The basic set up is that I wanted to get into something softer than my 2012 X5 35d daily driver. It was very reliable and had great power but was rough enough to be tiring. I like the diesels in the mid-size SUV's. The audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne are on stop sell with no end in sight. I tried to order a BMW X5 for 6 weeks but couldn't get an allocation for a diesel. The GLE with the small diesel didn't work for me.

For the heck of it I bought a buyback 2014 ML350 Bluetec from Westwood Motors in Dallas. It was $45K and had the exact equipment I wanted. I could afford the risk so what the heck?

I've now put about 500 miles on it and been all through it. I did an oil change and air lifter change myself just to get a hands on look. I kid you not, this is one of the cleanest vehicles I've owned and I'm a car nut. It doesn't look like it's ever been driven in the rain. The heat shields are shiny and so on. The buyback was due to stalling and Benz replaced the selector switch. I couldn't find a place where it's ever had a wrench on it. I sent an oil sample out and I'll see what that says.

it drives perfect and I just love the motor. 30MPG at 70MPG. Good power around town and it will cruise an easy 80-90MPH if I need to.

I swore I'd never buy a car that had been lemoned but so far it's been great. My guess is that it was a customer trying to stiff mercedes on a payment or something. At any rate, just think the truck is fantastic.

I'll let you know if it goes bad on me.

 

Glad it worked out for you - for "most" it doesn't - and understand the Lemon Tile will follow the vehicle forever.

Just so you know - you "should" have the balance of the MB 4yr/50K mile new car warranty in effect - you can have a MB dealer check with your VIN#.

Under Lemon Title MB will not extend the new car warranty - and so you know a Mercedes dealer won't "normally" accept as trade-in because the MB dealer can never/ever retail that MB with Lemon Title

 

It's amazing that the F15 is still such a hot seller. Glad you like it. You've probably already noticed the different power delivery. The 35d has a sportier feel to it whereas the BlueTec just has even more of a surge. The Bluetec also has more torque than the VW & BMW power plants. We tried to get into an X5 several times but for one reason or another, never worked out. I had the BlueTec for about 3.5yrs and loved it. Just get yourself ready for the oil cooler leaks and hopefully you'll have no issues w/ the adblue heater. Not to be a kill joy, but here is some light reading for you. Proper and preventive maintenance seems to be the key to keeping that engine running.

https://mbworld.org/forums/diesel-fo...ne-seized.html

http://www.stephensservice.com/bluet...ssuesproblems/

 

The title sort of follows. The new title does not reflect a buy back classification.

Warranty is through the end of 2018. I ran the VIN prior to buying the car.

Not sure that I care about trading at the dealer anyways. I buy and sell a fair number of cars and almost always sell them privately.

Agree that there is risk on the backside when I sell but the main risk is did I get a bad car and thus far I love the car. From the resale perspective, you get crushed on buying almost any new MB especially the AMG cars. Because the entry price on this is low I'm not that concerned.

 

You're not being a kill joy at all. I'll probably sell it by the end of warranty but there are a lot of units on the roads with few problems. I'm kind of conditioned by boat diesels so these issues seem pretty minor.

It's funny you say you could make an X5 work for whatever reason. Same thing here. It's just a tough time to buy a diesel right now with the VW mess, BMW not building in the time window I needed and my preference for the bigger motor.

 

You can't buy real lemons... they are not resold. You got a great deal, that V6 diesel is amazing.

 

Manufacturers can buy back the vehicle, fix them, and resell them at auction.
I think it's silly to spend money on a lemon car.

 

Looks like they cleaned the title. Texas is supposedly one of the states that can produce a clean title on a salvage/lemon vehicle. I learned this while doing the search for my GL. New Jersey is another one.