Looking at either the new A8 and 2018 S class and wanted to get some opinions on this. My head is telling me to buy Lexus but the technology is so damn bad in those that I cant bring myself to.
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Please read through the forum. There are many posts on this. The maintenance on German cars is pretty pricey, especially MB. Forget about out-of-warranty repairs, the regular maintenance on MB is a killer.
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Is Genesis reliable?
I don’t see the purpose of that…if anything buy a 5yr old German car well maintained for cheap then have a repair budget set aside. Never buy one new imo
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As you may have guessed from the name, this is a Lease Hacking forum. Consumer Reports, True Delta, and JD Powers are down the hall.
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You’re right
So to summarize…pay $400/m on your loan and then another $200/m to the repair fund. Lovely!
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Pay to play. Not the route I would take but leasing doesn’t make sense for some people. Especially those that want an s-class or an a8. If he said 740 then lease all day…
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I tried this route- albeit only an A4 when I was an intern. I was warned that if finances were tight not to go this route and instead stick with my Japanese car.
Of course, I didn’t listen. And oh did I pay thru the nose in repairs as every known engineering issue on the B5 I got to know- including finding out that the 1997 model was the only one that had a 3 bar fuel pressure regulator while all the other B5 models came with a 4 bar. [This caused the engine to run lean with a larger turbo and incorrect Apr chip and led to throwing 2 rods thru the engine block necessitating a new engine.]
Since this happened, I vowed never to own another European vehicle and will only lease since I will always have factory warranty, latest tech, and have my transportation expenses relatively fixed.
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Audi currently charges $180/hr for labor at their service dept in NYC. Any 5 hour job will run you grand plus parts. You could rely on secondary shops but some parts on the MB are VIN coded and only can be aquired and installed at a MB dealership. Give you an example, I bought a used ML350 Blutec at an auction. Pulled of the lot and 5 miles down the road check engine comes on. Long story short I was forced to take it to a MB dealership as the transmission parts could not be purchased by non MB shop. Part was coded specifically by MB. $3200 in the hole I sold the car 6 months later for a used Lexus. Never looked back.
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We have had two Audi A8L’s and 1 A8 and speaking from reliability standpoint we had an massive amount of headaches surrounding technology reliability, they never left us stranded ever, but the dash and error codes were frequent, would not recommend owning an A8 for a long period of time. However we have a 2010 Audi A6 3.0T and its been rock solid, 10 years 105,000 miles, their is a small oil leak slowly developing now, but besides that its just been regular maintenance and a pleasure to own.
My advice would be to find a 3-4 year old A8 or S-class and with the extreme depreciation they take, use some of that saved money and buy the extended warranty, make sure to read up on what yo are getting though before investing the 3-4k into the warrenty plan.
What kind Lexus you are thinking to get? comparable to new A8 and 2018 S?
not excited about owning either of them without extended warranty imo.
If you want a big boy sedan, get the old mens sedan lol
LS460 non f sport (PERIOD)
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Totally agree. The LS is the pick for reliability in the full size category. May not be as athletic as the others mentioned, but should produce far fewer headaches.
Just curious-How come F Sport is a no go?
Every scenario is different but I bet you will pay more per miles driven compared to lease. Do the math by making conservative and reasonable assumptions before you decide.
I have read on forums of issues with the FSport adjustable suspension. No clue as to how much of an issue it really is…may just be internet lore!
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My guess would be the air suspension. They all go bad - just a matter of “when”…
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Do you have an indie German mechanic you can trust? Are you handy for the routine maintenance items?
If No or you can’t do the homework to find an indie mechanic, then pass and stay with Japanese or Ford/GM trucks/SUVs
People quoting their experiences with B5 A4’s and MLs bought at auction = of course those are going to be horror stories.
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