There's a used 2019 Mercedes SLC 300 for sale at a local Mercedes dealership I'm looking at for $32000 with about 40000 miles on the clock. 32 grand seems like a decent price on the car but I've heard Mercedes can be expensive to maintain and repair so for this reason I'm reluctant to purchase the car. I can't afford a new Mercedes so if I buy one its going to be used. How reliable are these cars and in reality how expensive are they to maintain/repair? Can I get 100,000 - 150,000 miles out of the car without worrying about an expensive repair? My current ride is a 2015 Camry with 144000 miles which has been totally reliable and all I've done is perform standard maintenance like oil changes, tires and replaced one strut. Since I'm retired I really don't want to buy something that's going to bankrupt me as soon as something on the car breaks. Would like to hear from Mercedes owners especially if you own a Roadster SLC 300. Thanks and wishing everyone on the forum a Merry Christmas.

I will not own a Mercedes out of factory warranty, unless it’s a classic one.
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IF you are willing and able to do your own work, then used German cars can be somewhat affordable to own. Short of an engine-out or other major component failure.
A factory service manual will be your best friend, showing how to do just about anything on the car.
A M-B roadster is not like your Camry, in good ways (driving dynamics) and bad ways (things needing maintained).
Common parts are slightly more expensive, but this can be minimized by shopping around.
No car is infallible; the service bays at a Toyota dealership are just as busy as the ones at a M-B dealership.
Is the reward worth the investment? Only you can answer that.

I own a luxury German performance car from new. It is not the cost of entry that gets people it’s the cost to stay in them. I had a computer issue during Covid that required a replacement of one of the two computers that regulate most of the engine operations. The vehicle was in the shop waiting for the part for over a month and the cost was north of 3k. Even my battery cost more than $500, requires taking apart the trunk to get to it, and needs to be programmed to the vehicle. Tires for the vehicle run between 1.2k and 1.5k and last for about 13k miles. I bought the car new with the intention of selling it off if there were gremlins during the warranty period. Overall, it’s been a very good car. I had a fuel pump, throttle body, alternator, battery, and computer all go outside of normal scheduled maintenance. The only ones covered by warranty were the bad alternator which damaged the original battery. My suggestion, if a 2k unscheduled repair bill would set you back or make you uneasy pass on the MB. It’s harder to stay in one than it is to get in one.

My 2015 C300 was very reliable, but definitely a bit more expensive to maintain
Coworker had an identical 2016 C300 & had no problems with hers either & she put a ton of miles on it, well over 100k.

So, drivetrain-wise, solid. In that sense, the SLC should be almost identical.
I'd definitely have it gone over & for sure get an ext warranty. Things like the power top could lead to $$$ repairs down the road.

I have several friends with M-B's, and one who collects them (she has 11.) They are VERY expensive to maintain and repair. True, the Toyota dealer's repair bays are as full as Mercedes, but a battery for a Camry is around a hundred bucks and you can change it yourself. I have considered the brand and BMW as well, but the maintenance costs put me off. When I was investigating a couple of years ago, I found that, although the brand is lesser-known, Genesis vehicles have great reputations. As for me, I'll stick with my Tacoma.

I have owned a few Mercedes. They are great cars and in my opinion, they are worth every penny. Owning them within their factory warranty definitely has its benefits.

MB uses an A and B service. If I remember correctly the A service was around $200 and the B service was around $1100. Those are done every 10k miles or annually.

As far as reliability, yes, they build a solid engine, in most cars. Do some research in the engine. It’s like the BMW inline six. That thing is tried and true a workhorse.

It’s highly unlikely you’ll get 150k miles without an expensive repair. Get on a MB forum and read about the car you’re interested in. They have forums just like ours.

https://mbworld.org/forums/slk-class-r172-158/

Take it for a drive and weigh the cost vs the fun factor. You’re buying this car for fun, otherwise, you’d get another Camry.

See how many smiles per gallon it gives you.

Not familiar with this model but have had three over the years. They are great cars but not especially friendly to the cost-conscious non-DIY owner.

They want their preventative maintenance done on schedule.

On my C, one of the big factors in the $$ B service was rotating the directional, staggered runflat tires.
Had to be dismounted from the wheel, recounted on the other side & rebalanced.

I went to non directional, non-runflats & they're far cheaper and a much better ride/grip, then I could at least rotate L<>R

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
On my C, one of the big factors in the $$ B service was rotating the directional, staggered runflat tires.
Had to be dismounted from the wheel, recounted on the other side & rebalanced.

I went to non directional, non-runflats & they're far cheaper and a much better ride/grip, then I could at least rotate L<>R

And do you now carry a spare?

Lots of good and informative advice, it's a great looking car and the price was right but I'm no mechanic and I don't want to incur expensive repairs so it looks like I should pass on this particular car. :-(

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Mercedes SLC 300

Your wife will love it, it's marketed to females.

quote:

Originally posted by coloradohunter44:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
On my C, one of the big factors in the $$ B service was rotating the directional, staggered runflat tires.
Had to be dismounted from the wheel, recounted on the other side & rebalanced.

I went to non directional, non-runflats & they're far cheaper and a much better ride/grip, then I could at least rotate L<>R

And do you now carry a spare?

Don't have that car anymore. And no, I did not have a spare. I kept a patch kit in the truck that I [luckily] never needed on the road.
A lot of folks on the Mercedes forum ordered the compact spare kit from Europe (their cars weren't sold with runflats like the US-spec cars). Nice little pkg that has a bag for the spare & tie-downs to secure it on the trunk floor.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:

quote:

Mercedes SLC 300

Your wife will love it, it's marketed to females.

I'd love an SLK, marketing be damned.
Same with the Boxster & Miata.

quote:

Mercedes SLC 300

Another thing to consider, if you cannot work on it yourself, the direct injection injectors are EXPENSIVE to service.
Like $6,000 expensive. I did a BMW Z4 and it's cost just for parts was almost $2500.

quote:

Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
IF you are willing and able to do your own work, then used German cars can be somewhat affordable to own....

Somewhat affordable? Yes, if you are independently wealthy.

I had a friend with a Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9L "muscle car." Even windshield wipers cost an arm and a leg. The self-leveling air bag system cost about $5K to fix when one of the bags popped.

That said, it was one of two cars I've driven that scared the living shit out of me, the other being a Volvette with an engine from a wrecked "stock" car (IIRC, around 550 hp). It could spin the rear tires at 40 mph.

I’ve had great luck with both of my Mercedes and they have not cost me any more than any other car would. My wife’s ML350 has about 145k on it and is mostly trouble free I replaced the radiator recently which is the biggest fix I’ve had to make on this car in the 7 years I’ve owned it. I will buy another when we’re done trashing this one.

My in laws have had 10 of them. My parents have had 3 of them. I’ve owned two now. I am 100% comfortable driving one to 150k miles. My parents and I buy ours used from an independent dealer. My in laws buy theirs new and don’t drive them as long.

FWIW, I pay under $100 for an A service.

I'll add that between me & my grandmother, we've had 10

She had 7 S-Class from 1989-2015 model years.
None gave here any trouble, but she also replaced them at about 5-7 years & didn't put a ton of miles on any of them.

Mine were 2x 1982 diesels & the 2015 C300
Only the C is relevant to this discussion. I did all my own maintenance, apart from what was covered by the CPO warranty & mount/balance tires.
The C did like to eat tires, the OE runflats were toast in under 20k miles. The Bridgestone Potenzas I put on it after lasted closer to about 35k miles.

The “performance” models are a different beast from their standard commuter cars. I feel like they’ve figured out a lot of things with GLE, GLS, E and S class. I’d be more wary of anything AMG and anything more “performance” oriented.

I can’t stand run flats. I run Michelin LTX on the ML350. My old E had different sizes front and rear and that was annoying. But I loved that car. It was a 2008 and that era (W212?) was a much more enjoyable sedan than the newer E classes that are too light and have 4 cyl.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: YellowJacket,

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Originally posted by Sig2340:

450SEL 6.9L

I really wanted one of those! Closest I got was a 1972 280SEL 4.5: