I totally gave up on waiting for my E55. SF Mercedes kept on saying that I'm number 13 then number 11 (for over 2 years). Dropped by a porsche dealer couple months ago and stated I was interested in a used 996 Turbo. They were responsive and now I own a 7500 mile 2001 silver 911 Turbo. Have not regretted the decision since, even though when I asked for my deposit back, my salesmen said he can make a deal on a tecite E55 in stock. Felt good to say that i'm more than happy with the 911TT. The new RS6 has caught my eye now, altough i'm about to put my name on the wait list for a lotus elise (which I'll probably won't even get for 3-4 years with the crazy wait list on those things ).

Will miss this forum, since this is one of the most informative and most of the time polite.

 

mind telling who the mb dealer was?

 

How much did u pay for the TT? Ill keep mind u mightve paid something inflated due to being in cali...

Ill see what my salesman tells me on tuesday..and ill know if when i come back from my trip in august if i need to look inthe same direction as u...

 

Why such the long wait? I just ran a search on Traderonline and found 27 E55s listed. In the past, most of them are either silver or a version of black. I wanted white, and I didnt want to start my lease till spring so I ordered mine from Tampa MB in mid November and took delivery a week ago. I guess some dealers that have them in stock ask over MSRP but I would guess they will negogiate on price with a serious buyer.

 

Wow, either an E55 or a Porsche 911! Speaks volumes on the performance of the E55.

 

There are several e55's available on trader online but if you want to order your car the wait times can vary quite a bit at different dealers. The first two dealers I went to told me about 1.5 year wait and they wanted more than MSRP. The third dealer I went to was willing to negotiate a bit and got my car for me in less than 6 months.

 

that's why you should have drive an hour down to beshoff at san jose.

Beshoff has the biggest allocation in the bay area, and would be able to get you a car within 3 month. There really is no wait list there.

 

Dealer was San Francisco of Mercedes. Funny thing was when I asked for my deposit back, they were willing to offer me a E55 that was in the lot for MSRP. Felt good to tell the dealer I was no longer interested. The reality of it for me is that as I was waiting for the E55, I started having hesitations when I realized that I still wanted to drive a manual. I still love the E55 and probably will look into the next iteration (along w/ the competition ) , but at this point in time, I am very happy with the 911tt (it fits 2 car seats in the back which is a criteria for me).

ThemisN, I paid 90K for the car . It included 2 years extended warranty w/ Nav and upgraded speakers. So came up to a little over 100K out the door. A little more than I wanted to pay, but w/ the 7500 miles and certified by the dealer, I was very happy.

Krispy,

I know, next time I will go to beshoff, since I pass them by once, and that place is huge. I remember you even recommended me there 2 years ago when I first started looking, but I'm usually too lazy to go anywhere too far, since I've been working 50-55 hours a week. Next time I'll heed your advice

 

Always felt that the Southern States dealers were probably behind the curve on their ability to secure an E55, however, mine took less than 4 months from the order time. When I jokingly told my dealer I liked the car so well I wanted another, he said give me a deposit and 4 months and come pick it up. When I was by there last time I thought it had turned into an AMG shop. Most everything there was AMG, except for the 340k Maybauch they were showin off. Think they sold that. The only guy in Alabama I know that could afford that one is going to jail now

 

it looks like your dealer has higher priority for people willing to pay a little bit above your offer. I ordered mine a month ago and already got confirm including vin from the dealer "....your car is in production and will be ready for delivery by the end of August". This is my second benz from same guy and I can't say there is a lack of trust. You should try Prestige Motors of Paramus, NJ

 

beshoff has a great sales staff. But other than that, everything else is just average.

The reason why that beshoff was setup to have big allocation is that MB was not too happy with Smythe. Hence Beshoff's owner was enticed to move up north. MB build the dealership that beshoff did not pay for the building.

Beshoff has a very agressive sales staff and would push a new car sales through with no money down and strange financing. that's why quiet a bit of their car come back when payments can't no longer be made.

Everytime I was there, they usually has several less than 2 k miles used S/SL/CL on the lot. You can get a great deal on those.

Before I bought the CLK320 for the wife, they were trying to sell me a fully loaded 2004 CLK500 for about 50k.