2018 Mercedes GLC 300, your thoughts?

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My wife has her heart set on a 2018 MB GLC 300 SUV. We went and test drove one yesterday.
Consumer reports rated this exceptionally high about 6 months ago and now pans it.
I really don't want to get into a troublesome vehicle and we plan to keep this for 10 years.

Your thoughts? Not really looking for recommendations for other vehicles. I have already tried.

Also, if you know. what oil does it require. After all, this is BITOG (LOL)
 
You don't want anything MB after warranty. Oil, 229.5 if gas or 229.52 if diesel.
See if you can interest her in a Lexus SUV if you want to keep it 10 years.
 
How many miles are you going to drive in 10 years? If it's more than 100,000 I would steer clear. Mercedes can be money pits after 5 years of average miles.

Suspension, sensors, electrical problems are the most common my dad and I have seen.
 
When it comes to a question like this what is the cost difference to lease a vehicle like this then negotiate a purchase at the end of the lease? It might be worth a little extra $ to have the chance to walk away from a lousy car. At the same time it may be easier to negotiate the sale of a used car with an MB financial person over the phone than with a dealership and a salesman.

Plus your wife gets what she wants, which can be worth A LOT.
 
Originally Posted By: Danno
You don't want anything MB after warranty. Oil, 229.5 if gas or 229.52 if diesel.
See if you can interest her in a Lexus SUV if you want to keep it 10 years.

+1

MB vehicles today are designed to get thru the warranty period with minimum maintenance. After that is a roll of the dice. Their whole marketing plan is about leasing 2 or 3 years to customers who then return the car for a new one.
 
If it doesn't have the top of the line features like air suspension, or automatically adjustable suspension, fancy radar cruise control that can keep lanes or brake on it's own, or any sort of autopilot, I would say that it should be fine, despite all the naysayers.

Of course, expect this vehicle to be more maintenance intensive than an average car and much more expensive, especially if the dealership services are used. That goes with the territory though. I honestly don't see any reason why this vehicle would not be good for 10+ years given proper maintenance, with relatively few issues.
 
If that's what the wife's heart is set on...if it turns out to be a lemon, at least the car broke her heart and not you!
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
If it doesn't have the top of the line features like air suspension, or automatically adjustable suspension, fancy radar cruise control that can keep lanes or brake on it's own, or any sort of autopilot, I would say that it should be fine, despite all the naysayers.

Of course, expect this vehicle to be more maintenance intensive than an average car and much more expensive, especially if the dealership services are used. That goes with the territory though. I honestly don't see any reason why this vehicle would not be good for 10+ years given proper maintenance, with relatively few issues.


Does NOT have park assist,etc. Tried to convince her to go for the Lexus but NX is not all that great and the RX was about 8 grand higher.
 
Originally Posted By: MajorCavalry
Does NOT have park assist,etc. Tried to convince her to go for the Lexus but NX is not all that great and the RX was about 8 grand higher.


Just get an LX - a lifetime vehicle. Joking aside, GL can be a fun to drive even if you drive like a Granpa, seriously good suspension there. Mine was in the dealers' garages twice a year for repairs on average during its warranty, so I traded it in. 300 has a great drive train.
 
I'm not really into the GLC so try the MB specific forums. MBworld.org and Benzworld.org. I'm more into the E class. Lately they've been better than in the past. I have the parktronic on mine, but not the park assist part, sensors on those can go bad, but it doesn't seem like a very common problem or not too many people have that option. Lighting package is pretty good. I have the bixenons which are actually brighter than LEDs, but not too many cars had that. It also had the active curve illumination where there are motors in the headlights that swivel the beams left or right up to 12 degrees when turning the steering wheel. The LEDs can do the same thing. Panorama is a love/hate, some love it, some hate it, slightly less headroom and the shade isn't dark enough become it's somewhat like a cloth cover in a roller instead of a solid cover like the regular sunroof. I love mine though, makes it feel more open and lets in light, I usually leave the shade open. Can make noise on bumps eventually as it seems the bolts still loosen. Get android auto/apple car play. Those are probably better than the navigation package. While mine is older, I still have new maps on it and it's still worse than google maps. Some hate the implementation on the 2017 E class. The driver assistance package is also pretty popular. Love keyless go, here's how MB has gotten better, in the previous generations, the door handles had buttons on them for locking/unlocking. They were basically covered by a rubber membrane and eventually water got inside and corroded the contacts. Bingo, that was a $200-$300 door handle plus labor at the dealer so that was about a $500 repair. Now the sensors are sealed in the handle so water doesn't get inside, haven't read of a door handle failure in the 2010-2017 E class.

In terms of warranty, you can get an extended MB warranty for up to 7/100k as long as you still have the original warranty, on the E, they were in the 2-3k range depending on how long and which vendor you bought it from. There were vendors listed in one of the forums I mentioned earlier that will discount it instead of paying the list at the MB dealer.

And yeah, depreciation is massive on them which is why I liked to buy them used. All the toys without the price. They can be very solid, very quiet cars that are fun to drive. Love mine.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
If he can afford a Benz, he can also afford the repairs.



Since when can you generally assume people buy only what they can afford? If that were the case credit card companies and banks would be out of business. Not to mention the student folks.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Bunch of German car fear again.


AKA: Sour grapes from people who haven't even sat in the vehicle being discussed...
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Bunch of German car fear again.

Pick it up with an extended warranty and/or maintenance plan if you're scared.


Their extended warranty is good, but not as good as the original bumper to bumper warranty. Doesn't cover a few things like cosmetics. Faded wood was an early problem on the E class, they didn't put enough UV protectant in the wood and it was a 3k kit to replace the wood. Their maintenance plan can be a deal, but usually major items like the transmission fluid, spark plugs don't kick in til later in the 40-60-80k range. Plus with a 4 cylinder the spark plugs are probably easy, they were expensive on some V6 engines because you had to take off the intake to get at them. Best deal on a maintenance package is probably a 3 pack where you have service B A B due instead of A B A. The package is the same price, but the A service can be $300 and the B is 500 as that involves a brake flush.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Bunch of German car fear again.


AKA: Sour grapes from people who haven't even sat in the vehicle being discussed...


Fixed many electrical system and problems in German cars as well as done a lot of suspension / sensors etc.
wink.gif
 
If that is what she wants get it, I have a 16 C class, 17 x3 35i and a 17 mini clubman s in the driveway and this is after half dozen MB and BMW vehicles with out any issues.
I prefere the BMW but if she wants a MB get it and enjoy it life is to short to be driving a Rav4.
 
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