People are irrationally afraid of the 6.3's due to some early production issues.
But still, 30k is a great deal.

How many miles on the E63?

Used Benz are an incredible bang for the buck. That’s how I ended up with 3 in the garage.

They have terrible resale and continue to depreciate down to almost nothing, (modern Benzes), but there is a reason and it's maintenance costs. Still, if you do all of the math and it still works out, they are great cars. Safest car=best car, IMO. :cool:

If you’re prepared to turn wrenches and DIY, maintenance doesn’t have to be crazy expensive. Most people don’t, and the used prices reflect that. For DIY types, there is tremendous value available...IMO. It seems we agree on this point.

Mercedes parts prices are ludicrous, unless you buy generic crap from China, which I won't do.

As for the Civic Type R, it's a Honda. Nothing wrong with those for use as an appliance but they never have the solid, well-engineered feel of a German car. Even if they got rid of all of the boy racer crap, the engines are never big enough to provide useful power and their inability to put power down onto the road will always be limited by their FWD.

No thanks.

Could be just about anywhere. The Civic R has 300hp and 300ftlbs, and it's front wheel drive. The weight may be over the front tires, but on acceleration, the weight transfers to the rear. I've found that most of my FWD vehicles (which were usually economy cars with little power) could easily break traction.

My boxster with 300hp and 250ftlbs and the weight nearly over the tires also easily spins the tires.

Same problem I had...rev hang with my Honda.
The Sprint throttle controller took care of it easily.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1047444-sprint-booster-v3.html

Maybe I have the “wrong” Benz cars, or maybe I am desensitized to parts cost from playing with Porsche cars, but I haven’t found the costs to be excessive on my MBZs. I buy mostly from FCP Euro and they have OE supplier parts, often German made or other European origin, depending on the specific item.

I was wondering the same thing.
Don't Benz share OE makers with BMW and Porsche?
Bosch, Lemforder, Sachs, etc.
Their prices are perfectly reasonable tome.

I don’t want to spend all day discussing the parts business but I’ll mention a few things. Just because a company is what they call an original equipment manufacturer does not mean they make a particular part for that manufacturer. You cannot always assume that parts are made to the same standards or pass the same quality checks. You also cannot assume that a branded part, new in the box isn’t a counterfeit part. Believe it or not, those exist, I’ve personally received a Bosch branded part that was a counterfeit. When you buy a part through a dealer network, you know you’re getting what you paid for because there’s some integrity in the supply chain. It may still be a bad part, I can think of a couple examples of Porsche parts that were junk, even though they came through the dealer parts network. When you buy a part from an aftermarket supplier, you have no idea what, exactly, you are getting. It might be great, it might be junk.

Caveat emptor, it’s your money, not mine.

Nothing amazing, you can find W212 E63s for under $30k all day long. Lots of car for the money.

I also disagree with the comment about parts costs but agree with Jacob and others, I buy from online vendors. I can’t tell you the last time I wasted my money buying a Mann filter in a Mercedes box for triple the price.

Works for me.
I load my cart at Rock Auto and make sure all the items come from one warehouse (to keep the shipping cost down) and voila good prices on maintenance items consumables):

https://scontent.fhou1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...15&oe=5EC75D30

Agree, filters and belts are affordable. I've run into a long list of issues with the more complicated issues. Seat motor or switch or what about a side mirror that gets knocked off in the parking lot? Once you stomach the $$ you then realize you cant just swap in the new part, need the software to initialize it. Similar issue with headlights, foglights and so on. Most folks I know dont realize the $$ involved in such parts. I can swap in a new light assembly but then it looks weird and they want them both done. benz is a status simple for many so it needs to look the part. Dont look at the dash, often lit up like a christmas tree.

I’m probably going to buy one of the STAR computer knockoffs that you can get on EBay. Gives you dealership level of OBD and programming for under $500.

Curious... did you ever sell that C208 you mentioned here a couple years back? Black with black/crime interior if I recall correctly.

Have one, its invaluable.

There's a nice salvage title c63 on fleabay now for 17k.

Matt, when you obtain that Star knock-off can you please let me know if it will do the W454 Smart For Four from 04-06.

Matt, have you driven a Neon based SRT-4 and if so, how does it compare?

That was the last FWD hot hatch I drove in anger and for the price was a pretty capable car.

I think you guys missed a big point.

The only reason I would buy a Civic (Type R, Si, etc.) is that they still come with a manual transmission (and hatchback). No MB or Audi still does. BMW discontinued the manual in the 3-series. My next car will likely be an M2, purely because it comes with a 6-speed. I currently have an Mini Cooper Countryman S All4 Pro Max Lite only because it was an AWD car with a stick.

Yes, I'm a Luddite.