Hi,
I'm new here and posting on behalf of my mother. She is going to be finishing off her 328i lease this coming April. However, she was in a minor accident last summer and she felt that the 3 series would not do a good job of protect her in a serious collison. She has always dreamed of owning an S-Class for the past decade, but my father could not justify the payments of the car compared to the E-Class. However, she has been told that the S-Class is the safest car on the planet in spite of the reliability issues we have heard about (mainly on the W220).

She is okay with keeping the car for 10 years+ as long as it gets her around without any major problems.

However, since my parents own a corporation, it would be advantageous, from a tax point of view to lease the car. But still, I think $1300-1500/month for a vehicle is insane, when you can get a 7 series for about $1000. I understand that the S is the leader in its class but still.

I suppose, what I'm trying to ask is if she has definite plans to keep the car for 10+ years, would leasing a new one every three years be a better option. Or would buying a slightly used S550 (say 2007-2008) and financing it be better?

If one were to go with the latter option, is it a safe idea in the long-run. I mean what type of problems could one expect with a car of this caliber? Also, would getting it certified be a good idea as well as an extended warranty? How frequently and how much would one have to spend a year?

I apologize for the plethora of questions, but we have never purchased a used car much less a car of this price range. But my mom is getting older and I want her to have a car that is comfortable and safe.

We are in Orange County, CA, by the way.

Thanks for any help,
Greg

 

If she plans to keep the car for 10+ years, find a local broker that can get you a 2 year lease return from the Highline auction in Riverside, and buy a good extended warranty on the car. We bought my wife's S550 for $55,700 9 months ago, it was a 2007 arctic white S550 with P2 package, tan interior and the AMG sport body kit with around 25k miles or so. Now you can get '08s in that range.

 

There are absolutely no reliability issues with the W221 S-Class. Mercedes has made significant improvements with the W221. Recent previous generations did have reliability problems.

 

if what matters most is tax advantage then your only option is to lease, even purchasing under the corporation wouldnt yield much tax break as compared to a lease....

 

Are the MBUSA lease rates for the s550 listed on mbusa.com reasonable, or can those prices be negotiated down further?

 

Look under the leasing section here; there you will find the current MF and residuals. They are not negotiable, but the price of the car is...

 

but cant the MF be negotiated when the dealer is wanting to charge a bigger MF than is listed on that leasecompare? Also, one more question. Isn't the dealer going to want to use the lease special listed on the mbusa site, or can you tell them you dont want to put so much down?

 

Thanks for all the helpful responses.

What we are really looking for is the safest car that she can possibly drive. Based on what I've read, the Driver Assistance Package seems like an genious option that can save lives and can make it virtually impossible to get into a collision. However, from what I understand this option is only available on the 2010 S-Class models and the 2010 E-Class. However, even without this package, all 2007+ S-class models have the PRESAFE package, correct?

I also understand that the Distronic Plus was available as well. Between the two (Distronic Plus and Driver Assistance pkg), is there a substantial difference in collision prevention?

If one were to buy a pre-owned (2007 or 2008) with the Distronic Plus option, would there be a lot of issues with it given the fact that it is such high tech equipment?

If we decide to go for a 2007 or 2008, we will be financing and more than likely keeping the car for 10 years+. Given what you have told me about the improvement in reliability for MB, I am confident we won't be shelling out a fortune in repairs.

The other plan is to go for a 2010 E350 with all the safety equipment listed above, but the car just doesn't have the same presence as the S.

Thanks

 

Need to judge for self what is value of safety vs one's health (post-crash surgeries and disabilities are more costly than any car)
Would argue a new S550 is a damn cheap form of health insurance; after all, driving is one's riskiest daily activity
I lease a new S-Class every 2 yrs for my mother for similar reasons of safety; she doesn't drive much but I want her in safest car poss if ever in collision
Just like latest iPhones/Blackberries, the safety tech of new MBs keeps advancing and being debugged every 6-12mos, thus I'd rather be driving as new a MB as possible
Would rather be in a new E550 (better brakes than 350) w/full safety options than any used, elderly S550....many safety systems like airbags/seatbelts/brakes/tires, etc etc decay w/age....and many refined safety systems like more advanced DistPlus/BrakeAssistPlus and CrossWindStabilization (of ABC) don't exist on pre-'10 S550s

 

next time buy a tank

 

I was waiting for this post

I for one love taking risks, thats why I bought a 2 year old elderly S550, even knowing the airbags and safety systems were way past their useful life After all who wants to live to be 150???

 

I've never seen an MB dealer upcharge the MF. The MB quoted MF is fixed, you cannot go lower (through MB). I would expect to go in a dealership and base the numbers off of MB's published MF residual rates (and I expect to get a better deal than the quote on MB's site)....

 

Man you are such a risk taker. You are really hanging it out there. It must take nerves of steel just to get through your daily commute.

 

Livin' on the edge, man

 

I'd love to be able to lease the newest S-Classes for my entire family every year!

 

Hi guys,
Thanks for the responses. No pun intended, but how much will the airbags/safety equipment decay in 3 years? God forbid, if one were ever in an accident, would the airbags not be as effective, or even worse, not even deploy? Would the Distronic plus become non-functional and not engage the Pre-safe to increase braking by 40% when a crash is eminent as effectively?

If this is the case, then I think it might be a good idea to snag a good deal on an E350/550 in a couple of months. But how much safer is an S550 than an E-Class with all the avaialble safety equipment?

However, if not, I found this interesting car on craigslist:
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst...605511899.html

Also, I have a thread on the E-Class vs S-Class safety on Safety/Testimonials forum.

Hope I haven't started an offensive debate about which car is better. But as I've said before, I want the safest car possible for the money.

Thanks!

 

You can't go wrong with the s class (w221). I walked away from an a hydroplane accident with nothing but repair bills. I don't know why, but I would consider passing on that c-list you found. Maybe it's the color that doesn't appeal to me...

 

There are no decay issues, WSH always pops into any discussion of owning a car telling people to always buy a brand new S class, preferably an AMG, every year or two to avoid dying a horrible death from crumbling components. It's all nonsense, these cars have a useful life of 10 years or more...

 

for 10+ years, get a lexus ls 460(l) awd, you will not have any problems. S-class after 3 or 4 years is well...ugh. Nice car if you can replace it every 2-4 years, but anymore than that well...I would not buy it

 

All 2007 and up (even the previous body style as well) have Pre-Safe standard. If you have the multi-contour seats option, those are also incorporated into the Pre-Safe system.

If you get Distronic Plus with a 2008 or newer S, it comes with Distronic Plus and Blind Spot Assist. No matter how much tech you have on a car, due to other drivers, it will never be 100% accident free. An S without those features is still a very safe car.

I don't see you having issues with all the high-tech equipment down the road. MB has greatly improved their quality and reliability with most of the 2007 and newer models. Our S, ML, and SL have been extremely reliable.

I disagree. We've had our S550 for about 3 years now and we've had not one single issue with it and the only time it goes to dealers is for regular scheduled maintenance.
We don't even have random glitches with the car, for being so hi-tech, and I don't see anything changing in a few years.
That said, our lease is up soon and I don't see us buying another S-Class.

 

If it really is a 10+ year ownership period that you have in mind, (with maximum extended warranty) would not buying the car outright on a shorter term loan make more sense over the entire ownership period? You might pay more per month up front but far less in the later years. Buying slightly used where some of the depreciation has been burned off with a loan makes perfect financial sense to me.

I also bought my S-Class for an extended period and am not legible for business tax benefits so I don't exactly know what the savings here would be. (I am sure someone here will be able to advise) When I evaluated leases however, it was very clear that over longer periods paying for the car once is much cheaper over this time-span than the equivalent 4 or 5 recurring leases you would need over the same period.

Like others have stated I have encountered absolutely no glitches or problems with my S-Class - nada. (And my S600 has even more things to fail) The safety components will easily last 10 years or more. Think about it rationally - there are multiple millions of 10 year old cars on the road. If there were the slightest suggestion of airbags or other safety systems failing to activate at 10+ years that would create a scandal that would make the current Toyota crisis look like a storm in a teacup. There is absolutely no evidence that there is any cause for concern here, let alone from Mercedes whose track record in this area is both class leading and peerless.

Chris

 

I'm with cfj_moraga, paying for the car once is cheaper. I also have a S600(2007) that I bought a extended warranty for, and I have not had any problems. I also have a 1999 E430, and I have only had minor problems, such as a radiator hose and it has 220,000 miles on it. I bought it basically new, but all of my other Mercedes have been atleast 1 year old when I bought them, but no problems also.

I can understand your worry, you're switching car company's, trying to decide on cpo or new, and this is for your mom.

For me personally, there is nothing wrong with a cpo. Just look around this forum, many people on here actually make there car better than when they got it new by updating the nav, better pedals etc. There are people outside of MBWorld that do the same for there Mercedes.

But the choice on cpo and new is up to you all. 10+ years, driving one car, you might want to go new. But you may be surprised if you go and drive a cpo which is cheaper than the new car, and is also equipped with alot of safety equipment. So my advice would be to look at both new and cpo in a financial manner, and a safety manner, just sit down with your dealer and family, and compare.

Keep us posted on what you all decide on.

 

Im sorry but I just think its funny that you think that the air bags in the car will decay after 3 years. Hopefully you werent serious.

On another note if your mom will keep the car for 10 years it will be most economical to buy one. If she does not demand a new one every 3 years. Why dont you just write off your mileage instead of the lease payment? I get a 20-30k deduction every year for mileage (I do drive alot).

 

If you're not driving a MY10 S65/CL65 you're a pauper in a slug of a vehicle with the Grim Reaper looking over your shoulder.