Hello everyone,

First post on here. I am coming off of a long line of BMW and Audi never having leased or owned a MBZ before. I currently drive 2015 Audi Q5 TDI and love it (35 MPG is with mixed driving is nice!). We recently had new baby ( 2 kids total now) and my wife is set on a 3 row seat car. We looked at Q7, Escalade, GX, and just yesterday test drove a fully loaded 2015 GL550. My wife was blown away- the ride, the seat massager, the room, the tech etc. I started looking around and came to conclusion that a CPO GL63 AMG would fit the bill for both of us. My questions:

1. I am going to start looking into 2014 or 2015 CPO. Any difference between these MYs? My research shows that not much or none.

2. I am very concerned about long term reliability. Do you guys recommend extended warranty and prepaid maintenance? Is buying from MBZ the only option or are there reputable 3rd party options (there are with Audi)?

3. My wife doesn't drive that much, 8K per year at most. I've read that these cars go through tires, brakes and oil. How bad is this? I am at 21K miles on my TDI and still have like 1/2 thread left. MBZ doesn't use run flats, do they?

4. Any other advice for me where to start looking for purchase? My budget is around 70K, but obviously want to get a smoking end of the year deal maybe? I am in LA so plenty of dealers around here.

5. Lastly, I read that B&O is a must. But that deletes a spare tire? Is there big difference with standard HK? Any other options that are a must?

TIA! Really appreciate all your help.

RJ

 

1. Not much really.

2. My experience has been hit and miss. I bought the extended warranty for my C55 For $4k and it was well worth it. I had it for 120K miles and after the expiration, I had nothing but general maintenance. For my last ML, no extended warranty and did not have any repairs (lucky I guess). I bought a C63 edition 1 last year and the extended warranty was $7k! Pass on that. I recently bought a 2015 GL63 and my god I love it! I have not bought the extended warranty. For $7k, I would rather chance it and get every little thing done under the existing warranty and do all the recommended maintenance. I plan on keeping both of these AMGs for some time so I hope I don't regret not getting the warranty. In the end, it comes down to your comfort level and what you are willing to gamble. If the price of the extended warranty is any indication and knowing MB needs to make money on these things, you can guess its priced high for a reason.

3. Depends a lot on driving style but in general, yes, they go through brakes and tires faster ear than most. But remember, this s a heavy vehicle so it will chew through these consumables.

4. Cars.com

5. Most audiophiles will not be able to tell the difference. New, it is not worth the price but used, it should not impact the price that much. Must haves a the surround view camera and trail hitch if you think you will ever tow and thing. From the factory, the hitch is $575 I think, after the fact, about $2k. I know as mine does not have it and t goes in to MB tomorrow to have one install. Curt does not make one for the GL63 and I was not able to find any other group that did. Most non MB shops cannot install it after the fact either as it requires reprogramming the SAM. So get it if you can. All the rest are just your preference.

6. If Calabasas has a black 2015 CPO, that has been there for a while, avoid it. They flat out lied to me about it and I drove all the way from Reno and it was a horrible turd of a car. Told me it was perfect and it five minutes I destroyed it by pointing out all the issues...including that it had been wrecked when they promised a clean car fax.

Good luck and PM me if you want to talk more details.

Kurt

 

Thank you so much, really helpful. I have a question regarding extended AMG warranty. From what have read, I have 2 options:

1. Purchase a CPO car. In that case, my only OEM warranty option is to by additional 1 or 2 years CPO warranty which, as I understand it, is not as comprehensive as ELW warranty.

2. Purchase a no CPO car with less then 50K miles. In that case, I could buy ELW warranty for up to 7 years.

Is this correct?

TIA!

Rj

 

1) 2015 has no 3rd row sunroof, only up to 2013 has the full pano roof. 2015 has no 6 cd changer.

2) 100% get the MB Factory Extended Limited Warranty (ELW). The pre-paid is questionable for you, if you don't use it, you lose it. And it looks like you don't drive it a lot. I bought it because it's cheaper from the standard price, plus no taxes (where you pay taxes for service if you don't buy it). I've had several warranty items already addressed, they would have been expensive out of warranty. While reliable, fixes can be expensive. You can buy the ELW any time PRIOR to your factory warranty expiring, you can do it over the phone with any MB dealership. Shop around and you could save 0-20% off MSRP.

3) Tire - yes, you will go through them. Once they go, just get the Continental DWS and that will help a lot. No run flats. Mine doesn't go through oil. It goes through brakes, but nothing crazy.

4) search every day on cars.com and autotrader.com - that's what i did until I found mine. Took me 6 months to find one with the right color and options I wanted.

5) I had to have B&O. I am no audiophile, but I had the HK in my GL550 - then when I saw and heard the B&O, it was a must have. It just looks that much better too in my opinion. It already comes standard with Active Curve so no issues there. Night vision wasn't a must have, but now having it - it's very useful at night.

6) CPO warranty is 1 extra year. You can buy an extra 1 or 2 years for a total of 3 years. The CPO ELW is just as comprehensive that I am aware of and trumps standard ELW because 1) it's cheaper (probably because it already went through an inspection) and 2) unlimited mileage warranty. I bought a CPO and CPO ELW 2 years with unlimited mileage - you can't really beat that if you drive a lot.

7) correct, less than 50k miles, less than 4 years, then you can buy up to 3 extra years from any MB dealer.

CPO must come with two keys, all items, etc...

 

Thank you so much. Incredibly helpful.

 

I meant up to 2014 has pano roof. I have it.

 

Any result from your search?