Thinking about picking one of these guys up. Not really into the new version and can't really afford it either!! So why not let depreciation work for me.

Car

 

I would not buy it without speaking to the former owner and seeing the service history. It could easily be a lemon--MB doesn't like to buy-back cars.

 

As far as S430s go that is an absolute creampuff. It actually looks cleaner than my wife's '05 S500 sport and she only has 5k miles on it. Then again, she is constantly shuttling around my 3 boys.

The one thing that you seriously must do before pulling the trigger on that car is drive one. The car looks really nice but don't let the looks be the deciding factor. Drive the car and block out the looks and the fact that it is an S-class Mercedes. Personally, I feel that the S430 is a gutless beast. It feels really slow and drives like an woman's car. Definitely not a sporty drive. Even the S500 drives terrible despite the extra HP. My wife loves her car but I hate it. My 745Li is an absolute canyon carver and drag strip king in comparison. The 745 may not be the ideal car for many because of the looks and the I-drive but.... like I said for the S-class... don't think about the looks, just evaluate the driving dynamics.

Like I said, that particular car for sale looks like a great deal and it appears to be in spectacular condition. BUT be very careful and take one for an extended test drive. You may regret the purchase.

 

thanks for the advice. I was worried that the S430 might not have the grunt to move that car. Looks like I'll look into the S500. Unfortunetely, the S55 and S600 are a little out of my range.

 

Wow, just realized that the car was a buyback.... Geez I wouldn't touch that thing.... if I were you. If you look at the seller's feedback, it all looks great but then you realize that he has sold a lot of Mercedes Buy-Back (Lemon Law) vehicles to dealers that resell them. They could care less what the circumstances of the buyback are and since the buyback is documented, the people who buy them can't really complain because they knew what they were getting into. Of course the seller would get great feedback, they don't have to live with the cars. It is very difficult to get any manufacturer to buyback a vehicle under the Lemon Law. In fact, the Lemon Law requires that whatever the defect is, it must be a safety or drivability issue or the car must be in the shop for a certain number of days. He is using the number of days rule as the reason for all of the buybacks but I doubt Mercedes is in the habit of just buying back premium high-depreciation vehicles just because they couldn't get the parts shipped in time.

Look at this particular link.... SL55 with 13k miles that sold for $89k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=4549196066

Look at the buyback certificate. It states that "allegedly, the engine shuts off". The allegedly part implies that Mercedes could not find the problem or duplicate the problem but the owner was able to present enough evidence that the court or AAA arbitrator ruled that Mercedes must buyback the vehicle.

I think that instead of calling them "buybacks", I would call them "grenades with the pins already pulled".

 

For $40k, get a 01 LS430 instead w ultra lux pkg. S class pricing will just continue to tank. A Lexus has more features and makes a better used car.

If you fork out $50k, you should get a S500 that's a cream puff. However, compare around with different models. I think the current S is dated in looks, performance and features.