dealership, sl55, 15 thousand mi, 17 mo's remaining on cpo, aegean/ash, off-lease, 1 ownr, parktronic & vent seats, final haggle 66 otd (inc tax), shipping from tx is xtra or I fly and drive.

Hard to believe no keyless.. although I seldom use with my sl500 anyway.

 

Please provide the pre-tax, pre-licence price so we can compare apples to apples .... states like Oregon, Delaware, Montana, and New Hamphire have no sales tax. Many states also have very high license fees based on the value of the vehicle, while others like Oregon charge around $35 annually regardless of make and model of passenger vehicle.

As a side note, the lack of keyless-go will eventually become a "plus" in my opinion, beacuse the upcoming new breed of brilliant young (and not so young) computer hackers will make most of us eventually regret that we got what we wished for (i.e. a total wireless world that ends up getting electronically hacked and many of our assets electronically evaporate or are simply stolen)

I know many experts and corporate execs who "pooh, pooh" this type of simple minded paranoia, but then again they are in the business of making huge fortunes off a wirelessly connected planet.

 

Round one negotiation's price is $64,300 (plus 6% tax). I'd like to know if $66,100 is a good price for me to be into this car grand-total, tax tag title... which means they'd have to accept $62,400 if I go back for round two, final round.

 

There are a few in the mid 50's on Autotrader.com wait a few more months after the new facelifted model drops

 

Agree

 

still expensive bro...

 

Currently droping about $1000 to $1500/mo. In 6 months you'll be getting really nice low mileage one-owner CPO '05s off MBZ dealer lots for under 55K would be my best guess. May even hold it's long term value better than the stock market over the next couple of years

As for Silver? .... What do you have against easy to maintain Silver?

Black? .... Yeah, that's really a pain to keep clean.

What are you looking for ..... Blue or Red or "Paris" White?

 

+1

Go with an 05. It has the DVD NAV. Also a small number made for the US.
About 1500 units. Mine is depreciating at around $ 1200.00 per month in the last 18 months I have had mine. I was going to get into another car or upgrade to a SL65. But as it looks now. The SL55 will not be offered in 2009. And the SL63 will be NA. So keeping my Supercharged SL is looking more attractive in the long term. Silver is so much easier than black. Other colors are so rare as to be almost unavailable. Good Luck !

I dont think I could buy one without the keyless. IMHO

 

I will probably pass on the above mentiond car because February is generally a lower priced month on the east coast.

AFA colors, I already have a black r230 and I'm not fond of the "common, seen daily, must-be-1000-in-Atlanta" silver SL's. Besides 040 black (and the custom yellow below), aegean is my current favorite of the r230 colors.

All things being equal, if given a choice between an '04 or 05, I'd take the '04 due to the iPod jack in the glovebox, I'll never require nav in Atlanta and I don't hear any difference in quality between speakers in my '03 and '05's I've tested. Resale is irrelevant since I've several homes in which to rotate it for 6 or 7 years.

 

Just to illustrate how fast prices are dropping, the black 2004 SL55 CPO at the Autotrader link below was $72,990 on MBZ's website nationwide CPO search today (26,520 miles, one-owner, central California "NON-LEASED" vehicle delivered new in February 2004). This evening I found it at the Autotrader link offered by the same dealer at $59,990. The MBZ website search price has not been updated yet as of this time.

My understanding of how the CPO program works is the very first CPO buyer can purchase an additional 2-year extension to the standard one year of CPO warranty. That option has an MSRP of $3995 and is only available at the same time of the first CPO purchase. But I'd bet they'd throw in that optional extension to make a sale for around $59K. Thus, this car's factory warranty would expire next month and then still have 3 years of hassel-free Authorized MBZ CPO warranty.

VIN: WDBSK74F74F073460 and only 4 date entries shown in the CarFAX report. It appears that it is the original new selling dealer that is now offering the car for CPO sale (so it probably has a good pedigree/documentation history):
__________________________________________
Date: Mileage: Source: Comments:
02/03/2004 18 California
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Modesto, CA Title issued or updated
First owner reported
Registered as
personal vehicle

11/30/2007 26,520 Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned Dealer Offered for sale as a Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle
Black Exterior Charcoal Interior

12/14/2007 Dealer Inventory Vehicle offered for sale

01/17/2008 Mercedes-Benz USA, Inc. No recalls open for repair
___________________________________________

Options:

Alcantara Headliner Charcoal
Phone Sys. with VCS (Handset/C
Parktronic
Active Ventilated Seats/Front
Panorama Roof with Sunshade
Bi-Xenon Headlamps
Burl Walnut Wood Trim
Standard AMG 5 spoke 18"wheel
Keyless Go

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e=&cardist=546

I'd almosted be tempted to file a short-hop flight plan down to Modesto and look at it for myself (if it was not black and if I did not expect a similar model to be another $5,000 less by our upcoming U.S. tax filing deadine this April)

 

Yep.. with "imminent recession" being in the media all week, I now agree that waiting a few more months to test the water is in my best interest.

 

Ran into a lady w/ an '04 fully loaded, pano, seats, parktronic, 20K miles, (didn't have a chance to look for distronic). Said she was thinking of selling, and would only want KBB value but I'm thinking that's way high even at trade in value. Are they readily available in the high $50's?

 

Mid-50's and dropping fast, IMO