Hi,
I just joined and I would like your advice/opinion.
There is a 05 s600 brand new car(dealer left over) available for $90K. The price is close to 07 s550. I like the performance of the V12 bi turbo on the old car, but the new car has an improved 4 valve V8.
So, for the similar cost of acquisition.....Is the newer model better deal in the long term ownership experience? I heard that there is poor reliablility history of the 2000-06 model S class?
Thanks for your help!

 

i would definitely go with the new one. i have never been able to understand why people prefer larger engines in US where you can go to jail if you get caught over 90mph.

 

I agree with kaan, for the same money the new model is a better way to go, in a few years the 05 will be yesterday's news and resale will reflect that (not that MB resale is great anymore, as thier reliability has slipped so has the desire for thier used products). I just bought my S430 a couple of months ago fully aware of the reliability issue. There is no reason to believe however that the 07 will be any more reliable than the 00-06. It has even more stuff to go wrong. At least you have a 4/50 warranty on either car.

You might consider a 3 year lease and if you love it buy it out. A buddy called me last week and he did a 3 year lease on an 03 S430. His wife wants to keep it and MBNA took $5K off the residual immediately, he is going to offer $10K below residual and will likely get it for that. MBNA gets the auction reports and they know how poorly these cars do at Manheim, the market is small for expensive Euro cars that frequently break and are very costly to fix, thusly they bring relatively low money on the used market.