E-Class (W211) 2003-2009

How long before deals on an E550 get as good as they were for an E500?

Old Aug 27, 2006 | 10:55 PM
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JWS3's Avatar
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2004 E500
How long before deals on an E550 get as good as they were for an E500?

Curious- what kinds of deals are people getting on the E550? With the E500 dealers weren't dealing too much in '03 & even into '04. By late '04 on, however, many were able to buy at or below invoice, even without mfgr incentives and the like.
Although its only my opinion, invoice represented a more realistic value--and was high even there. MSRP is just totally out there and devoid of reality. I like the E, but 68K for a reasonably well equipped model seems totally out of whack, which may explain the recent slew of posts here lamenting the plunge in value only year or two into ownership.
I am strongly inclined to consider a 1-2 year old E550 when the time comes and save what looks to be a significant amount of money.
Any thoughts/input? Discuss.

Last edited by JWS3; Aug 28, 2006 at 02:40 PM.
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Old Aug 27, 2006 | 11:16 PM
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04 S430 (sold),05 X5 4.4i, 02 325i, 87 560SL, 85 Alfa Romeo
Originally Posted by JWS3
Curious- what kinds of deals are people getting on the E550? With the E500 dealers weren't dealing too much in '03 & even into '04. By late '04 on, however, many were able to buy at or below invoice, even without mfgr incentives and he like.
Although its only my opinion, invoice represented a more realistic value. MSRP is just totally out devoid of reality. I like the E, but 68K for a reasonably well equipped model seems totally out of whack, which may explain the recent slew of posts here lamenting the plunge in value only year or two into ownership.
I am strongly inclined to consider a 1-2 year old E550 when the time comes and save what looks to be a significant amount of money.
Any thoughts/input? Discuss.
Lease returns typically start coming back after 24 months, and then you see a larger number of cars returning to the market after 36 months..

You should be able to get a good deal on an 2005 E550 in about 6 months or so. because there will be a lot of them for sale so the prices will be good. it will be the same as it is now with the E500's. Today you can get an 04 in the low 30's if you look ouside the dealers lots. and it will normally have less that 40K miles and still have a little factory warranty left.


Happy hunting...
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Old Aug 27, 2006 | 11:18 PM
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An interesting post, I have been thinking about the exact same thing ever since I "built my own 550" on the mbusa website this weekend Typically, the third year of a body style has always caused a drop in demand, as people wait for the newly launched model to arive next year. In the case of this e550, it may actually be sooner this time, for the following reasons:

1. A Completely new E comes in 2009, not just a refresh of the current style.

2. Gas prices are causing a drop in demand for big engined auto's/SUV's

3. The quality woes of the 2003-2006 e-class has lost MB a lot of current consumers, who may have traded up to the newer model in the past.

I think we may see a sale on these Next August, and I sure hope so, since it sounds like a fantastic car. I know we'll be keeping our eyes peeled!
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Old Aug 28, 2006 | 12:27 PM
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I would still consider the 07 e-class, there are some advantages such as the free 333 package, and new steering. Of course,

if your really ready to plunk down the big ones, I would certainly just wait another 1.5-2 years when the 2009 version , is going to have way better build quality than when the 03 came out with.
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Old Aug 29, 2006 | 11:20 AM
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SL550
I'm going with the 6-month opinion. The W211 has been out for 4 years now, and although a new engine will cause a short-term bump in demand, in 6 months it'll be yesterday's news and will then be a 4 1/2 year-old design. For a little while I regretted getting my E350 last December instead of waiting for the E550, but considering I got one of the last cars made with the AMG package for nearly $7000 off MSRP, I knew getting one of the first E550s when they first came out (if at MSRP) would've put me a good $15,000 higher on purchase price even without the AMG body and wheels. No thanks.
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