SW17LS

Yep, we did! I think the next "anxiety" would come from keeping one a while...

Striker223

Oh you will be fine lol, just make sure you are on top of maintenance and do not let it degenerate. Swap out the turbos at 125k miles and if you have a water to oil or water to air coolers swap them out as well to remove any risk of a serious failure, realistically though if you just maintain all fluids and filters you won't ever run into those issues.

Toys4RJill

This just tells you there why long term German ownership is risky.

geko29

You get over it. As of 4 months ago, we now have two out-of-warranty Germans in the driveway, not concerned in the slightest. The Q7 that recently celebrated its fourth birthday will eventually be the third German car we keep for 10+ years, and I'll be starting the clock over on another one in the spring.

I think the main thing I've learned that really bites people in the *** is that European cars are WAY less tolerant of deferred and ignored maintenance than others. Take care of them, and they'll take care of you.

SW17LS

I would never keep it to 125k miles, just might say keep it 2-3 more years after the lease, so maybe to 75k miles

Lexuses now have turbos too. Thats not an issue with German vs Japanese, its an issue with Turbo vs Naturally Aspirated.

Yeah, that I think is true for sure. Don't let them get away from you.

Striker223

Eh, you probably don't need to but I consider turbos a wear item by design. I like using my cars to max performance and would not want to ever have doubts about the impellers having clearance problems, I already measured mine once and will do so again in 20k.

I also forgot to mention replace the oil separator/PCV block every 65k or so to again avoid any risk of issues. IMO it's worth the extra annoyance to have 2x the firepower on hand vs a Toyota product

Toys4RJill

If there is an extra $3K every two years for a Mercedes versus a Lexus, how much extra does one pay over 10 years of ownership? What if you own two German cars?

Toys4RJill

Most people its easy to just lease a car than do all this stuff long term

Striker223

Then I fail to see the issue at all, always buy German in that case.

Toys4RJill

I have never understood why people lease a Toyota or a Lexus. Just lease a German car,,,,

jwong77

Correct, I don't see the problem with owning a German car in this case too.

As @SW17LS mentioned, if you are the type of person worried about spending 3k on maintenance, then you weren't the target market for a new S Class Mercedes flagship.

I say this coming from the perspective of someone who is cheap and would struggle to pay 3k on maintenance for a new S Class Mercedes

Striker223

Yeah the prices are something else, I'm staring down about 3k in parts for one right now to do some maintenance and for a second I questioned if it's worth it lol!

AMIRZA786

For your A8?

SW17LS

Remember those numbers are skewed because Lexus includes the first two services free, and my LS was not serviced at the dealer while the S has been. Like I said going forward, I expect it to be about 50% more to service the Mercedes vs the Lexus. For instance the S Class has longer wearing ceramic brakes now, will it need brakes again in 30k miles? maybe not. The cost of maintenance for the S was run up a lot because I used the dealer at astronomical cost. It should be much cheaper going forward...and remember I could have had 4 years of maintenance for $50 a month (including brakes) that was just foolish to pass on that. One of those rare cases where the urging of the finance manager was actually legit.

But...better things cost more. If you want the *best* you have to pay for it, and as a car the German cars are just better by and large (there are some exceptions), and they cost more to buy and more to maintain.

Toys4RJill

And as I said earlier. That is why people flock to Lexus as an alternative. They are cheaper to maintain and repair. And they carry a little extra in warranty for the power train

There is nothing better about a German car breaking and having a repair vs a brand that has their parts last 2X longer.




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