2 years of leasing a C250 AMG Sport ED125 CDI [that’s what the V5 says] come to an end tomorrow when the nice men from BCA collect my car. I thought it might be helpful to write a concise review as possible by way of helping other forum members, especially with reference to costs.
I used a broker called Niche whose advert caught my eye advertising said car at under £400 a month inc VAT. The reality was that by the time I’d dialled in a total of 40000 miles and asked them to track one down with full leather and heated seats, it came in at £493 a month on a 3 + 23 basis. On top of this was a £150 arrangement fee and £180 acceptance fee by Mercedes – who is who provided the car. It did not include RFL or servicing.
The actual process of paperwork, signing up, etc was dead easy, and car was delivered to my home. I wrote a post on this some time shortly after getting the car. The process of returning the car is so far equally painless, it was ‘pre-inspected’ last week with no additional costs indentified.
So total costs incurred over two years have been
Finance = £13138 ( inc arrangement & acceptance fees)
Servicing A + B service = £524
Front Disk and Pads = £290
One set of tyres = £690
Cost of winter tyre set less resale value = £430
RFL = £240
Insurance = £900
Fuel 4636 litres at ave £1.40 = £6490 [ave 39.2mpg]
Smart repair bumper scuff £110
Total £22812 for 39960 miles = 56.3p/mile.
Would it have been cheaper to buy? – I don’t think so – a £37k list ( say £34k after discount] would have depreciated by approx £16k to a trade of £18k [Similar cars are for sale around £20k] and I would have incurred finance costs on top. I’m pretty sure that these lease deals became much cheaper during 2012 as well.
I can also dispel a few myths I think.
- The V5 is in my name
- You can get an option to buy price but you need to do this through a thirds party
- The return standards are quite reasonable condition wise.
Its been fairly ‘painless’ ownership, just 4 recalls [2 for wiring looms and 2 for coolant leaks] but the dealers have been poor. I didn’t test drive it either! Simply watched the Autocar 90 sec video.
Overall, the car is good, not great. Top five things I like are the Driving position, Steering wheel, Command, Active headlights & economy. Top five dislikes are DAB reception, Gearbox in anything other than ‘E’ – the flaps are pointless, Noise at idle & with stop start, and when pushing it - it doesn’t really reward the keen driver.
So its done the job needed, 2 years of pain free decent motoring, and whoever buys this car will have got a good one. Its back to BMW for me now though, big discounts and 3.9apr of the F30 3 series beckon.
I used a broker called Niche whose advert caught my eye advertising said car at under £400 a month inc VAT. The reality was that by the time I’d dialled in a total of 40000 miles and asked them to track one down with full leather and heated seats, it came in at £493 a month on a 3 + 23 basis. On top of this was a £150 arrangement fee and £180 acceptance fee by Mercedes – who is who provided the car. It did not include RFL or servicing.
The actual process of paperwork, signing up, etc was dead easy, and car was delivered to my home. I wrote a post on this some time shortly after getting the car. The process of returning the car is so far equally painless, it was ‘pre-inspected’ last week with no additional costs indentified.
So total costs incurred over two years have been
Finance = £13138 ( inc arrangement & acceptance fees)
Servicing A + B service = £524
Front Disk and Pads = £290
One set of tyres = £690
Cost of winter tyre set less resale value = £430
RFL = £240
Insurance = £900
Fuel 4636 litres at ave £1.40 = £6490 [ave 39.2mpg]
Smart repair bumper scuff £110
Total £22812 for 39960 miles = 56.3p/mile.
Would it have been cheaper to buy? – I don’t think so – a £37k list ( say £34k after discount] would have depreciated by approx £16k to a trade of £18k [Similar cars are for sale around £20k] and I would have incurred finance costs on top. I’m pretty sure that these lease deals became much cheaper during 2012 as well.
I can also dispel a few myths I think.
- The V5 is in my name
- You can get an option to buy price but you need to do this through a thirds party
- The return standards are quite reasonable condition wise.
Its been fairly ‘painless’ ownership, just 4 recalls [2 for wiring looms and 2 for coolant leaks] but the dealers have been poor. I didn’t test drive it either! Simply watched the Autocar 90 sec video.
Overall, the car is good, not great. Top five things I like are the Driving position, Steering wheel, Command, Active headlights & economy. Top five dislikes are DAB reception, Gearbox in anything other than ‘E’ – the flaps are pointless, Noise at idle & with stop start, and when pushing it - it doesn’t really reward the keen driver.
So its done the job needed, 2 years of pain free decent motoring, and whoever buys this car will have got a good one. Its back to BMW for me now though, big discounts and 3.9apr of the F30 3 series beckon.
