Real ownership costs

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Matt32AMG

Active Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
667
Location
Dorset UK
Car
June 2002 SLK32///AMG. OCT 2007 CLK350 AMG Sport Convertible.
Ok there I was having a dig out of my filing cabinet and came across the car file that has all the service history and receipts etc. Well I had a few invoices to file that had been kicking about on my desk and thought I’d file them.

Well instead of that I thought well as the files out, I wonder how much the SLK32AMG has cost to keep appropriately fettled since I took ownership back in 2002. That, I thought, could be a sobering process, but game for a laugh, I continued on. :devil: :crazy:

The result was, I thought, quite surprising. :eek:

The car has covered 42,000 miles in the eight years I’ve owned it, and it has been serviced with the main dealer since day one.

I’ve not included in that figure warranty work such as the
· Heated seat squab covers X 4
· Heat seat back rest X 2
· A complete offside Xenon unit.
· Stereo tweeters/speakers.
· Near side and offside bottom ball joints.
· Two shock absorbers.

To date it has cost £4344.97, that includes replacing all four Tyres, Brake pads, Front discs, Supercharger Pump, a Battery and two performance exhaust CATS.

Having owned the car for eight years I have divided that figure by eight unsurprisingly, and rounded it down to the nearest decimal place, which means it costs me on average:
£543.12 a year in servicing and maintenance.
On top of that
£220.00 Car tax
£350.00 Car Insurance
Grand total £1113.12
Ok I've not factored in Depreciation, or fuel costs, but then the last two factors I’d have to have absorbed no matter what I drove. Besides, depreciation is a factor only if you are going to sell the car, well as I’m not planning to do that I’m not bothered.

Anyway I thought it an interesting exercise and it may help prospective buyers appreciate running costs of V6 AMG cars, Of course this could be considerably cheaper going to a Merc Specialist, as opposed to a main dealer or cheaper still by doing it yourself. :)
 
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Sorry, I couldn't judge whether you are surprised happy, or surprised sad?

£500/yr for servicing/maintenance for an AMG looks good to me :)
 
Sorry, I couldn't judge whether you are surprised happy, or surprised sad?

£500/yr for servicing/maintenance for an AMG looks good to me :)

Sorry..
I actually don't think it's that horrible and was quite happily surprised! Much Much cheaper than porsche ownership!! It was £500 everytime I went there irrespective of what the issue was, and that was back in the late 1980's early 90's!
 
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Sorry..
I actually don't think it's that horrible and was quite happily surprised! Much Much cheaper than porsche ownership!! It was £500 everytime I went there irrespective of what the issue was!

£500/year is fantastic - right - I'm off to get a C32 :)
 
You need to drive it more!
 
That doesn't sound bad at all for an AMG, I'd be pleasantly surprised if I were you...
 
It is low, and as you have had it 8 years with only 42K miles thats partly the reson. If its not used that often then tyres, brakes, discs and everything else etc are lasting longer.


Are you tempted with an SLK55? they seem sensible money now
 
It is low, and as you have had it 8 years with only 42K miles thats partly the reson. If its not used that often then tyres, brakes, discs and everything else etc are lasting longer.


Are you tempted with an SLK55? they seem sensible money now

Yeah I suppose you have a point regarding maintenance, but then I'm not thrashing the living daylights out of it either when it's in use, (maybe the odd occasionlike the Spain trip :D).

SLK55? Yeah I've driven a few periodically, and no question, a super engine, more precise steering, refined interior, if a bit plastic, and I love the air-scarf idea, but for all that refinement and seven speed box, it’s just not as engaging to drive as my 32. Maybe because the 32 is a bit unruly with its road manners if given a kick, whereas by contrast, the 55 is more predictable, and more progressive. The 32 given the treatment just takes off like a scared rabbit, it’s performance is just rude, more so. now I’ve started fiddling with mild tuning such as the Kleeman performance CATS I had fitted a few weeks ago. Headers next. ;)

My other problem with the R171 is the styling. I’ve never been completely comfortable with it. From some angles it looks great, yet other angles it looks squat and as broad as it’s long. (No offence to R171 owners intended). :eek:

IMHO I think my car is more forgiving or pleasing to the eye, its more aggressive looking than say the standard bodied R170 with the AMG body kit, but it still retains a certain fineness or delicacy the R171 doesn’t have in my view. By contrast the R171 is aggressive looking particularly so in its 55AMG guise with the extra vents in the front valance. And the Mclaren Mercedes style nose should’ve been left on the Mclaren Mercedes, it has the bonnet length to carry it off more comfortably, again JMHO.

Of course the other aspect I like regarding the 32AMG over its successor, is the rarity factor, just 263 examples were imported into the UK, and not everyone on the planet knows that the R170 AMG version even exists, and it’s a never ending source of amusement when the boy racers get irritating by sitting on your rear bumper not believing what they see, until persuaded otherwise. Besides 4.5 second 0-60 performance is another rather compelling argument to hang on to it, you'd have to spend serious money to buy a car these days with similar or better performance, never mind the fact that once for a short period of time at least, it was the fastest production car Mercedes produced.

I don’t know maybe one day it might be fun to get a 55 as well as my 32, who knows? :dk: But I certainly wouldn’t swap.:)
 
You need to drive it more!

Well yes I can see youir point but alas if I'm not in the country it's not easy :)

That said, if I did drive it every day, it would be all to easy to take what I drive for granted as my normal transport, (if that makes sense), a mistake I made with the Porsches I used to run back in the 80s &90’s. :(

Because I don't, it becomes more of an event to savour, a conscious choice decision to take the 32, (or the CLK) for a blatt today, the weathers nice, roof down, perfect!


It may seem daft to some, but it keeps ownership fresh in my view. And driving say the Space Wagon on occasions to do the weekly shop or tip run, really does put things in perspective, and makes me more appreciative as to what I have. JMHO :)
 
I think you do need to look at the depreciation factor, as that will bring you back into the real world, and gove you a different slant on the issue, especially when you look also at the price you will have to pay for a new replacement comparable car.

Do the excercise and let us know how much per year you car has then cost you.
 
Besides 4.5 second 0-60 performance is another rather compelling argument to hang on to it, you'd have to spend serious money to buy a car these days with similar or better performance, never mind the fact that once for a short period of time at least, it was the fastest production car Mercedes produced.

+1

I think you do need to look at the depreciation factor, as that will bring you back into the real world, and gove you a different slant on the issue, especially when you look also at the price you will have to pay for a new replacement comparable car.

Do the excercise and let us know how much per year you car has then cost you.

I dont think that's the point though is it? Buying any new £50k-ish car and the depreciation will be eye watering.

I think the point of the post was to show that running an AMG need be no more expensive to run than any other MB.

I can concur with servicing costs. In 2008, my C32 at 5 years old cost less than half to service than my then 12 month old Rover diesel cost in 1998!!

:thumb:
 
I guess thats average, but on that mileage, you were averaging 5k(ish) miles a year and those 5k miles cost you £1.1k each year, without calculating fuel costs (and other niggly small bits that could all add up).

If I compared that to normal merc, say my 230K which I owned for 2years, in maintenance/servicing/replacing parts/tax etc it cost me £1.4k, and believe me, there was a fair share of parts I had to replace on this car.

I bought it at 61k miles and sold it at 95k miles. So I covered 34k miles in 2 years averaging to 17k miles a year. Without factoring fuel in, my car cost me £700 to do 14k miles every year.

So if looking at it anually, the 230k is slightly cheaper (£400) and I managed to do almost tripple the mileage.

I'm not bashing at all, just thought i'd put it into perspective for myself! Since when i read your post i initially thought 'hey thats good!', but then thinking about it.... ;)
 
For reference here are the estimated costs for a new SLK 55 AMG over different mileages.

3yrs / 30k
depreciation 91 ppm (£27300)
service & maintenance 9 ppm (£2700)
fuel 21 ppm (£6300)
total 121 ppm (£36300)

3yrs / 60k
depreciation 50 ppm (£30000)
service & maintenance 10 ppm (£6000)
fuel 21 ppm (£12600)
total 81 ppm (£48600)

So clearly the more you use it the better the value becomes.
 
By supercharger pump do you mean the intercooler coolent pump?

If so, what one did you go for in the end?johnson cm30?

Also the front lower arms i believe are going aswell, as the boots have worn and started to let moisture in the joints.I believe you have to by the whole lower arms and not just the joints.Do you remember how much they cost?

Cheers Mike
 

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