Bagsofsmoke
Member
I placed an order for a new E53 Premium Plus Night Edition estate back in May, and was given an estimated delivery date of August 24. Since then, the Mercedes dealership, despite promising regular updates, haven't once emailed or called off their own bat - they've only ever provided updates after I've emailed to ask for them. The production and delivery dates have slipped multiple times. I spoke to the dealership 10 days ago and he assured me it would enter production on 10th September, and promised to call me with an update that day to confirm it had indeed entered production. Nothing heard. I emailed him and he responded the next day to say that it had been delayed again, with a new production date of 24th September and delivery date of 26th October. While this is clearly rubbish, to rub salt in the wound, he said that due to the global semiconductor shortage, Mercedes have adjusted the spec of the car I ordered and it will no longer have the following items:
- Augmented Nav
- Dashcam
- Energising Comfort
- Hands Free Access
- 12.3” Digital IC
- Multibeam LED Headlights
I'm not too fussed about the first four but the last two are pretty irritating.
The only recompense they're willing to offer is a 2 year service care plan.
I am pretty p*ssed off to be honest, not least because my current car is not ULEZ compliant so from the 24th October, it will cost me £12.50 every time I want to drive my car. The original delivery date was obviously well before that, but it's not afterwards, and given the delivery date has slipped multiple (five and counting...) times already (from the end of August to the end of October, so a whole two months), I have little confidence I'll actually see the car on the 24th October.
So I'm in a bit of a quandary - do I cancel the order and buy second hand (I could get a well specced E63S estate for the same price, second-hand, albeit it'll munch petrol and cost me much more to tax and insure), or do I just bite my lip and hold on? I'm also concerned that despite charging me the same price for the car, it'll be worth less second hand when I come to sell it as it'll be one of the lower specced models from mid-2021. And my current car is going to get very expensive to operate very soon. For the record, I'm buying the E53 on a PCP deal and part exchanging my Audi. I expect to pay off the balance of the finance next year and own the car outright. There's not much inventory in the second hand market in terms of fast, large, petrol-engined estates in the c.£70k bracket, so that's another issue. I don't want another diesel, as much as I love my 3.0l TDI Audi A4 Avant. I'm pretty disappointed by Mercedes too - the service has been absolutely shocking so far, which doesn't bode well. This is the first car I've ordered (only ever bought low mileage cars second hand before), and the whole experience has been pretty underwhelming.
Advice welcome, cheers!
- Augmented Nav
- Dashcam
- Energising Comfort
- Hands Free Access
- 12.3” Digital IC
- Multibeam LED Headlights
I'm not too fussed about the first four but the last two are pretty irritating.
The only recompense they're willing to offer is a 2 year service care plan.
I am pretty p*ssed off to be honest, not least because my current car is not ULEZ compliant so from the 24th October, it will cost me £12.50 every time I want to drive my car. The original delivery date was obviously well before that, but it's not afterwards, and given the delivery date has slipped multiple (five and counting...) times already (from the end of August to the end of October, so a whole two months), I have little confidence I'll actually see the car on the 24th October.
So I'm in a bit of a quandary - do I cancel the order and buy second hand (I could get a well specced E63S estate for the same price, second-hand, albeit it'll munch petrol and cost me much more to tax and insure), or do I just bite my lip and hold on? I'm also concerned that despite charging me the same price for the car, it'll be worth less second hand when I come to sell it as it'll be one of the lower specced models from mid-2021. And my current car is going to get very expensive to operate very soon. For the record, I'm buying the E53 on a PCP deal and part exchanging my Audi. I expect to pay off the balance of the finance next year and own the car outright. There's not much inventory in the second hand market in terms of fast, large, petrol-engined estates in the c.£70k bracket, so that's another issue. I don't want another diesel, as much as I love my 3.0l TDI Audi A4 Avant. I'm pretty disappointed by Mercedes too - the service has been absolutely shocking so far, which doesn't bode well. This is the first car I've ordered (only ever bought low mileage cars second hand before), and the whole experience has been pretty underwhelming.
Advice welcome, cheers!