Taximan1

Yes, You are missing many things. Interest Amortization(that you'd be paying regardless), tax, depreciation, and most importantly. The freedom to walk away from the car after 3 years..

I would NEVER "buy" anything AMG for a million reasons. They are nearly impossible to sell used. Unless you want to give them away.. And once the warranty runs out? You can expect the car to be worth about 70% LESS than the original MSRP... Think about it.... A trade in value for a nice low mile 2004 E55, would be about $48-$50k right now... Someone paid $90k for it 3 years ago... Add tax(on the entire purcahse price mind you), interest,,etc.... Trust me, the cost is WAY over $1400/month... With a lease, you hand them they keys, and walk away.

Yes, these are expensive cars to drive anyway you slice it..

GOODENUF

The shimmy could very well be flat spots. I sold my 01 SLK320 with 10,200 miles on it just before Christmas. The battery went dead in 04 because I drove her less than 300 miles that year. The tires (original) needed to be driven at least 25 miles to get the flat spots out, then she was smooth. I'm gonna miss that car.

05VENOM

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses. There will always be a debate about whether to lease or buy and which option is better but in my particular situation it is better to lease. The car is always under warranty, i am in and out after 36mo (sometimes 24) ,there is no big down payment,no note that I am responsible for and it is a company business/tax write-off(however they handle it). Now I just hope when I test drive it tomorrow that damn shimmy is gone.

pcalver

Make sure you drive the car for 30 minutes or so, preferably at moderate speed and on some curves to warm the tires up thoroughly. I have had this tire flat-spotting issue on many performance cars, and once they warm up properly, it goes away like magic. If it doesn't, it is something else.

norb

My car shimmeys sometimes until they warm up.

jimand7

I think that it is funny that an e63 was just sitting there for 3 months. I do not think a new e55 ever "sat" there on any lot.

05VENOM

Funny you should mention that...this is my only reservation. I think the shimmy will go away. The dealer is putting new tires on and when I test drove it the other day it was in the 20's temperature wise. The car has no mileage (think 30 or so??). Only thing I could think of is there is a large MB dealer @ 15-20 miles away that due volume. Maybe it doesn't make sense to keep paying to hold this car and the dealer wants to get rid of it. I know this dealer is building a larger showroom down the road and during the transition the cars were stored outside.The car will still be under the warranty the entire lease so at least there is peace of mind. Also, maybe it "sat" because it is a new engine/model and people are hesitant to take the plunge (remember first 7-series issues ) Who knows?

JP465NY

Holidays and winter in the Northeast don't mix well with selling cars. After Presidents Day watch out. Add the fact that the car is a "niche" car and all the "niche" customers go to Ray Catena and there you have it. Did you notice the difference when speaking to the salesman there (at the dealership you are getting the car from). When I went there I got a salesman who said this to me, "The E63? What's that? Oh yeah that $120,000 car." They had to get a sales manager to speak to me. Most of the E63s in the area are sold/leased through Ray Catena. Better deals aside I think most people in the area prefer to deal with Ray Catena.

JOE

05VENOM

Hey Joe,
Hopefully after everything is ironed out and we take deliveries on our
E63's we could head on down to E-town and drive the heck out of these cars.

05VENOM

Joe, Believe it or not the salesman I got was very knowledgable with the E63He has been at the dealer 30 something years. Not arrogant or pompous or
pushy. Seems as though they are bending over backwards to make my experience a pleasant one. Makes you wonder...trying to move cars so there allotment is increased for the new showroom or something else...who knows.

JP465NY

I was thinking the same thing about meeting up. There is an NYC crew that sems to do these things.

JOE

paul928

Jangy, I would hope that you got a bigger discount than I; as for interest, I don't pay any.

jangy

LOL, you do understand that paying cash carries its own opportunity costs as well, right?

jangy

So are you getting it?

velvet fog

I don't have near the coin you have but here are some random thoughts

If your company is going to cover the cost, then who cares?

Flat spots - highly dependent on tires and temperature. I had Conti Sport Contacts - big flatspot every morning, took 2-3 miles to stop vibrating, worse when colder. Take the car out for a 15-20 mile test.

Dead battery, happens all the time on a car lot. Stipulate a new battery before purchase. You might want to inspect the battery before your test drive and place an identifying mark on it before the drive.

Suprised the car has sat for so long in your market.

Monthly payment is highly influenced by residual and interest rate. Ask what both are and compare to kbb.com

Check your lease rate against lease compare.

If is it only the down out of your pocket and the car drives nice, go for it.

05VENOM

Jangy, It is Saturday morning and I am leaving to go to the dealer to test drive it again. We didn't get any snow in NY but it is pretty cold (30). Will post later with my decision.

paul928

Remember to check the cap cost, along with the other finance variables!!!!!!!!

05VENOM

Everything was fine with the test drive and drove the car home.
P.S. Got dealer to knock off another $842 so total out of pocket including first month payment was $2,100.

abalto

Don't kid yourself. Last year, I bought my brand new (left over) 2005 E55 after it sat on the middle of the dealers' showroom floor for months. I paid $22,500.00 off of list and it was brand new.

The dealer will let you believe whatever you want to convince yourself, it is all smoke and mirrors. Whatever deal you make (however good or bad) is based on your education of the pricing model, your knowledge of the true supply and demand and how well you play poker with the dealer...period.

If you are truly stupid or are not savvy enough to do the deal correctly, they will try to railroad you. They will get you emotionally invested in the deal and roll over you. If you are obvious with being too smart, that will **** them off and they will power play you. You just have to be cool, polite and very objective in convincing them that the deal you want can be found a few miles away at the next Benz dealer. The economy is not good. At least this is your job (as an actor) to believe for the next 2 hours, while there closing them. Tell them you are ready to settle immediately with cash if you can make the right deal, but that you also have 5-6 cars at home so you don't need this one. Ohh, also...you let them know if they pull any punches you will walk out and they will never see you again. (Including trying to add a documentation fee to your buyers order for $99.00) LOL, That is basically it! Boy, buying cars is fun!

Also, with all due respect these 63's are less desirable and are moving slower than the 55k's. The 63's are great cars, I am just being honest.

Opps...forgot...Venom. That is way too much $$$!

jangy

SWEET!!! Welcome aboard. Enjoy.

nlk10010

Interesting you should say that.....I just spied this thread and my E63 (ordered through Catena) arrived in port on Saturday. I'd like to get the car as I just sold my M5 but want to lease and can't (yet) get a straight answer from Catena.

With an MSRP of $93475 and a CC of $91000 (don't ask), applying MBs February numbers I come up with exactly $1514.07 for a 36month/36000 mile lease. Nothing down, doc/title fees, Acquisition and NYS taxes paid in cash up front. Leasecompare gives me comparable numbers but Catena can't seem to figure out what I'm talking about. I left plenty of money on the table with this deal but it seems they'd rather not lease at all than make a smaller amount of money (reputation factor)?

I like my sales person very much but the lease department is losing itself some business and making me not want to buy my next car there.

Just my experience.

And I don't really care what they do with the residual since I'm not keeping the car anyway after three years. As long as I don't put anything down and the payments come out to $1514.07 I'm happy.


=NLK=

05VENOM

Is that $1,514 per month WITHOUT tax included. If so you could definitely get a better deal. PM me if you want further help. Catena did not come close to the deal I got on my E63.

nlk10010

05VENOM:

Appreciate the offer; that's what I love about these (and some other) boards.

As I said, however, the deal is done (WAS done last October when the car was ordered). I'm not going to be able to redo it now nor would I expect Catena to do that. I could have gotten the car at $5000 or more off but the dealers were too far from me so I was willing to take about $2500 off from Catena. I probably could have gotten even more but that's what I asked for and they agreed to it and I have no complaint. My problem is that now that the car is ready to be delivered and I decided I wanted to lease they are apparently trying to make even MORE off me. Why they can't take their profit and simply give me the MB deal (which is actually more than what I was offered by a 3rd party) beats me. $1514.07 IS the MB deal (pre-tax); I'm actually in NY so my sales tax would have to be paid up front on the sum of the payments.

As I say, given the discount I got all I'm asking for is to be allowed to lease at the MB Credit rates. I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't just do it so that the deal can be closed and they can get their money. If they don't I'm going to the 3rd party.

Thanks anyway again for the offer.

=NLK=

jangy

Some dealerships simply do not cut deals. They make their money on fewer clients, instead of volume. Also, keep in mind that your car just arrived, so the dealership still has a few months before they actually pay the monthly payments on it.
No disrespect, but your attitude with regards to accepting the deal as done based on honor is another reason why they are milking you. They simply may not know that you are also based on morals and may walk just because of principle. They figure they have a sucker on the pole, so they will hold out. You ordered the car, so what are the odds you can get a similar package closeby?
Getting $2500 off is not anywhere near the deal that you could get. You clearly don't care, so I find it odd that you care about the MB rate? Why does the rate matter and not what you actually pay? In other words, what difference does it make if they overcharge you on the car and give you a good interest rate or if they charge you lots of interest and give you a bigger discount? The actual money out of your pocket is what matters. All else is trivial pursuit.

nlk10010

There is a significant difference between the discount on the car and the lease deal. The former is sunk: I can't undo it since I signed the order. The latter is not sunk: I can get a 3rd party lease at a decent rate.

Why would I waste my time trying to change something I have no control over? I'm accepting the deal as done because I signed the order. Honor has nothing to do with it. Unless I want to rely on the $2000 deposit as the extent of my liability I'm going to need to go through with the deal (as well I want the color/options).

And I realize you're trying to help, but your inference that I don't care is clearly incorrect as if I didn't I wouldn't be posting here. What I'm trying to avoid is getting a small discount AND a lousy lease deal.

If you're saying they think someone who is only getting $2500 off an ordered E63 is a sucker so let's milk him some more well, I don't know, you're entitled to your opinion but of course you have no way of knowing what they're thinking (neither do I). But it makes no difference, I can use the 3rd party deal if I have to.

=NLK=