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Mercedes GLE 53 AMG

Inland Air Balance

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Thinking about dumping the wifes Jeep Grand Cherokee and picking up a '21 MB GLE 53 AMG coupe (GLE 350 souped up by AMG). Anyone have one? Thoughts? Regrets? She test drove one and said it definatley handled better, more solid feeling then her Jeep GC.
TIA-Dave
 

oldschool

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They are bad ass, we were looking at them as well. They only make them in AMG trim now, which means they are really cool but spendy. We ended up with a BMW X5 MSport and couldn’t be happier.
 

steamin rice

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The AMG versions are typically really nice and fast. Resale will probably be horrible, but that's not why you buy these vehicles.
 

ka0tyk

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will you be okay with the sloped back? one problem we had with our infiniti qx70 was how angled the rear was and it cut down on storage and some things were just kinda awkward and didnt fit.
 

Tbrownski

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My experience with Mercedes has been get ready to lose money. If you want any resale whatsoever on German suvs a Porsche with a turbo is all that holds value
 

BajaMike

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They are bad ass, we were looking at them as well. They only make them in AMG trim now, which means they are really cool but spendy. We ended up with a BMW X5 MSport and couldn’t be happier.

The BMW X5 MSport is a beautiful SUV and it hauls ass. On a test drive, on a empty Palm Srings road, floored it, and It almost took our heads off. I loved it but $90K?
 

oldschool

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The BMW X5 MSport is a beautiful SUV and it hauls ass. On a test drive, on a empty Palm Srings road, floored it, and It almost took our heads off. I loved it but $90K?
Ours was a dealer demo with a couple thousand miles on it, got it for much less than $90k. It’s the S, not the X drive as well.
 

Cdog

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I can’t see why anyone would buy an Amg or a M car or a S line for their wife
For what? To look cool going the speed limit while they run over curbs on 22’s?

1615389947069.jpeg
 

Inland Air Balance

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Lease dont buy
Never have a MB without a warranty
Make friends with the owner of your tire shop
Have a Toyota in your driveway to drive while the MB is in the shop.
Curious what model did you have that ate tires and was in the shop that much?
 

toyaddiction

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After seeing this I will have to beat you up on your pricing more.
 

oldschool

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I’ve leased a couple MB’s and now a BMW, been great vehicles and never been to the shop except for the maintenance. I wouldn’t buy one though.
 

ChumpChange

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My buddy is over at MB Ontario if you need anything.
 

badgas

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I dont want to rain on the parade but you asked about MB

Beautiful cars but If you are gonna keep it while get a Lexus.

My Mom used to own MB's and Dad BMW those cars lived in the shop with the MB being much worse. As soon as they switched to Lexus vehicles they have NEVER had a repair.

My SIL also had a MB GL 450 even with an extened warranty they still bailed on it because they were sick of dealing with the POS it was in the shop constantly.

With a lexus you can just take the thing and drive it for a decade with no warraty needed.

Good luck
 
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LargeOrangeFont

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Curious what model did you have that ate tires and was in the shop that much?

All the german performance models eat tires. They are set up to handle through turns with aggressive toe and camber settings. They also have performance tires. When all you do is drive down the street or freeway, the tires wear quickly, and unevenly.
 

Chili Palmer

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I dont want to rain on the parade but you asked about MB

Beautiful cars but If you are gonna keep it while get a Lexus.

My Mom used to own MB's and Dad BMW those cars lived in the shop with the MB being much worse. As soon as they switched to Lexus vehicles they have NEVER had a repair.

My SIL also had a MB GL 450 even with an extened warranty they still bailed on it because they were sick of dealing with the POS it was in the shop constantly.

With a lexus you can just take the thing and drive it for a decade with no warraty needed.

Good luck
But if you go from a BMW or MB to a Lexus you will be disappointed as Lexuses (Lexi?) have exactly no sporting pretensions. We got rid of our BMW 550 and went to the Lexus RX350 for reliability purposes, I know, not exactly same model genre, but it was so benign and non involving that is was bland. Don't get me wrong, it was a very nice car, but that's all it was. After a year we went back to a 3 year old CPO BMW 650 Gran Coupe for more than 50% off the original sticker with barely over 30,000 miles. European cars have something that makes them driver's cars, but that complexity makes them disposable vehicles - once the warranty is up and things go wrong you'll find out very quickly that nothing is cheap on these cars to repair.
 

badgas

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But if you go from a BMW or MB to a Lexus you will be disappointed as Lexuses (Lexi?) have exactly no sporting pretensions. We got rid of our BMW 550 and went to the Lexus RX350 for reliability purposes, I know, not exactly same model genre, but it was so benign and non involving that is was bland. Don't get me wrong, it was a very nice car, but that's all it was. After a year we went back to a 3 year old CPO BMW 650 Gran Coupe for more than 50% off the original sticker with barely over 30,000 miles. European cars have something that makes them driver's cars, but that complexity makes them disposable vehicles - once the warranty is up and things go wrong you'll find out very quickly that nothing is cheap on these cars to repair.

You are correct !

The Lexus will NOT drive like the German vehicles. That is why I started with "If you want to keep it while"

The RX350 100% a granny SUV

For people who rotate cars a lot it does not matter just get what you want and drive it till you are done and go get another.
 

Inland Air Balance

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Funny you bring up the Lexus, we drove one of those before getting the Jeep GC, Talk about anemic on power! My wife was test driving the Lexus and asking whats wrong with this car, it wont go. LOL!!!!
 

Boat 405

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I love hearing all these stories trashing different cars, being in the shop, eating tires, blah blah blah...

It's called mechanical empathy. Some people just don't have it...... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but pick any brand and someone will be endlessly complaining about it. Seeing how most people drive these days I'm surprised they last as long as they do.

If you like the car brand _________ buy it and enjoy it. It most likely won't be in your driveway in 10 years so who cares. Cars these days are disposable. If all you needed was a car to get you from point a to b, there would be one choice. But it isn't that way, some like red, some like black some like green. Others like lifted, slammed, electric, gas, diesel, car, truck, whatever, chances are if your car is always breaking or in the shop or going through brakes or tires. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's your driving habits, not the car.

But if you have the chance to get a tank, always get the tank. :)
 

Taboma

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I love hearing all these stories trashing different cars, being in the shop, eating tires, blah blah blah...

It's called mechanical empathy. Some people just don't have it...... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but pick any brand and someone will be endlessly complaining about it. Seeing how most people drive these days I'm surprised they last as long as they do.

If you like the car brand _________ buy it and enjoy it. It most likely won't be in your driveway in 10 years so who cares. Cars these days are disposable. If all you needed was a car to get you from point a to b, there would be one choice. But it isn't that way, some like red, some like black some like green. Others like lifted, slammed, electric, gas, diesel, car, truck, whatever, chances are if your car is always breaking or in the shop or going through brakes or tires. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's your driving habits, not the car.

But if you have the chance to get a tank, always get the tank. :)

I dunno, I thought that until I started reading here on RDP and now realize just who the people are driving the cars with 100K + miles on them. I honestly thought they were an entirely different demographic, boy was I wrong. 🥴 I'm amazed when I read posts nonchalantly revealing driving their vehicle with 150K + miles to the river or lake, hell I wouldn't drive one to the local Target store. And a lot of them are towing their boats behind them as well. :eek: The boats in many cases easily being worth twice what the tow vehicle is. 😖
Funny, I've been driving legally since around 64', and I've driven maybe two vehicles with over 100K miles, but never owned one, maybe 80K max and that was my wife's Lexus GX470.

When I read stories of over 200K, I'm amazed, what balls you've got. 😂
 

BajaMike

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I can’t see why anyone would buy an Amg or a M car or a S line for their wife
For what? To look cool going the speed limit while they run over curbs on 22’s?

View attachment 980521

‘That’s what I thought....$90K for my girlfriend togo shopping in? I got her a Lexus RX 350, 4WD. Great car, half the price of the BMW, 0% interest.
 

Mandelon

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New 2021 Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE 53 4MATIC Coupe SUV | Polar White 21-9

You all are complaining about previous year's models. I am pretty sure that they have all the bugs worked out by now....😉
 

Dan Lorenze

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It's true, AMG's are known for their depreciation. I'd buy one barley used and save a lot of money. My buddy has a new AMG C63s, it's an incredible car in all aspects.
 
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badgas

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I love hearing all these stories trashing different cars, being in the shop, eating tires, blah blah blah...

It's called mechanical empathy. Some people just don't have it...... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but pick any brand and someone will be endlessly complaining about it. Seeing how most people drive these days I'm surprised they last as long as they do.

If you like the car brand _________ buy it and enjoy it. It most likely won't be in your driveway in 10 years so who cares. Cars these days are disposable. If all you needed was a car to get you from point a to b, there would be one choice. But it isn't that way, some like red, some like black some like green. Others like lifted, slammed, electric, gas, diesel, car, truck, whatever, chances are if your car is always breaking or in the shop or going through brakes or tires. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's your driving habits, not the car.

But if you have the chance to get a tank, always get the tank. :)

This circles back to my point, My vehicles are never in the shop. 10 year old 120K miles, 10 year old 90K miles, 7 year old 85K miles. All Toyota and only oil, tires, brake pads. They will give you a trouble free decade but as the OP and others have said they don't drive like the German cars.

I will driving my 11 year old F150 from OC to havasu tomorrow it has 82K miles but I picked it up with 70K so I can't speak to it.
 

Boat 405

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It's true, AMG's are known for their depreciation. I'd buy one barley used and save a lot of money. My buddy has a new AMG C63s, it's an incredible car in all aspects.
Yup, I have owned 3 of them. A 2000 E55, sold with 145,000 miles, a 2006 E55 sold at 96,000 miles, and currently a 2013 E63 with 48k miles. All have been great cars. I bought all of them used the 2000 with 65k on it. The 2006 with 30k miles on it, and the 2013 with 22k miles on it. I paid 22k for the 2000 in 2003, I paid 35k for the 2006 in 2008, and paid 59k for the 2013 in 2015. The sticker on the 2000 was 96k, the sticker on the 2006 was 107k, and the sticker on the 2013 was 111k. Buying them a few years old saved me tens of thousands. I do all the routine maintenance myself, brakes, tires, oil and filter changes. The transmission service and brake flush i let the dealer do it. Not one of the cars ever left me stranded.

My current E63 is a monster, it has the P30 package with comes with 550 ft/lbs and 590 hp. I'm planning on tuning it soon with downpipes to take it over 800hp. It was the last year they made a 2 wheel drive AMG with the 5.5 liter twin turbo charged engine. In 2014 they changed to all wheel drive as the only option for the E63. Now in 2017 they changed to a 4.3 liter twin turbo engine for the E63.

The 2006 was dear to me. It was like a sexy woman with curves and still had lots of power to be sporty when needed. It was very comfortable suspension could be soft and then turned up to be stiff. The 2013 is built for speed 100%. Not entirely comfortable for much more than a few hours. Tires last maybe 20k miles. Very stiff suspension even on the softest setting, good track car. Gobs of power. The dual wet clutch transmission is awesome. No torque converter. Basically a manual transmission without a clutch pedal.
 
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lakemadness

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I’ve had numerous Bimmers, still have one. Fairly rare (1 of 12) 5 series. It needs to go to the shop right now for a spendy repair. Just like a performance boat, you’re not buying them for the reliability. You’re buying them for the experience you get. There’s things about these cars like quality and solidness that Lexus, Toyota or whatever it is will never touch. Repairs are more but that’s an aspect of the game.
 

530RL

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Wife has an 2019 E53 cab.

We have had great luck with MB products but not this one. The E53 has a starter/alternator between the I6 and the transmission that acts like a quasi hybrid, and a 48 volt electrical system to spool up the turbocharger. It’s a complicated system.

It began with a main seal leak at 2,000 miles. Then started having electrical problems relating to control units and the hybrid system. Then a new starter/alternator hybrid unit which is a large repair as the whole transmission has to come out. Then more control units and another hybrid system.

Even the tech rep from CA was left scratching his head. Then a tech rep from Germany with special test equipment. It has spent over 55 days in the car hospital.

It appears to be fixed, for now, but at 7,000 miles and 18 months old Mercedes USA simply called the wife and said they would like to take it back and give us all 107k back including tax title and license.

They have been outstanding about it with never a need for us to complain. Both the dealer and manufacturer.

So when you build a couple million units a year you are bound to have an outlier. And they handled it superbly.

She loves the car but became worried about more lights and warnings and limp modes if going out of town.

I don’t know if this new hybrid system was the problem due to its complexity or it was just an outlier. I wouldn’t be afraid to buy a new one, but I’d probably buy the 63 over the 53?

I think she is going back to BMW. But I’m smart enough just to say whatever you want dear. 😊
 

attitude

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My mom has a 2020 E53 and loves it, she always calls me when driving to tell me how much she loves it lol. That being said it was bought buy my step dads company because they needed to write off the depreciation, that should tell you all you need to know about value...
 
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LargeOrangeFont

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Yup, I have owned 3 of them. A 2000 E55, sold with 145,000 miles, a 2006 E55 sold at 96,000 miles, and currently a 2013 E63 with 48k miles. All have been great cars. I bought all of them used the 2000 with 65k on it. The 2006 with 30k miles on it, and the 2013 with 22k miles on it. I paid 22k for the 2000 in 2003, I paid 35k for the 2006 in 2008, and paid 59k for the 2013 in 2015. The sticker on the 2000 was 96k, the sticker on the 2006 was 107k, and the sticker on the 2013 was 111k. Buying them a few years old saved me tens of thousands. I do all the routine maintenance myself, brakes, tires, oil and filter changes. The transmission service and brake flush i let the dealer do it. Not one of the cars ever left me stranded.

My current E63 is a monster, it has the P30 package with comes with 550 ft/lbs and 590 hp. I'm planning on tuning it soon with downpipes to take it over 800hp. It was the last year they made a 2 wheel drive AMG with the 5.5 liter twin turbo charged engine. In 2014 they changed to all wheel drive as the only option for the E63. Now in 2017 they changed to a 4.3 liter twin turbo engine for the E63.

This is a great post and very telling with regards to MSRP and the depreciation. It is not as bad as is was 15 years ago, and I’m assuming this is because other cars have come up in price so much over the years.

I was just thinking of this same thing the other day. In the early 2000s a M5 was 100k, it is still not much over 100k today. They have not shot up near as much as say... trucks.

At least we are getting more for our money with these sedans these days.
 

PlumLoco

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Followed something labeled AMG GT63 today on the 91. Never heard of a MB GT but it looked good and the guy was changing lanes like cars were cones on a slalom course.
 
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lakemadness

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My mom has a 2020 E53 and loves it, she always calls me when driving to tell me how much she loves it lol. That being said it was bought buy my step dads company because they needed to write off the depreciation, that should tell you all you need to know about value...


It actually doesn’t tell you anything about the value...

We all know the values on German cars tank quick. In a business your only allowed to depreciate vehicle costs so much per year or all at once up front. Doesn’t matter if it’s an f150 or a German sedan.
 

jadenchick

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I test drove one on Friday and loved it in sport mode. I liked hearing the exhaust cackle. I’d say buy it!

I have a loaded Range Rover Velar that’s off lease this month and it’s had some quirks but nothing major. Now one time it wouldn’t start and it got towed. The tow company did $10k worth of damage to it but that’s a whole other thread lol

I want to check out the Aston Martin DBX - saw one today in the parking lot in Newport.
 

attitude

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It actually doesn’t tell you anything about the value...

We all know the values on German cars tank quick. In a business your only allowed to depreciate vehicle costs so much per year or all at once up front. Doesn’t matter if it’s an f150 or a German sedan.
Not a tax person so I don't know the rules, I do know that their tax person told them to buy instead of lease because they would be able to write more off. I will also bet that 96k car will be worth 40k by the time it’s out of warranty.
 

Inland Air Balance

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Not a tax person so I don't know the rules, I do know that their tax person told them to buy instead of lease because they would be able to write more off. I will also bet that 96k car will be worth 40k by the time it’s out of warranty.
 
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