It's been cheaper for me to own it used. Mine stickered for 65k, had about 12k in options. Got it used with under 50k for $18.5k. Used right now is around 7-8k. I'm thinking I can get more because normally they only come with about 3-6k worth of options. So basically it was a 6 year old car and I've had it for 6 years. So maybe around 2k a year in depreciation. Don't think I've spent more than 4-5k in repairs/maintenance although I just did the springs/struts which were almost 1k, probably would have been closer to 2k at the dealer but I have a good indy that's cheap. Somehow people think repair and maintenance are the big ticket items. I probably spent the most on tires and rims, probably at least $1800 or more. So far about 3 bent rims and 3 cracked ones and had to buy 4 rims at this point which was about $600 and then several hundred to fix those bent rims and about $800 for a new set of tires when the old ones wore out. Plus probably another 200 for a flat tire which had to be replaced. Pretty happy with it overall, basically driving a Mercedes for Toyota money.
Mercedes, What's the Deal ??
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Thought I read that Chrysler/FCA/whatever they are now was not profitable outside of the Jeep and Charger/Challenger brands. (Stellantis sounds like a cellular phone company, in my opinion.) May have been Car and Driver, may have been a year or two ago.. is that true. And did they finally stop branding Ram as its own brand, or does that continue?
Can’t comment on profitability, but the Durango sells well enough that they found it worthwhile to shove a SRT 6.4 and a Hellcat in it and give it a 3rd refresh... otherwise they’d have left them to rot like they do to the 300. And yes, Ram is still its own brand.
They did set out to make each brand its own niche, Dodge being performance, Ram being trucks, Jeep being SUV’s/crossovers, and Chrysler apparently minivans(?).
That unfortunate chapter of Chrysler's history was the result of the DCX divorce.
The JDM only Toyota Century can give any full size luxury sedans a run for their money.
Attached is the third and second gens respectively. The older ones were powered by toyota's only v12 (1gz-fe), and newer ones powered by the same powertrain used by the ls600h years ago.
It was a slow seller, as was the GS450h. There wasn’t much of a value proposition - the RX450h/ES300h sold well since the price premium wasn’t much more than the regular gasser.
There’s a reason why when you think hybrid, you think Prius. You buy one for the feel-good aspect or MPG.
The v12 was exclusively offered in the japanese market; hence a lot of people not knowing about it.
These things are downright comical and not a match for a western luxury car in any way shape or form.
They go for pennies at auction because nobody wants to maintain them to the rigorous gov inspection standards and get shipped off to various destinations (usually australia) whereas rich Japanese buyers are paying top dollar to bring european classics home.
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A 2004 Maybach 57 just sold on Bring A Trailer. Twin turbo V12. Just 15k miles. Perfect condition. Even the undercarriage was showroom. Original sticker was $318,200. Sale price was $62,500. BRUTAL.
Scott
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If I recall correctly, this car was only sold to governments for heads of state. Not available to the general public. The only fair comparison to other cars in the market would be perhaps The Beast. Or the Mercedes S600 limousine versions that were sold to heads of state during the late 1990's and early 2000's.
It was unique because Toyota built it in-house, where other cars of this type are typically finished by aftermarket coach builders.
The Century was sold at the Toyota dealer network in Japan, which is all company-owned. It was priced well above the Celsior(which was our Lexus LS400/430 until Japan finally got the circle-L in 2006). The Japanese government has two specially-built Centuries, Akio Toyoda has a Gazoo Racing model as his “company” car(and let’s face it, it’s hard to do business in the LFA he also spearheaded).
It doesn’t look like a Lexus and it has velour plush seats and wool carpets - the Japanese value modesty and it wasn’t flashy. The reason why Lexus looks the way it does now is because of the Chinese and US markets.
It doesn’t look like a Lexus and it has velour plush seats and wool carpets - the Japanese value modesty and it wasn’t flashy. The reason why Lexus looks the way it does now is because of the Chinese and US markets.
edyvw
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Technologically it is inferior to anything luxury coming from MB, BMW or Audi. It is not even any comparison.
And Toyota V12? While idea is good, it would be again, inferior to BMW and MB. Even MB was struggling first 5-6 years in catching up with BMW when BMW brought back V12 in 1987.
You are right to an extent. There were some versions that were specially created for heads of state or important government figures, which was never available to the public for security/ cost reasons. However, most of the production run was bought by regular people, although with deep pockets.
Mercedes is:
1) a German brand
2) a luxury brand
3) known for expensive servicing costs
1) a German brand
2) a luxury brand
3) known for expensive servicing costs
Oh yeah, don't believe everything you read. Lots of people buy the base model. Took me 6 months to find one that was loaded. Used a Vin lookup tool to see exactly what options the car had. It'd be nice if more manufacturers did that. I think Ford had something like that at one point, but then they restricted access to it to just cars on the Ford dealer lots.
https://www.lastvin.com/
And you can get the EPC/WIS on eBay for $8.50. I don't think there are too many other manufacturers out there where you can easily get the parts lookup and dealer repair manual so cheaply. That's the knock off version, but even the real thing from MB is $75 for EPC (electronic parts catalog) and $60 a day for WIS (workshop information system). The latest generation seem to be getting more reliable. The older models were more troublesome.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2019-Merce...Service-Repair-Workshop-Download/123730293730
E Class or higher. C classes are for realtors and PR people out of college trying to impress people. My old neighbor had one of these out of warranty frequently in the shop and interior fit and finish wasn’t Mercedes Benz level.
Except for the CLS, a C class would not be in my list of cars to consider. It is rated quite low for reliability. Now the CLS. . . what a car!!! I think one is in my near future.
This is what I want if I ever win the lottery. 
The little Ghost get's these cute sprung-unsprung masses now: https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/23...r-suspension-upper-wishbone-damper-explained/
Chassis shares nothing with the 7 Series, they promise: https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/01/2021-rolls-royce-ghost-reveal/
They all have their problems.
Chassis shares nothing with the 7 Series, they promise: https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/01/2021-rolls-royce-ghost-reveal/
They all have their problems.
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