Buying A used BMW 320d/318i / 520d or a Mercedes is worth for money? Do they have high maintenance cost?

[DRH]

Hi ,

Im looking to upgrade and have an idea of buying a car less than 6 million. Have an idea of a used  bmw  or a mercedes.But concernd on maintanence and parts too. Expecting advice from experienced members to select the best choice for my budget.Thanks 

Edited July 30, 2020 by DRH

[Devinda_Z]

 

2 hours ago, DRH said:

Hi ,

Im looking to upgrade and have an idea of buying a car less than 6 million. Have an idea of a used  bmw  or a mercedes.But concernd on maintanence and parts too. Expecting advice from experienced members to select the best choice for my budget.Thanks 

@DRH if it's a Euro car it's always nicer to buy them when they have a warranty & are less than 5 years old

 

It's not that they're mechanically problematic as such specifically it's just that relative to your average japanese car in the same price or age range they can require a little more attention 

 

Things like Dual Clutch Gearboxes will be problematic in Sri Lanka regardless of whether Honda makes it or Volkswagen-Audi does

 

The other trap to be wary of is first time Euro car owners who bought them because of the attractive price point thanks to the engine capacity advantage they hold over bigger Japanese cars which meant corners were cut when it came to maintenance as some were surprised to find the parts prices to be steeper than they would have expected etc or worse botched repairs by technicians untrained to handle these Euros

All in all it can be a bit of a gamble so if you want to go down this road look for meticulous specialist or agent maintenance history. Leave a much bigger margin than you would with a Japanese car as a running repair budget & a greater allowance for depreciation as well.

[ajm]

16 hours ago, Devinda_Z said:

Things like Dual Clutch Gearboxes will be problematic in Sri Lanka regardless of whether Honda makes it or Volkswagen-Audi does

 Never heard of DCT issues related to Audi,BMs in SL, guess they offer only good old Auto gearboxes.

[Kavvz]

3 hours ago, ajm said:

 Never heard of DCT issues related to Audi,BMs in SL, guess they offer only good old Auto gearboxes.

Its because they are not very common? 

A regular DSG (DCT) service for Audi's and VW's is mad expensive. And if memory serves me right, it needs to be done every 40K-50k kilometers. If its skipped well: Lets just say, no sane person would want to find out how far you could push your luck given the prices for a new DSG unit.

However, given the high cost of a DSG service, I can see how a cheapo owner would be quite tempted to skip them, prolong them, or even sell the car off at market price around the time the DSG service is due. As such, I would be leery of any Audi or VW with a DSG that hasn't got detailed service records showing the DSG was serviced diligently.

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Kavvz

[Devinda_Z]

3 hours ago, ajm said:

 Never heard of DCT issues related to Audi,BMs in SL, guess they offer only good old Auto gearboxes.

Most of the newer Mercedes came with their 7 or 9 G Tronic automatic gearboxes I believe 

[zeristo]

Let me put things in context for you......

My friend who bought a C220 CDI (Diesel) in 2013, went in for service at 25,000 km to D*MO in 2017. Guess the price to service a brand new diesel C Class..... Close to Rs. 275,000...... I mean regular service. No repairs, no malfunctions etc. All this for oil change, filter change, brake pad change and wear and tear parts. So think twice before buying a used German for cheap. Cost of procurement may be cheap, maintenance and parts will cost you more.

Would I buy a used E class or 5 Series over a brand new premio ? Heart says Merc/BMW but brain says I couldn't afford to maintain one if anything goes wrong....

so think twice, calculate how much you're expecting to spend over the ownership period.

 

P.S. on the other hand, if you could somehow muster up the funds to buy a new Merc/BMW, go for it.

[kush]

Porsche service with the agent has is usually less than Rs. 80K once a year or 15000km

Even a major service with spark plugs, filters and gear oil change will be around Rs. 200K

[Kavvz]

8 hours ago, zeristo said:

Let me put things in context for you......

My friend who bought a C220 CDI (Diesel) in 2013, went in for service at 25,000 km to D*MO in 2017. Guess the price to service a brand new diesel C Class..... Close to Rs. 275,000...... I mean regular service. No repairs, no malfunctions etc. All this for oil change, filter change, brake pad change and wear and tear parts. So think twice before buying a used German for cheap. Cost of procurement may be cheap, maintenance and parts will cost you more.

Would I buy a used E class or 5 Series over a brand new premio ? Heart says Merc/BMW but brain says I couldn't afford to maintain one if anything goes wrong....

so think twice, calculate how much you're expecting to spend over the ownership period.

 

P.S. on the other hand, if you could somehow muster up the funds to buy a new Merc/BMW, go for it.

 

A used 2013 CDI diesel is out of warranty anyway so no point going to the agents...Unless you want to maintain a perfect service history, otherwise a simple service can be done outside for a fraction of that cost. 

The cost of doing a simple oil change at an independent garage including Mobil or Castrol fully synthetic oil and Mann filters will be only 45,000 to 50,000 depending on what you get and where you go. 

(I know most owners balk at the thought of taking their cars to anyone else other than the agents, but really as shown above it doesn't have to be the case. And at the time of resale as long as you are honest and show potential buyers how you've maintained major component failures or car specific work on the car at the agents but opted to do simple maintenance like oil changes, tyre changes, wheel alignments etc at independent garages it should not be a big deal, especially if the car is in good condition and you can demonstrate that you have kept up with all the required maintenance.)

(2013 CDI Merc Engines are pretty decent and is a good choice if buying a used diesel Merc. The only extraordinary issue you will have to check for is: Build-up of black soot under the injector covers caused by weak injector seals.)

Edited July 31, 2020 by Kavvz

[VWvortex]

On 7/31/2020 at 8:55 PM, Kavvz said:

 

 

 

On 7/31/2020 at 8:55 PM, Kavvz said:

A used 2013 CDI diesel is out of warranty anyway so no point going to the agents...Unless you want to maintain a perfect service history, otherwise a simple service can be done outside for a fraction of that cost. 

The cost of doing a simple oil change at an independent garage including Mobil or Castrol fully synthetic oil and Mann filters will be only 45,000 to 50,000 depending on what you get and where you go. 

(I know most owners balk at the thought of taking their cars to anyone else other than the agents, but really as shown above it doesn't have to be the case. And at the time of resale as long as you are honest and show potential buyers how you've maintained major component failures or car specific work on the car at the agents but opted to do simple maintenance like oil changes, tyre changes, wheel alignments etc at independent garages it should not be a big deal, especially if the car is in good condition and you can demonstrate that you have kept up with all the required maintenance.)

(2013 CDI Merc Engines are pretty decent and is a good choice if buying a used diesel Merc. The only extraordinary issue you will have to check for is: Build-up of black soot under the injector covers caused by weak injector seals.)

Hi Kavvz,

I've been looking at few direct import W212 CDI's (2013 and up) which have Euro 5 compliant engines.  Do these engines have any issues with the locally available diesel?  Any particular DPF issues etc to be aware of ? Cheers

[Kavvz]

11 hours ago, VWvortex said:

 

 

 

Hi Kavvz,

I've been looking at few direct import W212 CDI's (2013 and up) which have Euro 5 compliant engines.  Do these engines have any issues with the locally available diesel?  Any particular DPF issues etc to be aware of ? Cheers

Are you talking about the Mercedes-Benz OM642 engine? I have a bit of experience with that and that has no issues at all when when using super diesel (or euro diesel). And no DPF issues generally.

[One set of the diesel engines (will update you with the engine code to watchout for) do have a known issue with the turbo seals /gasket on the turbo where it melts under high temps and then fails. So far MB doesn't have a decent fix for it as even the redesigned repalcement gaskets (made from a higher grade silicone mix I hear) have been known to fail under high load / high heat situations. But that's a pretty rare situation caused more by user error /  load under towing / over revving etc. and most people driving the W212 platform don't have any issues under normal driving conditions. ]

Overall the Mercedes-Benz OM642 engines are pretty solid and stress free: I would recommend it.

If you are concerned with the turbo seal issue or think it might affect the car you plan on buying go on https://mbworld.org/ and take a look for common errors issues on that particular car / engine. Everyone there is super helpful and there are a lot of model specific resources on that site...

Also do an inspection for any build-up around the injector seals. Its a straight forward repair, and not a deal breaker but if you're buying used and the car needs new injector seals and that black soot/gunk cleaned off: Its a good case for negotiating a discount. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Kavvz

[VWvortex]

It actually has the OM651 engine. 2.1 litre twin turbo. 

Any info on this one? I've been told it's one of the most reliable new engines from MB. Still doing my research.l

Also any experience with places like Merc stop? I only have used D*MO in the past , but the car I'm looking at is not registered with them

Edited August 16, 2020 by VWvortex

[Kavvz]

18 minutes ago, VWvortex said:

It actually has the OM651 engine. 2.1 litre twin turbo. 

Any info on this one? I've been told it's one of the most reliable new engines from MB. Still doing my research.l

Also any experience with places like Merc stop? I only have used D*MO in the past , but the car I'm looking at is not registered with them

No unfortunately no experience with that one, but do check for any history on the turbo gasket issue on that, as its the newer engines that have that issue ( my understanding is that its on the 3.0L V6 diesel primarily, so you should be in the clear).

No I don't use Merc stop unfortunately. So can't comment. But I'm sure it won't be an issue. Especially if you can cross reference MBworld.org etc to verify what needs to be done and the right parts for it etc.

Also worse case, you can always square up with the agent and get it registered  ( I wouldn't, not by a long shot, but its always there as an option...) 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Kavvz

[VWvortex]

Thanks a lot for the information ! Cheers