NorseWagon

I enjoyed my E-500 for 3 years and a few months: 24,000 miles, total $$ "invested" $28K for purchase, tax, shipping, extended warranty, repairs to qualify for warranty, deductions, services, upgrades (blue tooth puck, nav update, new headlights, etc) not including gas or insurance.

Traded in for a lease on a 2013 Chevy Volt. Got $8K for the Benz and quite a discount and favorable lease rate on the Volt.

All in all happy with the E-500, loved driving it but the mileage ate me alive: 15 mpg and premium fuel, then the fact that the aftermarket warranty expired a few months ago and problems started popping up: Abnormal wear on tires, check engine light that kept coming back, headlights that would not adjust right, little trim pieces that would not stay in place, flaking of paint on bumpers, etc.
Mostly little things, but the big one could be around the corner anytime, tranny re-build, AirMatic problems, etc., etc.
Made me nervous and time to get a new or newer car.
Got the Volt as much of my driving are short trips and I should be able go months before filling up the tank, and the lease payments will be the same as what I paid for gas for the wagon the last 3+ years.

Hoping to come back to MB down the road as I enjoyed the tech and the performance.

Thanks to you all for help and support over the years...

homeofstone

See you in 2 or 3 years.

starbrite

$8k trade in, are you kidding me....you got screwed big tiime !!

clkwork

vettdvr

Nope probably a reasonable offer on trade in. The reputation is already out there on the MB. Just check this site for E reliability or Consumer Reports. In addition people buying used normally can't affore high repair prices which we all know the MB has. So don't expect much on trade in.

A friend of mine bought the S500 for about $125,000 had lots of issus went to trade in on a new model at MB and at 3 yrs they offered him around $35,000. He bought a lexus not MB on his next purchase.

Just do a search online for blue book and check out trade in prices.

starbrite

Well, I guess I've been out of touch. Of course, when you're a buyer, the price always seems to be significantly higher, doesn't it ?

I had checked Edmunds only, and the TI for his car was listed @ $9800.

gaazmon

Ya the depreciation on these cars really sucks. I feel like only the C classes or SL's hold their value better than most of the MBs

Between future airmatic, SBC (once SBC warranty runs out), and the fuel tank problem (which I suspect from your most recent thread your car had too just like mine does) it really adds up on a car that is now really only worth less than 5 digits

The gas can definitely be a killer with the v8 (especially with the 5-speed tranny and/or AWD). My 320 does pretty well on the streets and highways and I definitely notice the difference compared to our CL500 (5-speed tranny as well) when it comes to the gas usage (especially here in socal with prices still hoovering around $4/gallon). I'm sure the 7-speeds give better fuel numbers for the 500's

06E5004ME

Losing $20k right off the bat seems painful to say the least. I'd look into selling the car to someone by yourself. I am sure with your maintance history you could find a buyer that would pay at least $10k. Going from W211 to Chevy Volt is going to be interesting. I drove an 08 Prius and sure, the $20 fill ups are nice, but it rides like crap especially on highways compared to W211. I am not sure why your MPG numbers are so low, over the last 7k miles I've averaged around 19mpg combined. Good luck though!

Long Islander

Wow, that seems like horrendous depreciation. That comes out to $2500/mo. Wouldn't a lease on that have been more like $1400/mo worse case? did he have a ton of miles on the car?

NorseWagon

Pretty happy with the ride actually, comfy even on the freeway, but not quite a Benz for sure.

No $20.00 fill-ups, that is Prius stuff, my buddy who has had a Volt for 2 years gets 2,800 miles to the gallon.

You plug it in overnight and if ya drive less than 40 miles a day there is no need to fill up the gas tank as the generator never starts up.

I full charge on the batteries cost about $1.50 so you pay one way or the other but much cheaper than gas. If live close to a nuke power plant you can get off-peak rates at half price and the deal is even sweeter.
So far I am happy with the Volt and have not seen an un-happy Volt owner (yet)

Yup, the MBs drops in value for sure. I paid $18K for a 5 year old $68K car: It had dropped $10K per year and after driving it for 3 years + it dropped another $10K or so.

Really enjoyed my E-500 Wagon, but got tired of the 15 MPG average. 10 around town, heavy car and 4-Matic etc did not help. Drove to Atlanta and back once and got low 20s on the freeway doing 80.

NorseWagon

As far as the picture of the burning garage: Some Volt owners have used inferior adapters and the wrong gauge extension cords, creating a fire hazard.
You could do the same with your hot water heater or dryer as well: High current and wrong cords could be a bad combo...

Not sure how many fires originated in the car, but sure would like to know..?

malahhaor

Maybe just me, but I purchase a car for my enjoyment and not trade-in value.
I'm surprised by such a bad fuel consumption on your E. I had 04 S500 and was averaging 19 for two years of me owning the vehicle, easy 28+ on highway. I average 17 on 7 speed 550 these days. Go figure.
Anywho, good luck with your new purchase. Do look back at Benz when looking for a new ride.

clkwork

Hahah, it was just a joke man. Congrats on the new Volt, you can't argue with the fuel savings

I haven't heard of the problems with the adapters, the only issue I recall is with the crashed Volt that didn't have the battery disconnected properly. I believe it caught on fire in the salvage yard a few days later.

NorseWagon

Yeah 15 MPG ain't great but heavy car and when I drive to work at night, 10 PM and no traffic on I-95 I go fairly fast so I don't get the typical highway numbers, say 85 mph at 18 mpg or so.
Also do a lot of little in town driving, home depot, grocery store and uh, liquer store. Got a few apartments to deal with and other in-town stuff and that was indeed killing the milage..

Because of the above, the Volt is perfect but I won'd be driving at 85 or 90 mph anymore, that would drain the battery fast...

Yup, I have read aobut that problem too. It caused a big stink and some redesign before the NHTSA would "approve" the Volt.

Should be okay now and I am starting to like the car more and more..Not a Greenie and not trying to save the planet, just tired of supporting them Arabs by depleting my checking account.
9/11 was planned and executed by a bunch of Saudis and they can stick their crude up their asses..

ProjectCamaro

Except for thost that catch fire after an accident.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1114193.html




Just giving you a hard time, I hope you enjoy the car for many years.

NorseWagon

Year old article...Sorry I have only had this car for a few days and have not been investigating enough or deep enough.

I realize that rebuplicans and/or red necks thinks the Volt is a communist plot and by god, real men and real americans should pay even more for gas and send the profits over to the rag-heads in the middle east rather than driving a battery car for cents on the dollar..

vettdvr

He had planned on keeping the car but had so many reliability issues he decided he didn't want a MB and wanted a new Lexus. Had it not been in the shop so often he might have kept it. The final straw was when the entire dash failed.

DubVBenz

I'm considering leaving the 211 myself.. I'm going to list it and see what happens, if I can get enough for it, I'm going to sell it and get a 335D

dothetime

I also love my E350, but I am tired of the ridiculous price of maintenance.
I do a lot of work myself, oil changes, brake pads, etc.
My car is in for a transmission fluid change and a wheel alignment at the dealer, the trans service which is really not a DIY project is $400, and the wheel alignment which may need camber and or caster bolts will be from $140-300. I tried a local alignment place and they were not able to do the complete alignment because of the bolts that need to be changed.
The tires which last 20 thousand miles are $300 each, can't be rotated due to the staggered wheels.
You need to be stupid rich to have a Mercedes, and not give a crap as to what it costs after the sale, so that you can just tell the service advisor to do what it needs and send me the bill. I am comfortable but I hate throwing money away like this.
So I am thinking of the new plug in Honda Accord when it becomes available.
Just venting here guys.
Dave

Flash Gordon

I traded mine this past June after my son told me he got such a good deal on the 2012 MDX, he flew to Virgina from St Louis to buy it. With a 8K off list price, I did not hesitate one bit! My wife and I drove to VA and picked up the new MDX. My trade-in was decent, got 9.7K for my 2003 E500 with 70K miles. I heard later a mechanic at the dealer's bought it for 9.9K.

The reason I sold it was, like someone said it earlier, the potential problems like Airmatic, SBC, and the fuel odor. These would amount to big bucks for a car worh less than 10K! We bought it new in 11/2002, I liked the W211, the car rides well, get 27 miles on the highway. My wife was very reluctant to trade it in. But the first 2 years was terrible! You name the problem, I had it. As a matter of fact, the day we picked up the car, the check engine light showed up at the dealership! Talk about embarassment! Turned out to be a bad fuel sending unit which was replaced a week later.

The poor reliability burn a lot of W211 owners and made them turned to other makes like I did.

bkhk

My 2006 W211 E500 was totally reliable for 12 months. I spared no expense on servicing (ex MB indy), fixed the TPMS and changed the big belt. I had most of the work done from guidance on this site.

Then, my nav failed. I cleaned all the connections, checked the condition of the DVD, changed the antenna but to no avail. I don't need nav but it annoyed me that it didn't work. I realized that while I could easily afford the maintenance financially, the time and hassle of getting things done with trips to dealer, indy etc is not how I want to spend my annual vacation days.

I love the E500, its a great car with many fantastic features but I think you need to be an enthusiast to own one and be prepared to spend the time and money to keep it running perfectly.

In June, I traded it for a new X5 3.5D with corporate extended warranty and extended free servicing. Its worry free motoring and I am very happy with it.

novae500

Took my 4matic w 54,000 in to dealer For fuel leak and humming from rear when going 30mph or more. Replaced fuel pump ds $275 parts and need a new rear differential costing $3475 for part. Not sure what labor will be. Luckily have cpo to cover all of it. If not looking at probably $5,000 bill.

NorseWagon

They did a good job of cleaning it up. Possible new rubber, hard to tell.


http://www.maroonechevrolet.net/Vehi...283?cs:o=52561

AMGAffalterbach

I thought prison when I first saw the bid farewell. That or suicide. Oh well at least I know you're still a free man probably free of felony charges. Wow I really need to start being a more positive person....

Anyway I put $20 on the 3 year mark for you coming back to the MB world, anyone else want to join the pot PM me and hope I don't forget 3 years from now.

I wish the best of luck to you and your family, hope all goes well and feel free to report back curious to see how an (ex)-MB owner will like a Chevy.

NorseWagon

Well hell, never say never.
I was waiting for the new GLK Diesel, but it never came and I needed new wheels as my E-500 started developing problems and with no warranty, it could get expensive, that and new brakes, new tires on the list of things to do, and oh, tired of buying gas and pumping my hard earned money to some rag-head country that produced 15 of the 19 highjackers..Saudi Arabia. Can't live without oil, but the E was darn thirsty at 15 mpg, same milage as the SUV og pick-up crowd are getting.

At any rate, stopped for a Volt test drive on my way to lunch and sure enough, liked the car and the dealer was willing to deal.

No regrets buying the volt, like it more and more and since purchase 11-10 I have used only 3 gallons @450 miles on the road, probably will not see a gas station until next year some time.

It helps that I get free HOV and free Express lane stickers saving me hundreds more per year as I live in Fort Lauderdale and drive to Miami for work. The savings probably pays for the lease, easy math.

Perhaps I will be back later if I fall in love with a Toy-Benz, but for everyday driving I am quite content.