dealer to ask about an '09 550 convertible for a friend who's interested. Turns out they have one just like your car. MSRP 74k and change w/ just about every option. I was quoted $1k OTD w/ payments of $707 including tax, 24 months, 10k miles/year. Of course even less / month with a longer term and the better money factor. My friend's pretty excited and he's probably going to jump on it tomorrow. Looks like there are great deals to be had out there so go find them!

MB Dave

go with a parot blue tooth system I had my dealer instal it my ML

DimitrisUSA

All right, now that we established that Mercedes is giving out cars for free, how much downpayment (cash at inception) did any of the deals you mentioned included? You give enough downpayment and you can get the monthly payment down to nothing. You have to compare apples to apples, if you are only comparing monthly payments you are missing the big picture, especially on leases. A 2009 CLK550 Cabrio fully loaded is approximately $75k MSRP plus taxes, tags which differ from state to state (let's say $2,000 to $4,000 additional). Even if you take $12k off the price and put $5k downpayment not including first month payment, security deposit, taxes and tags, the monthly payment for a 24 month lease at 10,000 miles per year is approximately $800. The numbers do not lie guys, it is not a science. Every manufacturer is hurting right now but brands such as Mercedes have their following even in bad times, this is not Chrysler or GM.

BogeyGolfer

My dealer, MB of Coral Gables, told me the MY09 CLK550 Cabrio would go for $9,000 of sticker and perhaps more.

I'm going to wait and order the E550 Cabrio in June when they start taking orders.

MBZEnthusiast

You should be able to get it for much less than that

djmich

wow, so I am looking at a '09 CLK550 and thought I was getting a good deal on a lease, maybe not. MSRP inclusive of $1k gas guzzler is $66,825. The offer is $12K under MSRP, or $7,500 under invoice.

Are people getting deals at much less than $12k under MSRP? Looking at one of the above, if I am interpreting it correctly, it looks like almost $16k under.

Thanks in advance for any input.

MBZEnthusiast

My car was almost 17k off sticker so you should be able to get a better deal. The problem is that once inventory gets low prices also start going up again because of the limited supply. Let us know if you end up getting the car and the details of your deal.

Good luck!