Tell me about your stories with these cars.

Soon, I'm going to buy a newer car. I've narrowed the field down to 2017-2019 Mercedes C43 AMG and a 2018-2019 Ford Mustang GT Premium with Performance Package (manual transmission). The price and mileage is about the same for these cars.

I've searched online and found glowing reviews of both, and also trash reviews of both.

The Mustang is LOUD. Young guys like that, but I prefer quieter cars nowadays.

Ford quality has definitely dropped, according to JD Power. A Mercedes will be more expensive to maintain, but there may be less maintenance than the Mustang.

What do you want from the car?

I had a 2015 C300 Sport pkg for years.
Really wanted a C400/C43, but they were out of my budget at the time.

Really like the C205 platform. Handles great, even the 2.0T in the C300 was pretty peppy. Doing >35mpg on the highway was great, too.
My only real complaint with the car was tires. The OE Contis lasted 16k miles & the rears were on the wear bars. They're also staggered & directional, so not user rotatable.
I put on some Bridgestone Potenzas that were non-directional, so I could at least got L<>R rotations & get more life out of them. IIRC I was getting 35-40k out of the rears.

Coworker liked mine so much, I let her drive it & she showed up a few weeks later in a 2016 C300 Sport. Practically the same car, but hers has blind spot monitors in the mirrors. She still has hers & it's been trouble free apart from squeaky brakes when cold, and the same tire wear frequency.

I DIY my maintenance, when practical, but only ever needed to do oil changes.
A bit glad I didn't have to quote out brakes, the AMG will probably have a similar setup with big front calipers. Can't imagine a brake job on there is going to be 'cheap', even DIY.

It's a VERY brave man who does his own work on an AMG engine.

The guy who actually built it put his name on it.

My local M-B specialist, who has looked after seven of our M-Bs over the years, 'borrows' the local main-dealer's AMG man. He has a whole lot of different tools and jigs, and charges accordingly. After all, he served his time at Affalterbach.

Not the same car, but I’ve had a 2016 Ecoboost mustang since I bought it new (so 6 years). It’s my oldest son’s car now. It was a great car when I drove it the first two years, and it’s been a great car for him now. No issues. Regular maintenance and it runs and runs. It’s fun to drive and gets good gas mileage

Obviously not the GT you’re looking at. But I’d buy another gladly.

As a teenager, I spent a lot of time riding and wrenching on a 66 Mustang. So I have always wanted one. So I looked at them online, on the lot and drove a couple. But I had to pass. No AWD. Since my car is my daily driver in the Frozen North, go power in snow is a must have. I now have an AWD Challenger. My experience is limited with MB but owning a German motorcycle has given me insight to upkeep costs on Euro iron.
Go with the Mustang!

They're completely different animals. What do you want the car for?

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
It's a VERY brave man who does his own work on an AMG engine.

The guy who actually built it put his name on it.

My local M-B specialist, who has looked after seven of our M-Bs over the years, 'borrows' the local main-dealer's AMG man. He has a whole lot of different tools and jigs, and charges accordingly. After all, he served his time at Affalterbach.

IIRC, the 43 is 'AMG-lite' not the full handbuilt that the higher end EMGs are.
Still not something I'd want to tear into. Oil changes & simple DIY work, sure, but you don't buy an AMG to save money.

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
They're completely different animals. What do you want the car for?

These two cars aren't even in the same class. I have no idea how you would even compare the two.

Now if it was a GT500 or GT350 v C43 AMG....

I drove several 6.3 AMG at Laguna Seca (C,E, SL and SLS) - dream come true.

Crazy, crazy power. My guess is that the lower AMG engines are a bit of a marketing ploy to expand the higher margin AMG cars across the models.

These are different beast. I think you'd want to drive both to compare. The MB will likley be quieter overall and easier daily driver.

If you get a Mustang Mach E you can still have the sound of ICE engine

https://www.borla.com/products...r-electric-vehicles/

Kind of reminds me of how vegans spent their lives trying to mimic the taste of real beef

OP prefers quiet. The Mustang is "LOUD". That should steer you away from it. I personally hate these loud cars and would never buy one.

Our Mustang test vehicles worked well. We had twin vehicles with the four cylinder turbo engine. We put over 200,000 miles on them, on our chassis dynos.

You can't see the front bumper corners. Visibility out the back is poor. But, driving them, you find yourself smiling. A lot. And the noise is less inside than outside.

There is no way I would purchase a Mercedes, given the maintenance expectations and costs.

Everyone,
Thank you for the replies.

I'm looking for a nice, fun, relatively quiet daily driver. I like firm suspensions, good brakes and horsepower. I prefer manual transmissions.

It used to be that a V8, manual transmission, rear wheel drive car was easy to fix. That is no longer the case. I drove a newer Camaro and didn't like it. My current BMW is 15 years old. It's nice, but I'm ready for something different.

M3/4 ticks the boxes, adds the manual you can't get with the AMG. Said begrudgingly as an MB fan.
Just go for a couple years old to avoid the beaver snout

quote:

There is no way I would purchase a Mercedes, given the maintenance expectations and costs.

There is no way I wouldn't purchase a Mercedes, given the maintenance expectations and costs.

In fairness, the OP seems to be comparing apples and screwdrivers. I've owned both (brands, not tools).

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

There is no way I would purchase a Mercedes, given the maintenance expectations and costs.

There is no way I wouldn't purchase a Mercedes, given the maintenance expectations and costs.

In fairness, the OP seems to be comparing apples and screwdrivers. I've owned both (brands, not tools).

I agree, if you have deep pockets then buy the Mercedes and find a good mechanic.

I have a 2017 Mustang GT convertible with the performance package and manual transmission. It is dark blue with subtle black stripes and clay leather seats that don't get hot when the top is down. The 2018 and later had an option to adjust the exhaust noise, mine doesn't and it is pretty quiet. No squeaks or rattles. I have done nothing to it but change the oil every 5K miles. The performance package comes with some very soft Perelli tires so somehow the rear tires only lasted 15K miles. It is not a daily driver, strictly dry weather use. The transmission is a lot of fun. It is a very comfortable touring car.

Apples and oranges, as others have said.

As soon as I saw Manual Transmission I knew what my choice would be, 3 pedal cars are the Best. As for the Mustang being too loud, there is a fix for that and it's called a Muffler. Nowadays one of the first mod that a Mustang gets is a set of Loud Pipes. Replace the current mufflers with some larger volume mufflers and it will get much quieter and if they are a well designed set you won't lose one single horsepower.