machoman47

Hello All,
Currently we have a 2015 Lexus GX460 as my daily driver and my wife drives a 2012 VW Passat. i am thinking of buying a 2014 S550 for my wife. Her driving is limited no more then 15 miles/ day. a little back ground on car hunting so far... Audi A6 had too much of a Passat feel for us anyway , so that was no, MB E Class (till 2015) did not really impressed much either. One car that really had a the "WOW" factor for us is 2014 S550, hence i am here. My question is , what do i need to know before jumping in to the magical world of S Class.


yearly operating cost?
what kind of budget i need to set aside for regular wear and tear?
as per my research W222 model is more reliable one compared to its predecessors, how reliable is it? is it near Lexus reliability ?

I appreciate in advance all your honest inputs that will help me justify my decision to get a S550.

mikey94025

I don't think you should buy a used S550 thinking that it will be reliable and low maintenance, especially compared to your past Lexus vehicle.

Ownership cost for a used Mercedes will likely be high. The S550 will wow you and be very comfortable, but realize it is still an expensive foreign automobile that may have much higher maintenance & repair costs. Invest in a good extended warranty to protect yourself (and these are expensive too).

MBNUT1

If you really want to be "WOWED" wait until you have to pay for the first out of warranty repair. Trust me it will be the first first word that comes out of your mouth when you see the bill.

MTrauman

Below I have cut and pasted information from Edmunds on the 2014 S Class. You can expect to spend about $24,000 in maintenance cost over 5 years and another $8,000 in repairs over 5 years. Obviously your numbers may be different than these but this give you a good picture that the car will be more expensive to keep going than the Lexus. I hope this helps.

Ownership Costs: 5 Year Breakdown

S550 4MATIC Sedan(4.7L V8 Twin-turbo AWD 7-speed Automatic)

5 Year Details

•  
  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3
  • Year 4
  • Year 5
  • 5 Yr Total
•  
  • Depreciation
  • $12,709
  • $7,162
  • $6,119
  • $5,214
  • $4,450
  • $35,654
•  
  • Taxes & Fees
  • $3,037
  • $36
  • $36
  • $36
  • $36
  • $3,181
•  
  • Financing
  • $2,786
  • $2,240
  • $1,660
  • $1,038
  • $375
  • $8,099
•  
  • Fuel
  • $2,635
  • $2,714
  • $2,796
  • $2,880
  • $2,966
  • $13,991
•  
  • Insurance
  • $1,302
  • $1,341
  • $1,381
  • $1,423
  • $1,465
  • $6,912
•  
  • Maintenance
  • $8,003
  • $2,609
  • $3,804
  • $1,806
  • $8,203
  • $24,425
•  
  • Repairs
  • $1,395
  • $1,498
  • $1,607
  • $1,722
  • $1,845
  • $8,067
•  
  • True Cost to Own ®
  • $31,867
  • $17,600
  • $17,403
  • $14,119
  • $19,340
  • $100,329

superpop

I am on my second S class, I had a 2012 S550 4Matic for 3 years and traded it earlier this year for a 2015 S550 4matic. I had the MB extended length warranty on the 2012 and I ended up saving about what spent on the warranty. For me it was a wash and if I did not have the warranty would have probably been less as I would have gone to an indy. I am going with no warranty on my 2015 simply because I could not extend the factory warranty plus I am not convinced they are really needed. I picked up a low mileage (17K miles) example and will probably drive it for around 30K miles. Barring a catastrophic failure I should be money ahead. The transmissions and motors in these cars have been around for a while and most of the bugs are worked out and that really leaves the suspension and electronics both of which have a good track record under 50K miles. It is not a lexus but that is the point. It is in a completely different league. Yes maintenance will be more but not a ton more, especially if you are comfortable turning a wrench. I did the brakes on my last one for around 400 bucks for pads, rotors and all parts which is probably comparable to just about any big heavy car. The most important thing to understand is that once you drive an S for a while, it ruins you to other cars. Not sure what my next car will be as I am pretty spoiled with my current lazy boy on wheels.

MBNUT1

In general most people buy Lexus's so that they don't have to turn wrench's

superpop

And my cost of ownership on the 12 was as follows. Paid 46K for car in 2015 with 24K miles on the clock. Spend 3200 on warranty but got 900 back when I sold so cost of car was 48.3K. Spent around 1500 on tires and brakes and another 500 or so on misc stuff. Without gas or insurance I spent around 50K on the car and drove it for 26K miles over 3 years. Traded it in and got 30K on the trade, so for 3 years or 26K miles I spent around 20K or around 6.6K per year. I expect the same with my 2015, maybe a little more because I paid more for the 15 based on the options as it was a pretty loaded up car. These cars are a terrible investment financially regardless of new or used but they are great to drive and enjoy. If you want low depreciation buy a used Camry, if you want a true drivers car that floats down the road softer than a vagina on a cloud buy the S.

Katie22

Our 2016 Maybach now has just over 50,000 miles. It has been really a good car. As far as maintenance. I ended up buying the Mercedes WIS off ebay for 13 dollars and learned to do the maintenance myself. Rather do it myself than let someone else touch my stuff.

MBNUT1

You are my kind of S Class owner.

stever500

The car could easily cost $3k-$5k per year out of warranty. If you're good with that, go for it! Who knows, some years it would be $2k and others... $7500.

There's no knowing. Life's too short, just get it. Throw caution to the wind. No one can tell you what your actual car would cost each year even on a 3-5 year basis. Every car is different. I had a Volkswagen Jetta that cost $5500 the last year I owned it, it's 5th year. It could have easily cost just $1100 that car for another owner of the same year Jetta.

Wolfman

This really seems non-sensical and deeply flawed. I like Edmunds but this info is plain false on the maintenance...

Financing, fuel, insurance, depreciation sure. This will look the same on a Lexus (well less on the depreciation I suppose) but $24k in maintenance is non-sensical. What $8K plus maintenance would that be?
In regards to repair, $8k over five years would be cheap. Looking at small nuisance repairs we had over 30 months, that would probably amount to $1-1.5k but was free of course.

As to the legendary Lexus reliability, especially the LS430/460 which would be used for comparison are stupid simple cars compared to the S-class (technically, that is) and unfortunately, more complex options have the risk of higher future failures. That said, we have had our fair share of quality issues with MB cars, but those were in the 2000 - 2007 time frame. With nearly 5 years of W222 S-Class, the car has held up tremendously.

Socalsteve

MBNUT1

I had exactly the same reaction

AppleFan1

Please read my post titled, "Big surprise".

Nice Ride

What colors scheme do you have on the Maybach... I would love to get the White on White with rear executive seating....

Katie22

THe Maybach has the Desinio Mocca Black paint which looks black unless the sun is out and in that case you see some coffee color.

The interior is the desinio colors i dont recall the names but I can say it is cream color everywhere but the accent colors that are grey leather. The wood is not the piano black and you really cant tell its wood unless the sun hits it, otherwise it is black all the time.

If I had my choice I would get the same cream color with the purplish accent colors instead of the grey and I would get the piano wood with the white lines in it..


Here is a pic of the colors we have.

Nice Ride

Nice, the Moca Black is Classy. My s550 has the Designo Blue with Tan with executive Rear Pkg. Basically has all options except the rear fridge. HUD was not available at the time. But after seeing the white/ivory, I like the way the White really shows off the Interior Lighting at night. One can dream....