3 months before finding out I was pregnant, my husband and I bought a Toyota Prius. 9 months later our twin boys were born and we are out car shopping again. We like the crossovers and after some research we have it narrowed down to the Toyota Highlander, the GMC Acadia, or the Honda Pilot. We had planned on purchasing a new car because of all the great incentives out there but a used Mercedes R-350 recently caught my eye. Basically we can afford to purchase a new crossover from the list I mentioned above or a used (2007) Mercedes R class. What should we do? The most important thing to us are the safety features. Of course we care about cost of ownership and resale value too. What do you guys think?
If Cost of Ownership is a major concern, then you should be aware that the Mercedes R-class has a reliability record that Consumer Reports characterizes as “well below average”.
By contrast, the GMC Acadia’s reliability is classified as “average”, and the Pilot has been “well above average”. The Highlander’s 2008 redesign resulted in no rating (yet) of its reliability, but if Toyota holds true to form, it should be at least somewhat better than average.
Resale will be best on a used MB. the reason is that it already has taken the depreciation hit so you don’t get it when you sell any other new vehicle you list. Also the safety is top tier.
A slightly used premium SUV can be cheaper ownership over the short term than a brand new Toyota suv for example due to the nasty thing called new car depreciation.
I would strongly recommend against the R class. It has much worse than average reliability, and it is the largest failure of Mercedes in recent memory, making resale values poor. Any of the others you name would be better.