My wife has zeroed in on this car as her next. I have read that reliability is not great on Mercedes and I was also wondering how you feel about using regular gas in a car where premium is recommended.
Thinking about dropping at least $32k for a new ride but balk at an extra $3.5/fillup(gallon of fuel) for premium fuel? I think your financial picture has some serious faults.
MB knows what works best in their car. If premium is suggested, then use it. I also suggest that you consider if you might void the warranty by using regular gasoline exclusively. I understand that reliability is fine for the drive train, but the extras are where the reliability suffers.
I don't believe there is any reliability problems, but remember that repairs and to a lesser extent service will cost more than most cars. That should not be a real problem if you can afford the car to start with.
I really have to wonder why anyone would buy a car where premium is recommended and then not use premium. First you are buying performance as one feature and if you don't use premium performance suffers. Mileage also suffers so you will end up buying more gas so you may not save anything after all. Remember, while premium does cost more, especially at today's prices it is only a very small amount more.
If you want to save on fuel cost, do as I did, my car is a diesel, I pay more per gallon, but I get over 40 in the city and about 60 mpg on the road.
In short if you are worried about those small cost, small compared to the cost of the car, don't buy a luxury car, you are not a luxury person and you will not enjoy it. However remember it is not YOUR choice it is your wife's choice. [b] The smart man will not try to find excuses to change his wife's choice of a car, she will resent it as long as she owns whatever you chose or guide her to. [/b]Affordability is not the question. Just because I have the money, doesn’t mean I want to throw it down the drain on premium gas if I don’t have to. Thanks all for your opinions. She is also looking at Lexus. I think I’ll have a look around this weekend.
Good point. People who have a lot of disposable income usually got and stay that way by NOT throwing away money unnecessarily.
The key to the fuel issue comes down to the wording, i.e. if premium is recommended vs. required. This discussion occurs here at least once a week. If the owner’s manual uses the former word (don’t trust the salesman’s word), you can use lower octane gas, with a small penalty in power and fuel economy if you drive in a spirited manner. There should be no damage to the engine in this case. However, if the word used is required, you risk engine damage (and voiding the engine warranty for that damage) if you use anything but premium.
A Mercedes is going to be a lot more expensive to maintain and repair than a Corolla. But I’m sure you already knew that.
Joseph’s last sentence is an absolute pearl of wisdom.
Nofixem,
From your retort, you came here looking for only opinions that agree with yours. You’re not going to get that agreement from me. As the old adage goes, you can choose to be, “Penny proud, and pound stupid”, if you choose.