As others have said, the car overall is pretty solid but still get an warranty as small stuff will fail even with lower miles. My aftermarket warranty has been successful in covering some small yet expensive repairs.

Not a common failure. The part is 2K reman MB. Plus the install. I researched the turbo price after I bought as I understand it can be a maintenance item if kept into higher miles. 2-5K is a lot cheaper than buying a new S560 every 3 years for me.

OP

Third party warranty is a buyer beware world for sure. However, there are good ones to be found. Try your local Credit Unions. They have already vetted the warranty vendors for their membership. My third party covered struts, ball joints, motor/trans mounts. Bought the warranty thru local Credit Union.

Good luck.

45k on mine. Had to replace the rear suspension(airbags). Apparently there was a recall on them. Would have been a 5k job with parts and labor if it wasn't under warranty. My advice? Find a slightly used 2015 or above from the Mercedes CPO site. Unlimited mileage warranty for a few years after the factory warranty expires at 50,000 miles. I don't buy these cars new because the CPO is a MUCH better deal!

I have 126k on my 2008 s63 and planning to go for 200k+. Maybe I’m crazy. It has been warrantied up until now, always dealer repaired. I will start working on it myself and using a local import shop when I need help. I have virtually no experience working on cars but I am a software engineering so hoping some of the skills transfer.

Doing the maintenance yourself is key here. I’m hoping to learn how to work on my 2008 now that the warranty is expired. But over the life of the car my $7k maxcare warranty ended up paying for over $40k in repairs, so I think the can be worth it with these cars.

I'm petrified to own any car, let alone an S out of warranty. i bought an extended and i have unlimited miles up until October, 2022, and plan to keep the car until a few months before then. Just as an aside, they had to rebuild (i think replace) my transmission at 30k miles (in shop 19 days, ic an't imagine the actual cost if i had to pay) and then i had a suspension/air shock issue - that was probably cheap. i think the power train might be solid (except for my transmission!) but all the little doodads are just waiting to break. i think i read once the BMW 5 had about 120 motors in it, and i think i counted at least 90 in my S - I don't want to drive the car with various panel warning lights on and loss of functions - but that's me.

So, did you get the car? What were your learnings?

I bought a CarChex Titanium bumper to bumper aftermarket warranty for $6,200 (24 payments same as cash) 6 years 50,000 miles for my 2011 SL550 this year. Paid for the 5 repairs no problem first 9 months. Dealer wanted 6,000 for a 1 year MB warranty

When my 2016 S550 factory expires I will buy one for my S550.

gregorynp, what were the repairs covered by your warranty? Thanks.

Rear strut, Something in the power steering that made a winning sound, blower motor wine in dash, Truck part that closed the trunk the last 1/4 inch.

They will require aftermarket parts if avail.

I use a local mechanic but could go to dealer. They don't pay diagnostic charges or tax

Did the sum of these repairs exceed the cost of the warranty?

Yes, the warrenty averages $ 1,240 a year. It's paid at least 2x that in 9 month.

The answer to that is easy, 80% of the times the repair cost does NOT exceed the warranty. In other words, there is less than 20% chance that your warranty will worth more than it's value or cover more than what you paid them for (Otherwise most warranty companies would have been broke). If you can afford repairs financially in case something happens, then the best financial decision is NOT to buy a warranty and take the risk as this risk is too low (and as you know, most financial decisions are driven by risk assessment). In this case, warranty companies have already done the risk assessment for you, clearly since they want you to buy from them, it's clear that they are not taking any risk or huge risk. conclusion, best not to buy a warranty unless you can't afford to pay for repairs in case something major happens (which has less than 20% probability or at least around that number, which is the number that warranty companies are using to make the assessment risk on any contract (increase warranty cost until risk is less than 20%).

275K-miles (and counting).
2014 W222 4matic

Excellent! what all have replaced over 8 years? Car is a brute!

My 21015 S-600 has been exceedingly reliable.
Compared to my Ferrari, the S-600 is DIV 3 to DIV 4 expensive. MB maintenance = Ferrari maintenances / 3..4
Compared to my Toyota, well the Toyota has cost 0 to maintain over the last 3 years.....

You might enjoy the difference between a car you command, and a car that gets you there completely without fuss.

Why would anyone ever want a modern Jaguar...........

I have 78k miles on a 2016 S550. The following has been replaced.

Lower front control arm
Upper timing covers
engine wiring harness due to leaking cam shaft position sensors that wicked all the way back to the ECM
ECM due to the above issue as well as a bunch of other parts that were damaged from the oil leak
All turbo coolant lines
aux radiator for the turbo
main coolant reservoir

Don't kid yourself, these are not reliable vehicles. They are complex and things will fail and they will be expensive to fix. That is what comes with the territory.

I am in Bergen and I also commute in crappy traffic.
some days I leave early or have a meeting that takes me out west and I can sail a bit.
I have a 2019 with 51k on it.
I’ve had no real issues.
i work on my car as much as possible and have replaced.
Spark plugs
air filters/in and out
Temp valve
wiper blades
belts and pulleys.
The car is rock solid.
If you can diagnose and work on it yourself there is no issue.
if you have a friend or client who has a lift, even better.
most of my clients are transportation companies so they love when I come in with this beautiful car to do some work.
The mechanic always jumps in because he is also in love with Benz.

There are some who are into the abusive relationship.... FWIW.... Jags have been a huge PITA since the dawn of time.

2015 S65 with 106,000 miles....

Front suspension arms at 90,000. Brake pads at 93,000. Love the carbon ceramic brakes.

All fluids with regularity. Spark plugs.

Heater sucks. Good thing all those surfaces warm up at the press of a button.... and that it doesn’t really get cold here in the valley.

The 221 S65 ate front suspension arms every 30,000 miles. Brake rotors were forever warped... I’m a savage. Engine spat a main bearing shell into the chains at 78,000 miles. That was a treat to replace. Got to replace a heater blower motor and fan controller... a radiator, a voice recognition ECU. Alternator died a month after the radiator. Nothing like getting to pull that radiator again! A/C compressor died at 130,000 miles. Lots of fluids. Never had an issue with ABC.

Interesting statistic - the relationship between Ferrari and MB maintenance. Is the 3-->4 figure using dealer or indy shop labor? What is the multipler factor comparing Ferrari to MB maintenance in a DIY scenario? Therefore comparing parts only? For normal maintenance: engine oil/filter, engine air filter, spark plugs, brakes.

Thats excellent for a town car. As it should be, nothing but wearables.

and forgot to mention all fluids every 50k, oil at 5-6k

I drove my previous 2015 S550 up to 75K miles.... Not a single major repair during that time except two things: Charcoal fuel filter, and later at 70K miles one of the control arms (upper or lower) needed to be replaced. I sold it "as-is" to the dealer at that time because the cost to repair it was $3K+ with labor and it was time to trade-in anyway for another toy. Super reliable!

My current S560 has 33K miles, no repairs at all except the following minor repair: Coolant hose clamp that needed to be tightened.

I had a 2006 S500 back in the days --> This one was a nightmare but served me up to 180K miles.