2006 MB C55 AMG

[ayabe]

Lastnight I was bored when the ol' GF was watching the Bachelor so I started shopping around for used cars.

I know I cry about it all the time, but I commute 80 miles a day round trip on the Interstate/Highway. I currently have an '06 WRX which isn't horrible on the highway but it's not exactly comfortable either.

So I've been looking for a second car and stumbled upon this bad boy. I'm semi-confidant I could talk them down from $27K as the car has been on the lot for over a year.

I'm a little hesitant to buy an MB because I'm going to be putting 20,000 a year on whatever I get and I don't want a money pit.

But I'm having a real hard time passing this one up, am I crazy? Someone talk me down!

Here's the car I'm looking at:

Text

 

[sdifox]

That is kinda expensive no? Also, do you need to drive in the snow? C55 does not drive nice in the snow. MB maintenance is not cheap and this thing requires premium gas.

 

[ayabe]

No I'm in FL so snow isn't a concern.

I guess it's a little high, Edmunds says TMV is around $27K with unknown mileage. 18,000 is pretty low for an almost 3 year old car.

For some reason I had it in my head that these would be in the $40's still, but I guess they depreciate like a rock.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: ayabe
No I'm in FL so snow isn't a concern.

I guess it's a little high, Edmunds says TMV is around $27K with unknown mileage. 18,000 is pretty low for an almost 3 year old car.

For some reason I had it in my head that these would be in the $40's still, but I guess they depreciate like a rock.

They do drop like a rock... Look to California if you don't mind shipping/ driving it across country.

20k mi is a lot and MB maint is on the expensive side. You also have to budget for lead foot

I picked up an 06 E350 4Matic for 23k. The mileage was 25.5k. Drove it back to Toronto, ON from Peoria, IL with my buddy.

http://www.finishlineford.net/...c93155&useHistory=true

That is the place I got my car from. Not saying you should too

 

[halik]

Err why would you buy a specialty sports sedan when you really need a commuter? 80 miles a day means you should be driving a honda civic or better yet a diesel jetta (over 50mpg!)

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: halik
Err why would you buy a specialty sports sedan when you really need a commuter? 80 miles a day means you should be driving a honda civic or better yet a diesel jetta (over 50mpg!)

going from a wrx to civic???

I think this is his rational

I am going to be on the road a lot, I want something more comfortable than a WRX and sporty.

I would point to used Z350 or Legacy GT

 

[ayabe]

Yeah, I'm just not sure either of those would be an actual upgrade in terms of comfort and both would be an extreme downgrade in the fun department.

But yeah, you speak the truth I'm being a little silly.

I did see some nice TL's on sale....

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: ayabe
Yeah, I'm just not sure either of those would be an actual upgrade in terms of comfort and both would be an extreme downgrade in the fun department.

But yeah, you speak the truth I'm being a little silly.

I did see some nice TL's on sale....

I think you should first narrow down what kind of car you are looking for...then test drive them and narrow it down to 1, then shop around.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: sdifox
That is kinda expensive no? Also, do you need to drive in the snow? C55 does not drive nice in the snow. MB maintenance is not cheap and this thing requires premium gas.

the cost premium of premium gas is negligible compared to the price/life of the car. i hate when people complain about using premium gas. it costs maybe $5 extra a fill (and that's overestimating), and even if you fill once a week, that's $260/year. yes, $260 is good money, but compared to the price of a car, it's not that much.

 

[mc866]

I would be weary of maintenance costs if you are driving 20K a year, not saying that's a ton of miles or it will be a money pit but with the two German vehicles we've owned, never had a MB, the maintenance costs are quite a bit more expensive than what it would cost for your WRX even on basic stuff. The only other thing I would look at is even though the WRX isn't considered a fuel efficient car by any means it's still a 4cyl with turbo compared to the 8cyl in the AMG, so don't know if gas costs are much of a concern to you but depending on how you drive it, you could get potentially much worse mileage.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: sdifox
That is kinda expensive no? Also, do you need to drive in the snow? C55 does not drive nice in the snow. MB maintenance is not cheap and this thing requires premium gas.

the cost premium of premium gas is negligible compared to the price/life of the car. i hate when people complain about using premium gas. it costs maybe $5 extra a fill (and that's overestimating), and even if you fill once a week, that's $260/year. yes, $260 is good money, but compared to the price of a car, it's not that much.

I am not bitching about it, just drawing his attention to it. He is doing 20k mi a year after all and needs to look at all the costs associated with running a car.

Using my wife's E350 4Matic's 21mpg (mostly highway, 75mph) as a stand in for fuel economy, he's going to chew through 940 gallon in a year. Price premium up here (Toronto, ON) is about 39c per gallon so we are looking at 360 or so. Not a big amount of money, but it is still a cost item.

He will need 2 oil change per year though, 10k mi is what I hear is reasonable for MBs. Around here I think that service is about C250.

 

[ayabe]

Right now I'm getting around 24MPG if I stay off boost, and I already have to run premium even stock, which I'm no longer remotely close to being anymore.

The MB says 20MPG highway, which sucks of course. Either way if gas goes back up to $4.30 a gallon like it was over the summer then I'm royally screwed. I was shelling out almost $350/month on fuel.

Edit - of course if I just sold my WRX(which I paid for in cash back in the day) then I guess that would be a lot easier to swallow. I used to love my Subie but I think I've grown out of recently, the closer I creep towards 30 the more lame I get!!!

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: ayabe
Right now I'm getting around 24MPG if I stay off boost, and I already have to run premium even stock, which I'm no longer remotely close to being anymore.

The MB says 20MPG highway, which sucks of course. Either way if gas goes back up to $4.30 a gallon like it was over the summer then I'm royally screwed. I was shelling out almost $350/month on fuel.

Edit - of course if I just sold my WRX(which I paid for in cash back in the day) then I guess that would be a lot easier to swallow. I used to love my Subie but I think I've grown out of recently, the closer I creep towards 30 the more lame I get!!!

A C55 is fun to drive, but I am not sure I would want it to be daily beater. You are complaining about comfort, C55 is sports tuned so you will still feel the road, but probably to a lesser degree than a WRX. But if you are concerned about gas usage, MB is the wrong car for you. It has a high operating/maintenance cost.

My buddy has a 06 C55. Actually, it's his fault that I ended up buying the E350 4Matic for my wife.

Now I am trying to get his wife to get him to buy her an S500 4Matic

Revenge is best served cold. I drive a 2002 Protégé5 for comparison...

 

[EightySix Four]

You're looking for driving comfort, some level of performance, and relatively good gas mileage. What kind of requirements do you have as far as seating and cargo area? A used vette may be perfect for you. LS motors are bullet proof, my C5 was an amazingly comfortable cruiser, it got great gas mileage, had a big trunk (hatch area), and had performance in spades.

Another car to consider if you need the room is a used late-model CTS-V.

This

 

[ayabe]

I only need a two door, and a Vette is high on my list and always has been, but I'm afraid the comfort just won't be there and/or GF wouldn't approve.

CTV is interesting, I hadn't really thought about one. Only thing that scares me about that are the electrical gremlins that seem to plague a lot of Caddy's.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm going to take a breath and do some more research.

 

[bananapeel42]

wait wait wait, is that the supercharged v8 drivetrain?!?!!


if so, jump on that deal cause it's awesome! i think the blown mb v8's had like 490 hp.

 

[overst33r]

Unless you're planning on moving/another job. I'd shop for a well optioned TDi. They are very comfortable IMO and get great mileage.

The Mercedes will inevitably need lots of maintenance and money spent on it. If you can't afford a 20mpg car when gas is $4.30, then this isn't really the type of car you should be looking at.

 

[EightySix Four]

Originally posted by: ayabe
I only need a two door, and a Vette is high on my list and always has been, but I'm afraid the comfort just won't be there and/or GF wouldn't approve.

CTV is interesting, I hadn't really thought about one. Only thing that scares me about that are the electrical gremlins that seem to plague a lot of Caddy's.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm going to take a breath and do some more research.

Comfort is subjective but I've found them to be very comfortable.

Worst case you can get a new girlfriend, the 'vette will help

 

[AdamK47]

If you are looking for a comfortable drive in a C6 you can get a base model without the Z51 option.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: bananapeel42
wait wait wait, is that the supercharged v8 drivetrain?!?!!


if so, jump on that deal cause it's awesome! i think the blown mb v8's had like 490 hp.

No.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
If you are looking for a comfortable drive in a C6 you can get a base model without the Z51 option.

base springs with z51 sway bars is best of both worlds. C6 is the best GT car I've driven. It's so smooth and comfortable on the highway that I could easily drive cross country and not be fatigued.

 

[bruceb]

If you like it, buy it. Try to get it for $25 - $26 K if you can. Most expensive to do on an MB are brakes which, if the dealer does it, can easily run over $1000 .. but you should get about 40k or so out a set of brakes and rotors usually after the 3rd set of pads are worn out. It would pay to get an extended warranty plan and check if your cell phone has towing / roadside plan (or AAA) since you will be on the road, you want to be covered, in case of an issue.

 

[swtethan]

you will love it when it throws a warning light at you... $250 for a diagnosis.

 

[caspur]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: bananapeel42
wait wait wait, is that the supercharged v8 drivetrain?!?!!


if so, jump on that deal cause it's awesome! i think the blown mb v8's had like 490 hp.

No.

Yeah, I think people need to realize that a C55 is not a C class with the E55 engine. There is no forced induction, it is a V8 but its only in the mid 300hp range. (Same engine is used on the CLK55 which is, surprise!, also non-supercharged.

Objectively, for a 50k car (when new) a used C55 is not a bad deal. It wasn't a particularly popular car because it was too expensive for its performance level. An M3 or S4 were better all-around cars and their popularity reflects that.

For a commuter, I can't see why one wouldn't get a used S-Class from 2005/6/7. Its a 90k car being sold somewhere in the mid 30k range after 3 years. Yes, they are becoming used as taxis in a few cities, but that should be a testament to their reliability and maintenance cost...not something that can be said about Mercedes in general.

 

[sindows]

Try looking for a Jaguar XJR or S-Type R, both can be found for ~25-30 for low miles and I would imagine both would be better cars then the C55 both in terms of comfort and speed.