Why are second hand mercs quite cheap compared to other second hand luxury cars?

Mr. Loverman

I've been looking at the various car websites (cbg.ie, etc.) and I've noticed second hand Mercedes are quite cheap compared to other second hand luxury cars.

You can get some pretty nice cars from 2002 etc. for under 5k.

Is it because there is a small market for second hand Mercedes, or do they have a reputation for poor quality, or are they too expensive to run?

Does anyone know?

Thanks

x in the city

what type of mercs

many types and many styles

Monty Burnz

Mercedes build quality got quite suspect for a decade or so. It's almost certainly improved in the last few years but during the merger with Chrysler management seemed to decide that the cars were 'overengineered' and could be made much more cheaply. Of course the reason people were willing to pay so much for them in past is because they were overengineered, but that fact somehow escaped them - they were selling a brand, not a product.

unkel

Monty's on the ball there. It's not just a Merc thing though. All prices have collapsed.

si_guru

Road tax + mpg + expensiive repairs = not many smiles per mile.

Treehouse72

I desperately want a 4th generation SL and for a long time thought I could nab one for a cheeky price.

But the more I looked into it the more I found their prima facie "cheapness" is a bit of an illusion. While you do see some for as little as €6k, those are usually older body shapes that look tired and past-it. To get a nice post-1999 model (when the 4th generation body shape really came into its own) you really need to be spending over €10,000, and probably more, and then it's €1,500 pa to tax and a shedload more to insure. I reckoned it would cost me over €300 pm just to sit in my driveway and God knows how much more in petrol and maintenance. And usually you're talking about close on 100k on the clock. Suddenly what appeared to be a semi-cheap, semi-supercar starts ticking up the bucks. That's that dream parked....:(

v300

I have 2 Mercs, but I won't be buying any from their "dark years", 1994 to 2008 as their wiring and paintwork is frankly 4th rate.

Lexus / Big Toyota's is where it's at these days.