red00lght

I traded in my 2006 Kia Spectra daily driver for the 04 E55. I was bracing myself for a major increase in insurance costs, but it is only increasing $29 every 6 months! I couldn't believe it! The Spectra was 15k when new and the E55 was over 90k!? The E55 will be even cheaper to insure than my wife's Toyota Rav4.

I guess they figure the E has alot of safety features for crashes, and that people spending that kind of money will probably be careful with the car.

Anyway, the insurance company is USAA. Highly recommended for vets....

slacker55

Yeah...even in NYC, my 04 E55 costs less than $2500 a year with full coverage. Hopefully the speeding ticket I recently got won't change it by too much...

Hazy1

So when can we expect the comparative write-up of the virtues of the Kia Spectra vs. E55.

BTW, the E55 was cheaper to insure than the ML430 I was driving. I think mine is less than $1,200/yr.

V12Godspeed

They look at it as a safety feature...it has so many features...like side, front, rear, neck, head, knee, but airbags...That's what they said, the insurance was 1K cheaper than my 96 camry, lol!!!

red00lght

The Kia vs E55 write-up....hmmm....lol...I know it was a joke...but here goes!

Well, the Kia was a great little daily beater car that got good gas mileage, had a good warranty, and took regular fuel. I bought it because I had a job that required 220 miles of driving a day to the west coast of FL.

Mods (i.e. exhaust..$200, intake $150, and strut bar $130) were just SLIGHTLY cheaper than the E55 will be. It had a whopping 138hp stock, but did respond well to mods...especially handling mods. Mine handled like a Mini when I got done with it. Downside was the car cheapness was felt every time you shifted gears or closed a door. Service department wouldn't fix anything you complained about. Not a big chick factor in the Kia either.... Here is a pic:


My neighbors will definetly wonder why such a big change back to the E55.

slacker55

Don't worry red00light, for the car I drove prior to this was a tan 96 honda accord with a hole in the muffler and a banged up front/left corner. Not only did the lights not match (right side= clear lights / left side=stock orange lenses) the color of the car isn't supposed to be tan...It's supposed to be white. The tan color is credited to a combination of rust as well as years of not washing it. The hole in the exhaust only added insult to injury turning heads as I "putt-putted" along...

The upside to such a large upgrade, however, is that my neighbors seem to have developed a new-founded respect for me due to the sudden and extreme upgrade. I'm sure that they probably all think that I'm "selling crack" or something, but that's beside the point...

Hazy1

I was just busting his ***** a little, no ill-will intended. The Kia was probably a better vehicle than the '99 ML430 I came out of. I was very ready to never have another Benz after that one, until I test drove an E55.

slacker55

I know you were just breakin *****. But I guess I just wanted to try to make this thread interesting and see what kind of cars others drove before the e55. I doubt anyone had a crappier car than me before the e55, but who knows? =)

red00lght

Well, you were right about the neighbors reaction....one put his head down and shook it... He was teasing me a bit since I do go through alot of cars. Another one asked me if it was the new E500.

I did get one last good beating in on the Kia though!

OzE55

The insurance on an E55 wont be proportional to its purchase price because most of the parts are common to base E class - panels etc. which are the most common damage. Repainting etc costs roughly the same no matter what car.