Advice on purchasing a GLS450 pros/cons about financing and ownership
03-18-2018, 05:36 PM
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2005 Mercedes Benz E320 CDI
Advice on purchasing a GLS450 pros/cons about financing and ownership
Hi everyone!
This is my first post and I thought this would be a good place to ask this question.
We’ve had a few Mercedes over the years and now that our family is expanding, we want to purchase a 2017 GLS 450 (I’m not sure what package it is but I want all the bells and whistles like the parktronics with active parking assist
)
We’re making the decision to buy the car and not lease. I would love to keep the car for at least 10 years while the kids are young (my husband is a former MB master certified technician so he always takes good care of the cars) We would also like to pay for half the car up front.
Here’s my question- we’ve always leased because it was affordable but we’re tired of the never ending car payments. Is there a downside to putting up half of a used cars cost upfront? May be a dumb question but just looking for good advice.
And does anyone have an advice, pros/cons about the GLS450 in general?
This is my first post and I thought this would be a good place to ask this question.
We’ve had a few Mercedes over the years and now that our family is expanding, we want to purchase a 2017 GLS 450 (I’m not sure what package it is but I want all the bells and whistles like the parktronics with active parking assist
) We’re making the decision to buy the car and not lease. I would love to keep the car for at least 10 years while the kids are young (my husband is a former MB master certified technician so he always takes good care of the cars) We would also like to pay for half the car up front.
Here’s my question- we’ve always leased because it was affordable but we’re tired of the never ending car payments. Is there a downside to putting up half of a used cars cost upfront? May be a dumb question but just looking for good advice.
And does anyone have an advice, pros/cons about the GLS450 in general?
03-18-2018, 11:48 PM
#2
The biggest con in my mind is the GL/GLS's overall reliability. Spend some time in the X164 forum and you'll see how common it is for pretty significant components to fail before 100k miles. I'm talking about things such as a/c, suspension and steering components, etc. Drivetrain seems to be pretty solid with preventative maintenance. What seems to get people on the $$$ front is their inability to do repairs themselves. So, I think you've got it made though with a former MB master tech as a husband. Depreciation would normally be another drawback with any luxury SUV but if you're in it for 10 years, its kind of a moot point because most 10 year old large SUV's are worth about the same at that point. It comes down to how much you want to spend now. I think the GLS's biggest pro is its usefulness. It manages to do so many things well. It's a great size for a growing family. You can get larger but you'll feel like your driving a tank. Smaller is out there but defeats the purpose of getting a 3 row SUV for room. It achieves quite good gas mileage for the performance you get. It's one of the best riding and quietest SUVs out there. I find it to be an outstanding highway cruiser.
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wyatt88 (03-19-2018)
03-19-2018, 05:47 PM
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We have a 2010 gl450 and can completely agree with the reliability side.
The engine life so far is great with regular preventive maintainance, but we've had a lot of things go wrong. Things that are likely to have carried over.
Ball joints squeaking. Taillight led burning out
Air springs and struts and compressor on all 4 corners.
Belt tensioner, three idler pulleys. A couple keyless go sensors..
The list can go on.
That being said we love the car and so far our extended warranty through carmax has paid out without a problem at our mb dealership every time.
What's stopping you from looking at a 13-16 gl550? They can be had for a song and have nearly every option as standard. Also they have a biturbo v8 instead of a v6 biturbo leaving your engine very understressed.
Furthermore an extended warranty on one of those can give you plenty peace of mind.
The engine life so far is great with regular preventive maintainance, but we've had a lot of things go wrong. Things that are likely to have carried over.
Ball joints squeaking. Taillight led burning out
Air springs and struts and compressor on all 4 corners.
Belt tensioner, three idler pulleys. A couple keyless go sensors..
The list can go on.
That being said we love the car and so far our extended warranty through carmax has paid out without a problem at our mb dealership every time.
What's stopping you from looking at a 13-16 gl550? They can be had for a song and have nearly every option as standard. Also they have a biturbo v8 instead of a v6 biturbo leaving your engine very understressed.
Furthermore an extended warranty on one of those can give you plenty peace of mind.
Last edited by kombifan; 03-19-2018 at 05:50 PM.
03-19-2018, 08:57 PM
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2018 GLS 450
I was pro ownership until I had to lemon a Volvo. By the numbers buying used may save some money in the long run but there is more risk. I’ve swung toward leasing because of the insane amount of tech in the cars. Not only can the tech fail but the tech is rapidly changing. Cars that are 5 years old look ancient on the inside. Infotainment is changing, semiautonomous and safety features are getting better and better and in 5 years current models may appear very dated from a tech standpoint.
03-20-2018, 01:44 PM
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The X164 generation(07-12) was the first gen and had some teething problems. The following X166 generation fared much better except for the first year('13) where some cars had vibrations that could not be sorted. Current gen is too new to determine reliability.
Sweet spot appears to be '14 where you can buy a CPO car at half price with a quarter or less of its life used. The GL450s have a detuned GL550 motor and is the best value of them all. Diesels are higher maintenance than the V8TTs. The V8TTs have proven to be very reliable. New GL450s with V6 turbos are too young to know how well they hold up and if they are over stressed with the GL weight.
Look for a high optioned CPO '14. No need to carry a loan and never look back.
Sweet spot appears to be '14 where you can buy a CPO car at half price with a quarter or less of its life used. The GL450s have a detuned GL550 motor and is the best value of them all. Diesels are higher maintenance than the V8TTs. The V8TTs have proven to be very reliable. New GL450s with V6 turbos are too young to know how well they hold up and if they are over stressed with the GL weight.
Look for a high optioned CPO '14. No need to carry a loan and never look back.
