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I’m interested in used s550 (2014-2016) but worried about cost repairs/maintenance over E300 or the Subaru I now own. Are the S550s less reliable? About how much more will the S550 cost to keep up per year than a normal car (I now own a Subaru but previously had a bmw). $2k more, 5k more, even more?? Can I keep an S class for several years or will I have to sell at pretty low mileage (I usually run my cars to 200k. Thanks in advance for your advice!
An S Class is not something you drive for 200K miles unless you are very brave or like to wrench on your own cars. Suspension will surely die and electronics will start acting up at some point. These are very reliable cars for the first 80K miles or so but after that all bets are off.
Get the Subaru and if you even have to ask the question. Obviously, you can search all the threads on here to find out that a MB S Class could be VERY COSTLY over 80k-200k miles vs. the Subaru but c'mon, you must have known that, right? My buddy just bought the new Ascent and LOVES it. I've spent about 500 miles in it already and it's so comfortable for me as a passenger in the back seat and I've had to sit in the 3rd row seat once for 90 minutes. It wasn't great but not terrible either.
If you are asking the question then the S is not really the car for you. A S Class owner should be able to fix or repair what goes wrong on the car. If they are worried about replacing a suspension part then you cannot afford to the car. Get the Subaru and you will not have to worry about as expensive repairs.
So my real question is what the difference in cost is between these 3 cars. I could afford any of them but tend to want cheap transportation.
The Subaru is obviously cheap transportation. The question I have is how much on average would an e300 and then s550 cost to maintain/repair per year
than my current car. I’ve found a website that pegs the difference in cost between Mercedes and Subaru over 10 years at about $5,000. I would imagine
the s class would be quite a bit more? Would the e300 be substantially less to maintain than an s class? I haven’t found a reliable estimate of this difference and was hoping I could call upon the actual experiences of s class/e class owners on this forum.
Yes, definitely the Subaru!!! Any Mercedes could be (probably would be) A LOT MORE to maintain whether it's the E or the S. There's really no way of knowing how much more, but it could be much much more. If you're wondering if the costs would be much more, than yes, skip the Mercedes. No one can tell you reliably how much more. It depends how lucky you get. Sometimes MB owners luck out on costs and sometimes they could be $11k in just 2 years, once it's out of warranty. (my experience).
Not much difference in Maintenance costs for MB... as oil is oil and filter is filter...
Go with Suburu it will be the cheapest to own and operate
Originally Posted by stever500
Yes, definitely the Subaru!!! Any Mercedes could be (probably would be) A LOT MORE to maintain whether it's the E or the S. There's really no way of knowing how much more, but it could be much much more. If you're wondering if the costs would be much more, than yes, skip the Mercedes. No one can tell you reliably how much more. It depends how lucky you get. Sometimes MB owners luck out on costs and sometimes they could be $11k in just 2 years, once it's out of warranty. (my experience).
Do you guys have reading comprehension?
He's stated twice he OWNS a Subaru.
He is asking for what it might cost to own an S class maintenance wise and the difference between his E300 E class.
I’m interested in used s550 (2014-2016) but worried about cost repairs/maintenance over E300 or the Subaru I now own. Are the S550s less reliable? About how much more will the S550 cost to keep up per year than a normal car (I now own a Subaru but previously had a bmw). $2k more, 5k more, even more?? Can I keep an S class for several years or will I have to sell at pretty low mileage (I usually run my cars to 200k. Thanks in advance for your advice!
I have attached pieces of info from Edmunds to give you an idea of how much more expense an S Class and an E class would cost for maintenance and repairs. You will be able to see how much more expensive an S and an E Class is than your Subaru.
2015 S Class for next five year for maintenance and repairs: $32,229
2017 E300 for next five years for maintenance and repairs: $13,160
Guessing this is much more expensive than your Subaru.
Also thought I would just pick a Subaru (I do not believe you stated which model you own) to give you some comparison. It would be $6902 over 5 years as shown below.
Thanks MTrauman for your thoughtful response. That is the kind of information I was looking for not some smart a$$ comment about how I obviously couldn’t afford a MB. ��
M trauman any idea why the maintenance on the s class is so much higher?! It looks like the repairs oddly enough are not that much more than an e class (which is surprising). But maintenance costs of almost $25k!! For what!?
M trauman any idea why the maintenance on the s class is so much higher?! It looks like the repairs oddly enough are not that much more than an e class (which is surprising). But maintenance costs of almost $25k!! For what!?
If you study it it shows 8K for the first year (don't get that) and 8K for the last year (very possible)
M trauman any idea why the maintenance on the s class is so much higher?! It looks like the repairs oddly enough are not that much more than an e class (which is surprising). But maintenance costs of almost $25k!! For what!?
No idea. My guess is that one should take maintenance and repair costs together since I am not sure what costs they put into each category.
If you study it it shows 8K for the first year (don't get that) and 8K for the last year (very possible)
Remember that is a 2015 model year car. We are in 2019. So you are looking at a car that is already 4 to 5 years old in the 1st year of the chart. The question is—is it possible to have $8000 of expenses in the 5th year of a S Class. I would think the answer is YES! Not sure I understand your comment of “don’t get that”.
Forget the S-Class.
You should get a Hyundai Elantra, best car anywhere and ultra reliable with negligible maintenance costs.
I have about 40 of them in my company fleet, we usually run them to 200k miles before selling them for $1500-$2000.
I am not sure where Edmunds gets this data but it has not been my experience. I purchased my 2015 in 2017 and paid about half of MSRP for it. It had around 17K miles on it. Since I have owned it I have done the following, 2 oil changes 300 bucks or so, two new front tires, around 500 bucks, new brakes front and rear 800 in parts, labor was free as I did it myself, alignment, 250 bucks. New air filters and cabin air filter was another 200 bucks. So at 36K miles and over 2 years I have spend around 2K on maint items. Honestly the biggest cost to owning an S Class is the depreciation hit you take every year. I have probably lost around 15K in depreciation over the last few years but I am good with that as the car is much different than just about any other car on the road.
I am not sure where Edmunds gets this data but it has not been my experience. I purchased my 2015 in 2017 and paid about half of MSRP for it. It had around 17K miles on it. Since I have owned it I have done the following, 2 oil changes 300 bucks or so, two new front tires, around 500 bucks, new brakes front and rear 800 in parts, labor was free as I did it myself, alignment, 250 bucks. New air filters and cabin air filter was another 200 bucks. So at 36K miles and over 2 years I have spend around 2K on maint items. Honestly the biggest cost to owning an S Class is the depreciation hit you take every year. I have probably lost around 15K in depreciation over the last few years but I am good with that as the car is much different than just about any other car on the road.
I hear you. I have had pretty good LUCK with my S Classes as well. With that said, one of my clients had one of their S Class cars air suspension go bad out of warranty. A $10,000 bill. I had a recent experience in my 2013 E350 4matic my son drives. It had a leaking gas tank out of warranty. If I recall it was a $8000 fix. The dealership had to remove the entire rear end/axle just to remove the gas tank. So if something goes bad it can be expensive. I have owned MBs for almost 30 years. So I understand that not everyone will experience high repair costs but that is the luck of the draw.
Remember that is a 2015 model year car. We are in 2019. So you are looking at a car that is already 4 to 5 years old in the 1st year of the chart. The question is—is it possible to have $8000 of expenses in the 5th year of a S Class. I would think the answer is YES! Not sure I understand your comment of “don’t get that”.
Ok Assumed it was starting at year 1. Looking at it more closely I would have realized that the 10K depreciation would be super low for a one year old S Class. So I can get that they are saying that you will get hammered over the head on maintenance costs with an S Class about every 5 years or so.
09-16-2019, 11:11 PM
