What about an E450 wagon? it’s not as sexy and terrific as the E63, to be certain. However, it starts at $64k, and with 362 HP, MB claims 0 to 60 in 5.1, which is d**n fast, I don’t care who you are.
It’s a fairly unique vehicle, you won’t see a ton of them, and still ultra practical and a bit of a sleeper.
Only the AMGs retain the value that well due to the hot rod status, no one cares about the regular ones.
And the E63 is super car fast, under 3 seconds to 60, 5.1 was considered fast maybe 10-15 years ago when it was a big deal an evo and sti could do low 4s to 60.
I stand corrected. I thought we were looking for a next car, not an investment or a track-day vehicle.
I beg forgiveness.
Saw this on the MBUSA site after the above mentions. Based on comments it would be more difficult to find a good lease deal on it vs. the E450 sedan. an E450 would be great in general, but I don’t think that I can get it to my price point once it’s properly optioned. I would even take a 2018 but I’m not seeing many out in the wild.
BMW is the way to go for you, they do have apple car play with google maps and waze etc… I have it in my latest update.
I went from e300 to x5 (lease hacked paying 630$ for Msport 70k msrp) if you could find a deal there.
I don’t think anyone whose first need is Android Auto is going to switch to ACP.
It’s like asking a Mopar guy to buy a Chevy.
…He’s not wrong. That’s a great deal, but until BMW decides to add Android I can’t rationalize going with them. I won’t get into the whole Android vs. Apple debate. Suffice it to say I’m not remotely interested in switching.
I will say that the argument they make in favor of ACP vs. Android is poor. The fact that most other luxury brands are adopting is proof enough of that. I accept Porsche’s more honest answer: Google is asking for too much info and they don’t want to give it. That’s a fair enough reason and creates a place to start negotiations between the companies. From what I understand, Porsche is at least on the road towards integrating AA at some point in the next couple years.
I’m pretty much in the same boat as you but with 2016 E350 which lease expires in August. Having Android is not the decisive factor for me though. I was strongly considering Lexus GS350 F sport but not so sure anymore after the test drive. Nice solid car with a stellar reliability and good handling but it felt somewhat heavy and had a very muted steering feel. I hope my MB dealership will offer me a good deal on a E/C 300 loaner. I understand that they won’t be able to match my current $415 payment with 0 down on a $67K car. The other cars I will be considering are Audis A4/5/6, various Jags, 3 series, Golf GTI/R
The Alfa Giulia while a great driving car is very tight, especially with the sport seats. I couldn’t deal with that fit on a daily basis. The standard seats are much better, but the back seat is also very tight and I would never recommend that for someone with two car seats. I’ve crossed that off my list, and would be more inclined to go with the Stelvio.
The comment regarding it being under budget is referring to a Base 2018, which in most cases would not include Apple Carplay/Android Auto, and would be a huge step down in features. There are plenty of higher trim Giulias which would be inline feature-wise with an E Class, but it is still a much smaller car.
The Stelvio would be the better Alfa option. It’s a very sport oriented smaller SUV that provides an engaging driving experience. While the back seats are still on the smaller side, they would probably be sufficient for two car seats. The middle seat is extremely tight, even without car seats. Higher trims are nicely equipped.
I’ve always driven sport oriented vehicles, and even I’ve been swayed towards some of the smaller sport oriented SUVs. My last two cars were a C Class and a Charger R/T, and I’m now considering a small SUV. My kids are older now, and my wife drives a 2018 Odyssey, so I don’t need anything too big. I’m now more interested in a nice balance of sport and luxury, and fortunately there are quite a few option available, especially in the price range you are looking at.
I briefly looked at the GS350 but I struck it off my list. For whatever reason my neighborhood is straight saturated with Lexuses…Lexi? Whatever the Plural of Lexus is. I walk 2 miles in my neighborhood every day I feel like I see an RDX at every other house with smatterings of ES’s and GS’s everywhere. Beautiful cars, but I would rather have something different.
Thanks for your input! My sister in law purchased a Stelvio Q4 so I got a good look at it without having to head to the dealership. It’s a pretty car, but after sitting in it, I can say it’s not the one for me. The car has juice aplenty, but the interior really doesn’t speak to me. It’s really strange, the cheap plastics in the E-pace didn’t really bother me, but the interior in the Stelvio just feels kind of bland.
In a related story, I stopped by the Jaguar dealership over the weekend to take a peak around. I’m taking the F-pace off my list as it didn’t really speak to me. I’m not sure why I liked the interior of the E-pace more, but I guess people can be strange. So for now, I’m replacing the F-pace with E-pace on my list and eliminating the XF as I really didn’t like sitting in there.
I’m trying to rationalize adding the I-pace on to my list, but it’s not really practical or feasible. I like the look of it, but the pricing is just too high. I keep telling myself that because I live in NJ and don’t pay sales tax on EV’s, that it’s a good buy. At the end of the day, the value proposition just isn’t there with me driving under 10k per year. The second component is that demand seems high so I doubt there will be any kind of incentive this year.
out of the box here but what about the charger scat pack? monster performance at 0-60 in 4.4, almost 500 hp, v8 that makes all kind of noise. Missing the front camera on your list but has blind spot, heated seats and steering wheel and cooled front seats, not too much tech but has android auto, remote start and remote start through the app, adaptive cruise and automatic emergency braking, also backseats are bigger than an E class. It is a heavy car but handles well and will be able to keep up with v8 mustangs and camaro’s and walk those 43 amg’s (aka upbadged in my opinion). you could score a hellcat at what you’re paying now for the e300 but you lose a lot of tech to make room for cooling in the front, either way best of luck on your search.
wont stop until mb realizes their mistake which will probably be never, at least us “fake amg guys” are not as bad as the m3 purists where only the m3 and m5 deserve the M badge.
“The C450 will soon become the Mercedes-AMG C43, same engine, same ethos, different name.”
it is what it is
I love outside the box thinking. I took a look at the charger and that engine seems like a beast. I love the exterior styling but don’t think I could wrap my head around the interior. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
As far as the C43, fwiw I don’t care about the AMG badge. If it was called the C450 I would still be interested in it based on the specs/look. What I ultimately want out of my car is a place of interior tranquility during passive times and athleticism and performance when I want it.
I have pretty much decided that if I can get an E450 at the right price I will get it. It meets all of my criteria. That being said, odds are low on that happening, so I’m looking at creating a top options tier below that with some more realistic options.
My spreadsheet kung fu is officially on, so I will update when I narrow my list down to a top 5 or so.
What mistake are they making? Presumably they will sell every AMG they make.
Only part of MBs reputation comes from making brutal high-HP sedans and most people who buy/lease an MB probably couldn’t care less about AMG cars at all.
thats the big knock on the charger the interior, I agree it’s very basic so I can see your point. but the value for the money is there, scat pack in the 4s and hellcat in the 6s, but the mercedes interiors are really nice and the tech is far advanced so I totally understand. I would have went with an e63 but the hellcat was just too fast,easy to modify and performance wise is leaps and bounds ahead of the e63 straight line wise for me at least. but good luck on the search!
Much respect to the value proposition, it’s a great price per pony. My sensibilities have shifted a lot in the last 5 years or so. 5 years ago I probably would have given the Charger more weight. There was a period before my kids came that I almost bought a Boss 302. Nowadays all I want is peace, quiet, and the ability to blow past someone when I want to.
yeah that’s what the amg’s are really, pure sleepers. Mb in general has very quick cars in their segment, we still have our original 2004 e55 amg with 58k miles and it was doing 0-60 in 4.4 seconds stock almost 15 years ago(with bigger tires and mods it’s up to 550hp and 0-60 in 3.8), that was ferrari territory back then, even the e500 we had was doing 0-60 in 5ish seconds which was mustang/Camaro speed. Not to mention they had things like massaging seats/rain sensing wipers/ adaptive cruise control back in the early 2000s. Germans are always ahead in the tech race.
nomencalture was a big mistake, a badge used to correlate to the engine, for example e500 5.0L v8, e63 6.3L V8, s600 6.0L V12, it was definitely a cool thing. Now a badge means nothing when you got cla45 and cla250, and c300 and e300, the badge denotes nothing. Amg’s motto was “one man one engine,” a hand assembled special engine for a truly special vehicle, on top of that amg built their moniker on the brutish loud v8 and now you have 43 amgs with twin turbo 6s. Financially its a great move to market amg’s cheaper so people who normally couldn’t afford one cant but it dilutes the brand, similar to how mercedes introduced the cla, exclusivity is the key here. Owning an AMG meant something back in the day now every schmuck has an amg sport or a 43 amg, brand dilution would be the term I’m looking for. Never a knock on the car itself just a knock on the badge, mb makes awesome cars “fake amg” or “real amg” just a nomenclature mistake on their end in terms of their true enthuasists, and yes people do care what their car mercedes benz is labeled , just take a look at google or mbforums and see how many upbadged amg’s there are on the forums, people will make fools of themselves to show off something they dont have.
Edit: People in america upbadge, people in europe frequently debadge their cars because larger engines are frowned upon.
What about to the new Volvo S60. It might be a little small for your liking but it’s getting good reviews. Interior looks fantastic.
