CLS 55 AMG yearly cost?

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ChristopherLembra

Active Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2019
Messages
65
Location
Estonia
Car
CLS 55 AMG (current); CLK 500 (sold)
Hello,

Guys who own or have owned CLS 55 amg (or w211 E55 amg, pretty much the same car), whats the average yearly cost you're having usually (fuel, services, repair and the parts etc)?

I am looking to buy one but first want to get all the information available moneywise from the community.

Note: I have a certain workshop where I get all my repair and services done, I trust the guys who do the works. They are my family friends and they focus on all kinds of Mercedes so they have enough skill to deal with those kinds of cars (they have had many AMG-s in the workshop before) and whats best they do not charge me any extra for the parts, just the labour.

I mentioned the last thing because guys who go to dealerships usually pay 1.5-3x more than in non-dealership places. So I would like to hear opinions and experiences from all sides.

The best or nothing!
 
I don't think you can accurately calculate an average yearly cost with these cars....its more about understanding the cost of the what if's..depending on age /mileage and condition

Depending on age you may face a host of issues and sometimes all at once (airmatic etc)

A general service (oil, filters) should be reasonable at your trusted garage especially if you can buy the MB parts yourself (20L of 5w40 MB gen oil was £72 at my local dealership which will do 2x services , their filters are cheap too )

My last MOT cost me guts of £2k...2 rear shocks, 1 rear airbag, 4 new tyres , handbrake shoes and MOT check over

I did front pads/discs/pins a few months prior - circa £350 all in

Just done a big service including all filters and gearbox oil and I'm walking away with change out of £400

Window regulator went the well after ...guts of £200

But I dont think this year will be so bad now the big ticket items are somewhat out of the way ...and with covid it barely turns a wheel

Dont forget fuel :) :)
 
I could probably dig up exact yearly numbers as I have a library, estimated over 200 pages, of invoices and printed receipts dating back years. However, this won't be much use as it really depends on how many miles you will drive and how well the car has been looked after including if any bigger ticket items have been done (there are not many on these cars...)

I can however tell you that the CLS55 has been:

  • Cheaper to run than my Maserati GTS, E46 M3, Cayenne Turbo, and a handful of other far 'less exciting' cars
  • Faster than all the above with a little bit of MSL magic - there is nothing that compares to dropping the hammer
  • Unbelievably cheap for the serviceable things like brake pads, discs, even tyres, fluids, etc. (have you seen the size of those brakes!)
  • Unbelievably reliable with very little in the way of minor niggles and no major scares
  • Extremely comfortable
  • Very easy to work on, either DIY, garage or specialists for anything more tricky/picky, but there isn't much on these cars in the latter bracket
I would pick a CLS55 again every time.
 
OP you asked exactly what I was thinking!!! Yes from a friend of mine that owned one (unfortunately had to let it go) his ownership costs over the years were relatively affordable! Exactly the reason I am looking into them now!
 
Yeah, most amg-s around 2003-2006 (before the facelift models) were pretty good in terms of bang for buck (how much you get for the money spent on the car). Currently I am having 17-18 liters per 100km with my current CLK 500. I am probably going to drive around 7500-9000km a year (just to university, gym and sometimes cruise with friends). Most probably I wont buy anything with high mileage and do a pre-service checkup (specially if it has Airmatic). I guess a car which has an average technical condition will cost me around on average in terms lets say 5 years ,like 1500 a year (so some year it could be 2000 and maybe other year only 500€).
 
I dont think 1500 euros will cover road tax, insurance, fuel, tyres, servicing and a couple of repairs. Not in the uk anyway but maybe everything is cheaper in Estonia.
 
Hello,

Guys who own or have owned CLS 55 amg (or w211 E55 amg, pretty much the same car), whats the average yearly cost you're having usually (fuel, services, repair and the parts etc)?

I am looking to buy one but first want to get all the information available moneywise from the community.

Note: I have a certain workshop where I get all my repair and services done, I trust the guys who do the works. They are my family friends and they focus on all kinds of Mercedes so they have enough skill to deal with those kinds of cars (they have had many AMG-s in the workshop before) and whats best they do not charge me any extra for the parts, just the labour.

I mentioned the last thing because guys who go to dealerships usually pay 1.5-3x more than in non-dealership places. So I would like to hear opinions and experiences from all sides.

The best or nothing!
Your average will be completely different to other people’s, so it’s very difficult to say. The mileage and condition of the car your buying - and recent repairs and maintenance - will determine running costs in coming years. Mileage, driving history and location will dramatically influence other running costs.

Compared to other cars with similar performance they’re incredibly good value from a maintenance and repairs perspective, but maintaining one properly - or sorting a poorly maintained one is not cheap.

If you do mainly urban/town driving expect 13 mpg and if you do mainly rural/motorway driving expect 20 mpg. Insurance can vary wildly from £100 to several thousands so best get quotes. You can find out the road tax cost online based upon the registration number. Tyre costs will also vary depending upon your preference and mileage but even premium tyres seem better value than they used to be.

For servicing in line with the schedule I would budget £1000 per annum, plus £1000 for repairs. I’d also be ready to spend another £1000 for more expensive repairs, so probably £3k per annum for servicing and repairs. Some years you’ll win and spend less, other years you’ll lose and spend more.

I noticed that you win’t have to pay for parts but you will have to pay for labour which surprised me, I expected the other way round as parts will be a direct cost in their accounts, whereas labour costs aren’t so granular and so more easily dissolved. Either way you may say some on the above costs.

Main dealers often get a bad press but find a good one, invest time in building a relationship and you might be surprised about the costs of running such a car even using a main dealer.

For me, my mileage, using main dealers, and location assuming I bought a good one in the first place, I would expect to spend the following but yours will be completely different:

Insurance £100-300 per annum
Servicing £600-900 per annum
Repairs £1000-2000 per annum
Tyres £600-700 every 2-3 years
Fuel £3500 per annum
Road tax £300-600
Detailing £600-1000
 
My CLS55 went through a rear pair of Michelin tyres every 7-10k miles which was about my annual mileage. Fronts lasted about 20k. I changed at 4mm tread as anything less got quite 'exciting' in the wet ;)
 
Your average will be completely different to other people’s, so it’s very difficult to say. The mileage and condition of the car your buying - and recent repairs and maintenance - will determine running costs in coming years. Mileage, driving history and location will dramatically influence other running costs.

Compared to other cars with similar performance they’re incredibly good value from a maintenance and repairs perspective, but maintaining one properly - or sorting a poorly maintained one is not cheap.

If you do mainly urban/town driving expect 13 mpg and if you do mainly rural/motorway driving expect 20 mpg. Insurance can vary wildly from £100 to several thousands so best get quotes. You can find out the road tax cost online based upon the registration number. Tyre costs will also vary depending upon your preference and mileage but even premium tyres seem better value than they used to be.

For servicing in line with the schedule I would budget £1000 per annum, plus £1000 for repairs. I’d also be ready to spend another £1000 for more expensive repairs, so probably £3k per annum for servicing and repairs. Some years you’ll win and spend less, other years you’ll lose and spend more.

I noticed that you win’t have to pay for parts but you will have to pay for labour which surprised me, I expected the other way round as parts will be a direct cost in their accounts, whereas labour costs aren’t so granular and so more easily dissolved. Either way you may say some on the above costs.

Main dealers often get a bad press but find a good one, invest time in building a relationship and you might be surprised about the costs of running such a car even using a main dealer.

For me, my mileage, using main dealers, and location assuming I bought a good one in the first place, I would expect to spend the following but yours will be completely different:

Insurance £100-300 per annum
Servicing £600-900 per annum
Repairs £1000-2000 per annum
Tyres £600-700 every 2-3 years
Fuel £3500 per annum
Road tax £300-600
Detailing £600-1000

Yeah I live in town and drive around 13-14mpg and if I drive around 8000 km a year and fuel costs around 1.1 euro a liter then yearly cost for fuel will be around 1600€

I would think that a well kept one will require around 1000-1500 for services and other repairs

We have no road tax in estonia

For detailing my dads friend has a place where I can do the things if there is any need

Tyres in Estonia cheaper so I would say 500-600 per 3 years so around 200 a year

Currently I dont own comprehensive insurance (my current vehicle costs around 10k€) but I guess if I buy a cls55 like this one Mercedes-Benz CLS 55 AMG Kompressor 5.4 V8 350kW (price 17500.-) then after pre-purchase inspection I could find some problems with car, ask the price to be around 16 and then I think I should definitely get insurance.

So in total im looking at around 1600 fuel + 1500 service&repair + 200 detailing + tyres 200 = around 3500€ maybe
 

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