Buying a high-mileage W211...
09-01-2013, 01:10 AM
#26
Super Member
Thread Starter
Maybe I should just keep the C32, fix the trunk/suspension, finally mod it for a bit more power, and then just buy an '87 Granny Nat to build the hell out of in my free time 
09-01-2013, 08:42 PM
#28
Super Member
Thread Starter
I'm going to go and drive both again, preferably a highly-modded E55, but I honestly think I'd get myself into trouble with an E55 just because of the redonkulous straight-line speed. I wouldn't be tempted to do nearly as much performance modding on an E63.
If I buy an 07-09 E63 CPO or with an extended warranty, I can just do a tune/exhaust, upgrade the sound system, maybe add a few exterior bits, and then not have to worry about anything on my daily driver. With the E55, sending out my ECU for constant re-tunes and being without a car (or having to go through the trouble of renting one for a couple days), it just seems like too much trouble, no matter how much sweeter that blown V8 monster sounds at WOT
Also, I'm not quite sure if I'm 'Murican enough to drive a Caddy with a big honkin' Made-In-The-USA V8, judging from some of the YouTube videos I've watched. That, and I'm not totally sold on the looks.
If I buy an 07-09 E63 CPO or with an extended warranty, I can just do a tune/exhaust, upgrade the sound system, maybe add a few exterior bits, and then not have to worry about anything on my daily driver. With the E55, sending out my ECU for constant re-tunes and being without a car (or having to go through the trouble of renting one for a couple days), it just seems like too much trouble, no matter how much sweeter that blown V8 monster sounds at WOT
Also, I'm not quite sure if I'm 'Murican enough to drive a Caddy with a big honkin' Made-In-The-USA V8, judging from some of the YouTube videos I've watched. That, and I'm not totally sold on the looks.
09-01-2013, 09:26 PM
#29
Member
You don't need to send your ECU anywhere to get it tuned - Eurocharged does tune-by-email via a cable and an app, and I think they may even have a Chicago location now (?)
Either Mercedes is going to be a lot less reliable than a -V so get ready for a much higher TCO; the -V is a lot more reliable and they also have 5 year, 100,000 mile drivetrain warranties. Of all the supersedans in the price range you're looking at the NA E63 is the one to avoid.
Either Mercedes is going to be a lot less reliable than a -V so get ready for a much higher TCO; the -V is a lot more reliable and they also have 5 year, 100,000 mile drivetrain warranties. Of all the supersedans in the price range you're looking at the NA E63 is the one to avoid.
09-01-2013, 09:52 PM
#30
Senior Member
09-01-2013, 10:20 PM
#31
Super Member
Thread Starter
You don't need to send your ECU anywhere to get it tuned - Eurocharged does tune-by-email via a cable and an app, and I think they may even have a Chicago location now (?)
Either Mercedes is going to be a lot less reliable than a -V so get ready for a much higher TCO; the -V is a lot more reliable and they also have 5 year, 100,000 mile drivetrain warranties. Of all the supersedans in the price range you're looking at the NA E63 is the one to avoid.
Either Mercedes is going to be a lot less reliable than a -V so get ready for a much higher TCO; the -V is a lot more reliable and they also have 5 year, 100,000 mile drivetrain warranties. Of all the supersedans in the price range you're looking at the NA E63 is the one to avoid.
Between the hand-built motor/7G on the AMG or the 100K powertrain warranty on the Caddy, I'm still only really worried about non-powertrain failures, and those will be covered $-wise by my extended warranty, so I only need to worry about the potential frequency of any such failures. The Airmatic seems like pretty much the only even semi-consistent "major" failure on the W211 E63s, and that seems to pretty much just be a crap shoot anyway, maybe 50-50 at worst.
There's not a chance in hell I'd drive either car without a comprehensive warranty, however, so the only major TCO differences I can really see between these options are two things - A: running a few quick insurance quotes online is showing me $40-$90 more per month for the -V (I have an ancient, multi-line policy with tons of discounts I'll be putting the car onto, so that difference might be smaller) and, B: buying "equal" models (clean title, fully-optioned, 60-70k miles) will probably cost me anywhere from $3k to $5k more for the -V, and that's before sales tax as well.
Other than that, the -Vs seem to depreciate less quickly than the AMGs, but that could just be because they're newer, domestic, and have lower original prices. Also - how far have we taken this thread off the original rails by now, hahaha?
Last edited by evilsaint; 09-01-2013 at 10:24 PM.
09-01-2013, 10:21 PM
#32
Super Member
Thread Starter
09-01-2013, 10:40 PM
#33
Member
All things being equal all signs point to a W211 of any stripe being in the shop more than a -V, but the main concern I would have are the abnormally high number of reported engine failures on the early W211 6.2s.
Find a '11 or '12 CTS-V that sat on a lot until 2012 and you have over half of a 2 year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty left on the car for no additional cost that covers what the $5k+ warranty on a 3 or 4 year older E63 would, and you would have a faster car with no major failure points for similar money.
Re: depreciation, a -V new was $60-75k whereas most E63s were closer to $100k, so I would hazard to guess that they depreciate less not due to being a domestic (which is usually a detractor in terms of depreciation...) but largely due to being more desirable cars with fewer issues.
Find a '11 or '12 CTS-V that sat on a lot until 2012 and you have over half of a 2 year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty left on the car for no additional cost that covers what the $5k+ warranty on a 3 or 4 year older E63 would, and you would have a faster car with no major failure points for similar money.
Re: depreciation, a -V new was $60-75k whereas most E63s were closer to $100k, so I would hazard to guess that they depreciate less not due to being a domestic (which is usually a detractor in terms of depreciation...) but largely due to being more desirable cars with fewer issues.
09-01-2013, 11:49 PM
#34
Super Member
Thread Starter
All things being equal all signs point to a W211 of any stripe being in the shop more than a -V, but the main concern I would have are the abnormally high number of reported engine failures on the early W211 6.2s.
Find a '11 or '12 CTS-V that sat on a lot until 2012 and you have over half of a 2 year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty left on the car for no additional cost that covers what the $5k+ warranty on a 3 or 4 year older E63 would, and you would have a faster car with no major failure points for similar money.
Re: depreciation, a -V new was $60-75k whereas most E63s were closer to $100k, so I would hazard to guess that they depreciate less not due to being a domestic (which is usually a detractor in terms of depreciation...) but largely due to being more desirable cars with fewer issues.
Find a '11 or '12 CTS-V that sat on a lot until 2012 and you have over half of a 2 year, 50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty left on the car for no additional cost that covers what the $5k+ warranty on a 3 or 4 year older E63 would, and you would have a faster car with no major failure points for similar money.
Re: depreciation, a -V new was $60-75k whereas most E63s were closer to $100k, so I would hazard to guess that they depreciate less not due to being a domestic (which is usually a detractor in terms of depreciation...) but largely due to being more desirable cars with fewer issues.
A -V like you're talking about is going to be $43-$45k minimum after haggling and before tax/title/license. For that kind of money, I'm in W212 territory (which have 4-year/50k warranties...), and there's no question about which of those options is superiour (hint - blow-off valves).Anyway, I'm not buying a W212, and I'd prefer to not spend that much money right now on any car regardless, so I'll ask you this - obviously the LSA is reliable and stupidly powerful, and the -V's automatic is a decent transmission (85% comparable to the 7G), but what are the platform's weak points? I know that most if not all of the car mags have heaped praise on it in reviews/comparos since its inception, but... it's still a GM. Have they finally gotten rid of the "almost luxury but not quite" issues that they've dealt with for... well, ever?
09-02-2013, 12:11 AM
#35
Member
Do some quick math. Here's an example:
2011 Cadillac CTS-V, 8415 miles, $36,900
A clean '08 E63 with less than 80k miles will be at least $30,000, and then add in another $5k for warranty.Like I said, similar money. That one's an outlier and might be salvage or something, but maybe not. Most '11s are around $40k if you look in the right places and are going to carry a LOT less baggage than an 07-08 E63 (and are 3rd model year versus 1st or 2nd.)
One last addendum, a <$40k CTS-V can be significantly faster than a stock W212 for less than $5k into it. Like, well into the 10s.
2011 Cadillac CTS-V, 8415 miles, $36,900
A clean '08 E63 with less than 80k miles will be at least $30,000, and then add in another $5k for warranty.Like I said, similar money. That one's an outlier and might be salvage or something, but maybe not. Most '11s are around $40k if you look in the right places and are going to carry a LOT less baggage than an 07-08 E63 (and are 3rd model year versus 1st or 2nd.)
One last addendum, a <$40k CTS-V can be significantly faster than a stock W212 for less than $5k into it. Like, well into the 10s.
Last edited by Tremek; 09-02-2013 at 12:21 AM.
09-02-2013, 12:33 AM
#36
Super Member
Thread Starter
Do some quick math. Here's an example:
2011 Cadillac CTS-V, 8415 miles, $36,900
A clean '08 E63 with less than 80k miles will be at least $30,000, and then add in another $5k for warranty.Like I said, similar money. That one's an outlier and might be salvage or something, but maybe not. Most '11s are around $40k if you look in the right places and are going to carry a LOT less baggage than an 07-08 E63 (and are 3rd model year versus 1st or 2nd.)
One last addendum, a <$40k CTS-V can be significantly faster than a stock W212 for less than $5k into it. Like, well into the 10s.
2011 Cadillac CTS-V, 8415 miles, $36,900
A clean '08 E63 with less than 80k miles will be at least $30,000, and then add in another $5k for warranty.Like I said, similar money. That one's an outlier and might be salvage or something, but maybe not. Most '11s are around $40k if you look in the right places and are going to carry a LOT less baggage than an 07-08 E63 (and are 3rd model year versus 1st or 2nd.)
One last addendum, a <$40k CTS-V can be significantly faster than a stock W212 for less than $5k into it. Like, well into the 10s.
Either way, I guess it's time to hit a Caddy dealer and test drive one of those beasts... I doubt I'll have any issue with the way it handles or pulls, but the dash/console/interior don't resonate nearly as well with me as the facelifted W211s. The seats do look pretty amazing, though.
09-02-2013, 12:42 AM
#37
Member
There's two different seats in the -Vs, Recaros and regular seats. Both are comfortable for me, but depending on your build the Recaros' bolstering might be a little aggressive.
Look for a metal Recaro badge on the plastic on the side of the seat to tell them apart easily. There's also a difference in the upholstery where one has a "stripe" running down the middle but I can't remember which is which.
Look for a metal Recaro badge on the plastic on the side of the seat to tell them apart easily. There's also a difference in the upholstery where one has a "stripe" running down the middle but I can't remember which is which.
09-02-2013, 12:48 AM
#38
Super Member
Thread Starter
There's two different seats in the -Vs, Recaros and regular seats. Both are comfortable for me, but depending on your build the Recaros' bolstering might be a little aggressive.
Look for a metal Recaro badge on the plastic on the side of the seat to tell them apart easily. There's also a difference in the upholstery where one has a "stripe" running down the middle but I can't remember which is which.
Look for a metal Recaro badge on the plastic on the side of the seat to tell them apart easily. There's also a difference in the upholstery where one has a "stripe" running down the middle but I can't remember which is which.
09-02-2013, 01:14 AM
#39
Member
Do it. I like my E55 so far, as part of my calculation was low cost of entry + no payment + modding. I'm sure you will enjoy it, and these will only be a small step behind -Vs and W212s after you dump some money into it.
I like my E55 so far, as part of my calculation was low cost of entry + no payment + modding. I'm sure you will enjoy it, and these will only be a small step behind -Vs and W212s after you dump some money into it.
09-02-2013, 11:18 AM
#41
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e55
if it helps any I just picked up a 05 e55 for13k.125k on miles.. car is clean inside out seats show no significant signs of wear and the best part is all the air shocks where replaced last year along with all major services.
09-02-2013, 05:04 PM
#42
Super Member
Thread Starter
I haven't driven one, but I've raced one in my 32 and he kept up ludicrously well. "Too slow" is relative in this case - I want something running low 12s stock, into the 11s on DRs with a tune/headers, etc.
