Hi everyone.

I am looking for used S Class under $25K to be my second car (for family). I have been looking at few W221s and shortlisted to 2 cars that seem to be in good condition (yet to take them to MB specialist for a thorough checkup). I am in dilemma on which one to choose.

Both are 2007 S550s with almost similar options. Only difference is mileage, price and service history. Both are listed at dealer.

First one (White exterior / Cashmere/Biege interior): 45,000 miles listed for $28K (I can probably get them to take $2K off the price). This is low miles and very tempting but the service history doesn't show any repairs performed. Transmission is not even serviced which means it is due now (45K miles) and brakes/mounts are not replaced. In fact the only major thing done on the car is transmission fluid flush at 34K. Everything else done in last 10 years is just small things like wipers/bulbs/etc.

Second one (Black exterior / Silver Gray interior): 98,000 miles listed for $18,500 (final price as the dealer doesn't negotiate). KBB suggests $19,500. Again this car is clean and looks well maintained both interior and exterior. Going through the service record, there is ton of repairs performed that are supposed to be done for this mileage. most recent ones include transmission service, engine and transmission mounts replaced, brake pads and rotors replaced, cam shaft sensor replaced, etc.

Now I am torn between these two. Should I choose the one with low miles knowing that i will have to do many repairs soon enough or should I go for the second one with high miles for less money because it is well maintained and i might not have to spend as much? I would appreciate any input to help me decide. Also, I am aware of the tranny issues with these models.

Important note: Planning to keep the car for atleast 2 years but i expect to drive only about 2000-3000 miles a year. If the car doesn't break my bank, I might keep it for couple more years and then upgrade to new car.

 

There is one potentially expensive repair that might be needed in the future. The engine had a weak idler sprocket on the timing chain that could eventually fail. There was a class action lawsuit for this to reimburse those that had a failure, but only covered repairs that occurred a few years ago. It does NOT cover repairs that may happen today. Only some vehicles had sprocket failures. You might want to check if either of these vehicles had to be repaired for this. The repair included an improved sprocket which should never fail. I don't know whether the failure tended to occur on low or high mileage vehicles. If most of the failures were on high mileage vehicles, then the low mileage vehicle might be a better choice. Unfortunately, if the sprocket fails, engine damage occurs resulting in a repair cost of several thousand dollars.

 

Low mileage always, because you can get a decent aftermarket warranty on a low mileage car, which you need. Chances are more work was done on the low mileage car than is showing because the owner didn't use the dealer for service. Most indies don't report to CARFAX.

With a decent exclusionary warranty all that stuff that got fixed on the high mileage car is covered, and I'm not sure anyone with a 221 hasn't at some point done motor and tranny mounts, plus air struts and a litany of other stuff. It's not like the high mileage car has gotten all the really bad expensive repairs out of the way. Believe me, there's plenty more where those came from.

Most warranties have to be purchased at the time of sale, so either thru a dealer or your credit union. Figure $3500-$5000.

 

are you mechanically able with lots of tools and have no problem diving in? yes? prepare you body.

no? dont touch an 07 if you cannot get aftermarket warranty.

if you want to spend 30k on an s-class maybe you need to look at other lesser brands. no insult intended. just stating experience.


btw, there is no such thing as "transmission service". replacing the atf and filter is consider the "transmission service". also engine mounts are not necessary someting that will go bad. they do go bad - but not nearly at the rate i would consider them a "consumable"

good luck

 

I must have bad luck with mounts. Three cars, and every damn one of them leaked and collapsed. Right around 60k miles.

 

07 for 25k? jeez in Ny these cars are everywhere. My advise spend more and get a 10 and up.

 

Steve, Thanks for giving me heads up about this issue.

I called the dealer and they confirmed that S550 was not affected by this issue. The dealer said S550s were only affected by camshaft positioning sensor issue which is fixed in the black S550 I saw. Not sure if the dealer is telling the truth about sprocket issue but couple of articles I found online about the weak sprocket issue did not mention S550 model as affected. I am going to take it to independent MB expert to do a thorough inspection and also check for pending engine fault codes that point to impending sprocket failure.

 

Most certainly is affected, have them pull bulletin LI03.30-P-050027, check your PM.

 

even the most well maintained S class is still susceptible to high maintenance repairs with age. Thats just the nature of the beast with this luxury car.
i just searched cars.com, For 25-30k you can get a 2010-2012 with almost same mileage as these 07s.
I agree with a previous post that suggested to add more money to your budget and get a 2010+

 

So how is a filter/fluid change not a service? That's what MB tells you to do every 40k as maintenance, what would you call it?

Engine mounts DO fail religiously on these cars, not on other brands like this but the MB design is poor. It works great when they are new, but they collapse with age/mileage on EVERY MB car and truck. We change them all the time under 50k/5 years, and they will be bad again in about the same time frame. If the car sits and isn't driven, they still carry weight and collapse to the point where you start feeling engine vibrations similar to a misfire.

As far as another brand.. while yes these cars can be expensive to repair (I spent a small fortune on my CL in the last 3 months), I bought a car that cost $130k when new for $13k. Did I only get 10% of the car? Hardly. It's an incredible vehicle, and other than the higher running costs, is still a tremendous bargain at this age.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice. I did spend some time online looking at 07 S550 owner reviews and problems they had. It's kind of scary when I think about buying even though I am not going to add a ton of miles to it and if something major comes up I will be spending all the money for so little use.

I did look for later models and found a couple of '10 S550 4Matic loaded with options and 44K miles on the odometer. They are listed for $35K and $36K

This is stretching my budget which means I won't be able to get 3rd party insurance. Do you guys think it's a good idea to get one of these 2010 models with less miles without insurance instead of '07 with more miles and spend few thousand dollars on insurance?

Without insurance, I am comfortable spending a couple thousand dollars for maintenance every 5000 miles. Is that a good expectation for 2010 models?

 

Get the older low mileage car with warranty coverage.

 

Found a 2011 S550 (Optioned generously) with 70K miles for just under $30K. Dealer is quoting $5000 for 3yr/36,000 mile bumper-bumper warranty. Is this on the higher end given the car has low mileage? Should I shop outside for insurance?

 

Is it a Mercedes dealer selling the Mercedes Extended Limited Warranty?

 

Nope. Its 3rd party warranty and he said it is accepted in all mercedes dealership service centers as well as mercedes authorized service centers.

My dilemma is should I pay $5000 for the warranty or just keep it aside for when something goes wrong? Because I am not going to drive 36,000 miles on this car in 3 years. More like 10,000 miles (that's the upper end). I know it is still a gamble but given low miles and comparatively newer car (compared to the 07s and 08s) I am leaning toward not getting the warranty.

If I can get the warranty for $3000-$3500 then I would definitely get it.

 

Depends on who is underwriting the policy and whether it's exclusionary. The dealer literally has no idea whether or not every MB dealer accepts the warranty. $5k is pretty steep. Given your mileage requirements I might opt to play the odds and self insure for repairs too.