Hi everyone. Relatively New to the MBworld forums, however a long time Mercedes owner and lifelong Mercedes & AMG fan. Like many of you, when I heard MB was “suspending” all V8 sales for MY2022, except the S class, I was floored (and not in a good way, if you’ll pardon the pun).

My plan of getting a G class allocation at a reasonable 7.5% off MSRP ordered to my specifications has, likely, been put on hold indefinitely. In the meantime, I was scrambling to find and secure one of 6 C63s Cabriolets in the US or being built, that weren’t already spoken for, to replace the order of a MY22 that Mercedes will likely cancel (if they haven’t already). In the end, I was able to find one at a dealer close to me (2 hours away) that nearly matched everything my wife wanted. Ok problem solved.

2 weeks go by and I get a call offering me what I paid for my Tesla Model 3 Performance 2 years and 12,000 miles ago. Yeah ok, sold. That leaves me with my “dirty work” truck, the ML, and my trusty GLC300 4Matic. Both SUVs are great, but neither are truly fun to drive (the Tesla isn’t either except in a straight line 0-60, lol). That left me with a huge empty pit in my stomach of, oh no, the wife’s AMG will be the only fun car to drive. There is no having that.

I called the guy who made the offer on the Tesla and figured it wouldn’t hurt to get an offer on the GLC. Turns out it’s worth more than I owe to buy out the lease. Ok car shopping time! I shopped the x3m, x5m, Macan GTS & Turbo, Maserati Levante, the XC60 & XC90, GLE53, and the Tesla Model Y & X.

The Tesla’s were dropped first as my wife hates the way they drive (regen f&$@ing sucks, as she puts it). The BMWs went next as they drove great, but the interior styling is no better than Audi and looks cheap. It might feel premium, but looks are more important than feel. The Maserati went no sooner than looking into the cockpit and seeing FCA parts littered throughout. I don’t care if it’s got a Ferrari engine, if it’s got Durango parts in it. That makes it a half-assed fancy Durango with a red engine block, lest we forget it drove no better than the BMW, arguably worse.

That left me with the GLE53 and the Macan GTS (Turbo was cut as it’s not available in MY22, GTS is now top dog). I test drove the GLE and the huge glass 2/screen thing distracted the crap outta me. At least in the G wagon it has a glare shield. In the GLE it’s pretty much wide open and glare is a problem. Then there is the handling of the GLE53. It didn’t feel like an AMG. It felt like a normal Benz with a sport package. So I drove a GLE63 and that fixed the driving issue, but the screen issue remained. Ok, over to Porsche.

Test drove the Macan Turbo (will be the GTS in MY22). Loved it. Great handling, styling is on point, build quality where I like it. Check, check, check. Ok build one….Jesus H Christ! Porsche has options to galore, but wow are they good at charging for them. Then I did a little more research and maintaining these things gets pricey. We thought Mercedes was bad, hahaha. They got nothing on Porsche maintenance costs. Holy hell. Ok, but I’ll do it to own a Porsche. Was about to pull the trigger on a Macan S, picking up my phone to call the dealer and send over the credit card for the deposit and my phone rings…

My trusted dealer and sales manager personal friend says he has a lead on a GLC63 in Diamond White. It’s in Oregon, but I might like it. I got online pulled it up and my mouth dropped. Wow, what a beauty and a handcrafted V8. Ok, how much over sticker??

2 hours and several phone calls and texts back and forth and I’ve settled on a sticker price and paying their (only slightly marked up) prepaid maintenance and wheel/tire coverage. I’ll call it a win, especially since the few I found before were asking 10k+ over sticker on GLCs and 20k+ on GLEs.

Got the notification today, she heads out on the truck tomorrow and with any luck, I’ll have her before the weekend! Very excited 1st time AMG owner!

 

Congrats to you guys! Loved hearing about your other option as well as I was considering some of those. Did you get the GLC from Beaverton? I had inquired on that one but it was already sold, they seemed like a really good dealer though, they were going to sell me a used one with no markup but I couldn’t pull the trigger as it was missing some options I wanted. Congrats again!

 

Thanks for the kind words! Yes, it was Beaverton. Great dealership there. Will be keeping them in my rolodex for future vehicles as well.