Why are CLS`s so cheap

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The CLS is a car that's very colour and wheel design sensitive. There seems to be enormous numbers of Obsidian black or Iridium Silver ones about :eek: with the rather open geometry pattern wheels neither of which do the car any favours imho. Some deep primary colour metallics with the right choice of wheels would really lift these cars to a higher level. :thumb:Colour choice is not one of Mercedes strongest suits at the best of times and was very limited in that particular model. :doh:

ps here's an example of flint grey taken badly with a blue cast on the image but why couldn't Merc have offered some colours like this?
 
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So maybe it's better for both 'sides' to lighten up a bit, no good will come from all of this aggravation. :)
Well said sweetpea! Were you a diplomat in another life? :D

This whole "if you don't own a ***** you must really want to, and are jealous of those that do", is really tiring. Horses for courses. Not everyone WANTS to spend shed loads of cash (or monthly payments!) on a car. Doesn't mean they can't..... :)
 
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I bought my W211 E320cdi, 3 years old and £18,000.
Never, never, never will I buy a car again that is more than £5-7000.

I have lost £8000 on this in 18 months.

Leasing a 6 month old E350cdi would have lost me around £5000 at most over the same period. I was trying to be sensible buying the 3 year old car for once, but nearly bought an E350cdi estate for £32k, and I would still get £28k for that car today.
Sometimes borrowing the money to buy at the right point in the depreciation curve is the right thing to do.



Then there is contract hire, makes buying even a 5 year old car a nonsense the deals are so good.
Mercedes have been giving discounts of 28% to contract hire companies, hence why you can be in a brand new C250cdi sport estate edition 125 for £1800 deposit and £302 a month, and in a E250cdi sport estate edition 125 for £2100 deposit and £362 a month.
£14000 over 3 years for the E Class estate, a £40,000 car with an expected residual of £15200, so a loss of £25000 over the same period.


It is not a case of driving round in something you can't afford, it is a case of just being sensible and buying the car you want in the cheapest way possible.
Why loose £25000 over 3 years when you could loose £15000?

Also, I get paid £800 a month to be in a reliable car so I can do my job, it has to be the right image, so no Porsches or M3's etc. and if it breaks down I have to keep going.
I don't get paid a lump of £40,000, if I did would I buy it? Depends on the deal.


I don't think judging people is fair, a lad round the corner owns an Audi RS4, he probably earns less than £20k a year, his mortgage is over a grand and he is always skint, but guess what?! His passion is cars!! So good on him.
He doesn't waste £300 a month playing golf, he doesn't spunk £200 on a saturday night getting hammered, he pumps all his money into his car as he loves it.


We're all different, and surely that is what makes life great?
 
Just out of interest gizze, how much per mile do your firm pay?

I'm on a similar deal but they are forever trying to skin me out on mileage by not following pump prices
 
I get 45p for the first 10,000 miles and then 30p after that, of that 30p I am taxed on 5p of it though.

On the X1 which is a company car I just use a fuel card and refuse to pay BIK on fuel allowance.
Had a bit of an argument with the Inland Revenue on that one though as they insisted that I must be using personal fuel.
Luckily the last 3 months of receipts totaled £1034 and only £700 of that was on the company card, so I argued that the company has actually been using the fuel I have put in and paid for. So now just paying BIK on the car and not fuel.

I think if my E Class was a company car then I would be paid 18p per mile.
I have an allowance as I get paid dividends so keep my tax rate at 22%, so it works for me, with the 45p per mile that sort of claws back some of the tax, if you are paying 40% though it can soon get gobbled up.
But then if you are paying 40% tax an 3 litre E Class estate costs more in BIK tax than the car cost to own, so you are better to just buy it yourself.
Which is just crazy!
 
'Nuff said?

s45pgi.jpg
It's a Freddie Mercury body part
 
Using the company car tax calculator for an E350cdi estate with heated seats, harman sound, comand, metallic and leather, and bluetooth not included as you can write that off, it comes out at...

£6,521 a month for the car BIK tax and another £2406 for the BIK fuel tax.

So £8927 a year or £742.91 a month you are taxed on to run that car.

You can hire that car for around £450 all in. So saying to the company 'Don't bother I will pay for the car myself!' leaves you £300 a month better off.
That is before you take the allowance and before you have got your 45p per mile.

I just don't know how the government think sometimes, all people are doing when they set the rate so high is wangle it in other ways.
 
Why are CLS`s so cheap

'Cos they're so ugly?


IMHO the CLS has the second ugliest rear in the Mercedes range.... second only to the pre-facelift W221 S class ( which I drive ) ... however, every now and again I see a CLS that is lovely, it must be the colour / wheel combo that changes it.
 
the aubergine, much nicer than black or silver.
CLS, a very pretty car

IMHO

Dunno about jealous.
I would love one, can't afford one though.
Well not if I want all the other stuff that makes for a relaxed lifestyle.
 
i do like the darker colours with 'heavy' wheels, I don't like thin spoked wheels or the ones with 20 odd spokes either on the CLS or cars that size.
 
the aubergine, much nicer than black or silver.
CLS, a very pretty car

IMHO

Dunno about jealous.
I would love one, can't afford one though.
Well not if I want all the other stuff that makes for a relaxed lifestyle.

I'm the same, if I could afford a nice CLS500 for the weekends away in Paris and St.Tropez I would love one.
But I have my E Class and Skegness it has to be!! :D
 
It's a shame that it seems to be descending into all this upset.

For me, there seems to be a certain attitude amongst certain members on the forum that if you question anything that they say; you're jealous of them.

Maybe that's not really the case but that's how it comes across in black & white and I must admit that there's been times when I've known the answer to a question one of the aforementioned has asked but I've chosen not to help because of their perceived attitude towards others.

I'm not proud of that mindset, after all I joined this forum to learn and discuss about Mercedes cars (and vans) and not to be spiteful.

So maybe it's better for both 'sides' to lighten up a bit, no good will come from all of this aggravation. :)

Couldn't agree with you more sweetpea.
 
i like that one.

a bit too loud for country living but surburban, yes.
 
I am sure that VW did something similar with the Polo years back ?
 
Using the company car tax calculator for an E350cdi estate with heated seats, harman sound, comand, metallic and leather, and bluetooth not included as you can write that off, it comes out at...

£6,521 a month for the car BIK tax and another £2406 for the BIK fuel tax.

So £8927 a year or £742.91 a month you are taxed on to run that car.

You can hire that car for around £450 all in. So saying to the company 'Don't bother I will pay for the car myself!' leaves you £300 a month better off.
That is before you take the allowance and before you have got your 45p per mile.

I just don't know how the government think sometimes, all people are doing when they set the rate so high is wangle it in other ways.

Can you really hire a car to that spec as a private user for £450? Inc vat? That would be £450 of taxed income too - and don't forget the insurance, servicing and road tax. Also there are many company car drivers who have no real business mileage. Sometimes company cars still make sense, certainly does in my situation, Im sure others can do their own sums
 
It was actually £470, £390+vat is what my old mans partner just paid for one doing 15k miles a year, adding 3000 miles to the mileage only added £8 a month which I was very surprised at.

Servicing is either free, current offer on new, or you can get it for £30 a month over 3 years and 45k miles.

Insurance is going to be around £40-100 a month I guess.


I just can't see how having it as a company car makes sense.
The company will at least give you the £470 and even if you take only £300 of that home you are still around £400-450 better off than being taxed £750 as a company car.



£470+£30+£100=£600 less the £300 back for car allowance = a cost to you of £300 compared to £750 BIK tax as a company car.

However I am sure someone who is getting an E350cdi as a company car could up that allowance to more like £600 a month to take into account servicing and insurance, which would make the gap even bigger.

As said, as a company car it make no sense if you pay 40% to buy a car with a high tax rate if you can hire for far less.
 
As I said, it depends on the individual circumstances. I'm not going to go into my, or
my company's financial arrangements but believe me, even as a 40% tax payer (as I'm sure anyone with a merc as a company car is), putting the car through the company is still the best option for some.
 

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