hotinaz

Hi

I just need your opinion, Do you all think I will regret for getting 450 instead to just pulling the plug and go with the 550 ?

Thanks

CommanderCody

I'm certainly biased here; however, after optioning-out a 550, I can say with absolute certainty that I have no regrets.

The only compelling reason I had to go with a nicely-appointed 450 was Distronic, and the looks of the 550 changed my mind the moment I saw it in person and took it for a spin.

-CC

Stumblefoot

IMHO... If you are asking the question, you already have regret.

Joyride

Good point! Go with the 550, you will not regret! The only doubt that I had when purchasing was that maybe, maybe all of the sudden MB would make the 420CDI available. But that was wishfull thinking on my part.

hotinaz

I see your point

StevethePilot

Good to see you're still here. I tried calling yesterday to see if you were affected by the weather. I assume you and yours are all well and safe?

STP

BeanCounter

If you are getting a GL with only a few options then get the 450. If you are getting a fully decked out GL then get the 550. A 550 is not that much more than a fully loaded 450.

nantucketsleigh

Agreed, my 450's MSRP was about $68K. If the 550 was available at the time I would have stepped up. Interestingly every car mag write-up on the 550 I've seen concluded that the 450 or 320 was a better choice. They believed that the extra power really does not add to the appeal of a GL type vehicle. I am always for extra power.

Stumblefoot

Thanks for the note Pilot.

Everybody is good here in Evergreen. We're about 80 miles south/southwest from the devastation and thanking our lucky stars that tornadoes are virtually impossible in the mountains.

Colorado certainly gets its fair share of tornadoes out on the plains, but the storm that hit this week was a true rarity. From what we've learned from the media, there hasn't been a tornado of that size since 1989. Every 20 years is plenty in my book.

hotinaz

The msrp for the 450 that I want is almost 70K, however they are more willing to give you discount on 450 than the 550. I'm hoping they'll let it go for around 66K. Where on the 550 they can only go to 79K fully loaded, so that's about 13K difference

nantucketsleigh

I have not done the calculation but Car&Driver said they compared the cost of a a 450 and 550 with the same equipment (except for the wheels&engine) and concluded the cost difference was about $7000. Locally 450's are available at invoice with little hassle; 550's are not discounted as much so that the cost
of the 550's wheels and engine is about $10000.

Newbie_2_MB

I received a letter yesterday from the dealership I use for service (MB of Valencia, CA) that they are offering $4,500 off MSRP on any 2008 GL450 and $5,000 off MSRP on any 2007 GL 450 this weekend.

When I went to buy my GL 450 in April 2007 from this dealership, they were MSRP only so I bought my GL elsewhere...interesting how times change.

Nevada Jack

I have read several articles that the large SUV market is in free fall on the used car market... not encouraging. I imagine discounts like you cite are also available for the 550 in some places.

I am still impressed with the 550 and would recommend it to anyone regardless of the gas prices.

oknish

Both new and used large SUV markets are pretty much free falling, Jack. On the lot 550 can be had for invoice in LA these days.

caribe8`

Hi All,
I just got a GL550 fully loaded from MB in Valencia, CA for $1000 off Dealer's Invoice. Pretty much all dealers with in 25 mile radius were willing to do invoice or below Invoice. So there is a lot of room to negotiate. I don't think sales on SUV's are doing well.

Newbie_2_MB

Congratz & welcome to the forum! Any pictures yet??

ksdprasad

IMO GL450 is better bet in terms of fuel economy in current day gas prices. And some where in internet i read gas prices will go up even more and touch $6-7 a gallon by EOY 08.

Stumblefoot

I'll be the first to eat my words, but I don't think we'll see gas at $6 by end of this year as that would imply over $200/barrel oil. Personally, gas prices tend to peak around the Memorial Day holiday and retreat from there.

A sign that gas prices are impacting consumption came from the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel this weekend. For those of you who do not know, the tunnel provides the quickest access to Colorado towns like Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mtn., Vail, Beaver Creek, etc. Vehicular traffic through the tunnel for the 3-day weekend was off 7% and posted the smallest traffic count since holiday records began to be broken out of the data in 2003.

http://www.dot.state.co.us/Eisenhowe...untsMemDay.pdf

nantucketsleigh

Spoke with the manager of local Ford dealership - they are no longer taking any large SUV's as trade-ins. They recently tried to sell 5 2007 Expeditions at auction at $21,000 all came back.

Comfy_Couch

From your lips to g*d's ears . . .

Stumblefoot

I know and I paid dearly on the golf course today after smartly making a comment how I was even par on the back through 4 holes. I immediately tripled the 13th hole on my way to a lovely 9 over for the last 9.

Based on that, I imagine that we'll see $6 gas by the 4th of July now.

thebishman

When we took delivery on Tuesday of our new 320 CDI, it took $115 of the dealership money to fill it up. The salesman had to run the credit card through twice! Ah well, it'll be our money filling it up soon enough.

Bish

StevethePilot

Just did my first >$125 fill up with a quarter tank left. We are paying near the bottom of prices nationally here in the Phoenix market (no idea why at all, makes no sense, we have no refineries here), I'm so looking forward to inching my way up to national average prices.

JimBarnhart

[QUOTE=StevethePilot;2853656]Just did my first >$125 fill up with a quarter tank left.[/QUOTE



Do you guys across the country see where the pumps stop pumping at $75 if you pay at the pump with debit or credit card? I hate that since my Dodge Ram diesel has a 35 gallon tank and the GL has a larger tank too.

Why do these people not want to take my money?

Newbie_2_MB

I complained to my credit card company about this & they said they do it because of fraud. If you pay at the pump, there may be a $50 or $75 limit. If you go inside the station & show ID, then it is supposed to be unlimited. It's a pain, I know. I usually have to swipe my card twice to fill the GL.

We first encountered this credit card fraud issue when traveling across the country by motorcycles. With a motorcycle, you have to refuel every 150 or so miles and we have 2 bikes. Sometimes, we'll have to fill up 3 times in a day. Well, if you pay at the pump with a gas company card more than twice a day, they will block the pay at the pump convenience & you have to go in. Now, we pay attention and try to use different gas stations each day and at each fill up.