michaelgrey

Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Great place here!

Based in Europe. Mid twenties. Never had anything but a Fiesta.

My grandfather used to buy slightly used Mercedes Cs and didn't pay much more for them than my parents did for a newish Citroen estate. We'd be on our second car when his Mercedes (90s) was still running happily. That always stuck with me.

I'm planning on driving 75k km (50k mi) a year for my business - effectively being a traveling salesman. I need a presentable, safe, comfortable car to eat up the miles.

1) Is a used E W212 (150-200 hp) the way to go?

2) For the miles that I'm doing: fuel usage + mechanical reliability: diesel or gas?

3) For the miles that I'm doing: a 2011 100k+ km car or a 2014-5 <50k km example?
What makes most sense financially in my case?

4) Reselling in my case worth it? Or drive it into the ground?

5) Or buy a basic C a be done with it?

Researching as much as possible but it's overwhelming for a beginner. I'd love your feedback on this.

Man, I feel like it's coming full circle, I've always wanted to own one of these just like my grandfather... now with my business visiting potential customers I have found a legitimate reason / excuse :-)

All the best,

Michael

LemonSqueezy

I say whatever e classes the taxi drivers use in Europe, you use the same one too! Financially speaking if you're putting that many miles, it makes no sense paying more to buy a lower mileage vehicle. The w205 c classes are nice too I suppose

cetialpha5

This is basically a US centric site so most of us probably don't know much about how Europe operates. In the US, used CPO cars from the dealers have an unlimited miles warranty. The new car warranty is only 4 years/50k miles. That kind of miles means you're pretty much burning up the car after a few years.

pezzy669

Absolutely go for it! Just remember depending on how used you go to keep a repair buffer at the ready.

Piling that many miles on a year I would definitely go for the E if you are looking for long distance comfort. I had a W204 ('09 C300 Luxury) and now a W212 ('11 E350 Sport) and the ride quality difference is night and day, while the C does ride much better than your typical non-luxury small car it is a crashy rattle box compared to the E. I honestly don't know if I could go back to driving a C after now driving an E. Also the C (W204) seems to have quite a few more reliability issues versus the E (W212) and in my opinion was built more to a cost versus the E, there is a huge difference in quality between the two cars.

Fuel economy - the E and C (at least in North American V6 guise) are not too terribly off from each other, my RWD C300 (3.0 V6) was rated at 18City 25 HWY while my 4Matic E350 (3.5 V6) is rated at 17 City 24 HWY. Heavier, more powerful and AWD and only sacrificing 1 MPG. I don't know much about the diesel versions you get over there but would say diesel all the way, since ~05 or so the few diesels we get here are no better and often times worse than the gassers because all the emissions equipment they have piled onto them.

On what year/mileage to buy - don't know about Europe but residual value on used Merc's here is horrific to say the least. I have had luck in the sweet spot of 6-8 years with 70-90k miiles where the depreciation free fall starts to level off, and it is not too late to catch up on possible deferred maintenance (naturally don't get a car that has had maintenance SEVERELY neglected). This mileage seems to be the point that the people who can afford to drop $60k+ every 7-8 years on a car don't want to deal with the increasing maintenance costs that comes with a 7-8 year old Merc. For example a similar age and mileage Mazda 3 would save me about $3.5-5k vs what I paid for my E350, the 3 was probably half the price of the E350 when brand new.

I don't know what kind of brand image MB has in Europe but here it can get you unwanted attention or snide remarks at your age as they are perceived as a status symbol here. I am 34 and have colleagues commenting how they must not get paid as much as me, how I am a high roller, etc. as they drive off in their brand new $25k+ Honda Accord's and Toyota Camry's or $20k Civic's and Corolla's. I just laugh it off and don't engage to let them know how much I truly paid for the car. I fell in the trap of getting a new Mazda 3 every 3-5 years and they truly are great cars for what they are, but I always wanted a Mercedes again (first car was a hand me down severely neglected 14 year old 1986 300E). I discovered the light 2 years ago that a MB is obtainable on a middle manager salary if you go the route you are looking at going.

Best of luck and let us know what you end up getting, I get a little jealous of the expanded engine ranges you have over in EU.

bigjule

@ pezzy669... Nicely stated !