New cars in general are a poor investment. When you buy one it depreciates very rapidly and when you lease you have nothing to show for your years of payments when your lease is up. You are better off buying a car that is a few years old, or buying an even older car and working on it your self. You can invest the money you save doing this and be ahead.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I've named this enigma the herd instinct. It would be interesting to determine the why of such behavior. Hate it, as I love parking away from the masses since my paint is original and in good shape.

Yes that would be the CHEAPEST way to do it. However, many people would rather put up the extra $ so they will not have to work on their cars (like myself ). Not to mention that lease payments can be written off as an expense which can free up even more money.

Leasing is rarely cheaper than ownership, unless you have a business and can use the entire lease payment as a writeoff. The reduced depreciation schedules available for owned vehicles will then give you an edge in overall costs.

But, for the average homeowner, who leases a vehicle because he can't afford to purchase it (down payment too large........monthly payment too large), leasing will always cost you more money.

Yep, in the original case of the person with the SL, leasing would be cheaper for the writeoff reason.

Well, if you work for Ford, your Mercedes is not welcome in the company's parking lot. This discrimination seems to come around now and then. Anybody out there works for an auto company?
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/27/news/companies/ford_parkinglot/index.htm?cnn=yes

I’ve got a ‘80 300D in what I consider to be in great shape. No dents. Still shines. All there. Etc.
It used to get a few looks now and then, but nothing like it does now with the “Running on Veggie Oil”
sticker on it. People come right up and start ask’n lots of questions. Not to mention the “ …what’s that sweet smell it’s making?”

I have no problems at the GM facility I am at. People tend to like my vehicle because it looks nice and kept up.

My father leases cars simply because he can't stand to drive the same thing for more then an year or 2.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

I dont think anybody ever gives my car a second look. They may look as I am driving it due to the smoke. I like being invisible in the parking lot, keep down on the thieves.

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1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

There are a bunch of 123's at the junior college parking lot I go to... most of them are pretty ratty and are driven by hippies

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Where I work must be a little different. The site can be reached by three roads, all dirt. The shorter two are five miles long, and the long one (shortest overall commute from Carson City) is ten. Most people drive beaters. In the company parking lot, old CJ's, YJ's and XJ's are plentiful. My boss ($60k+ a year) drove an old beat-up Nissan pickup for the longest time. He recently got an older Grand Cherokee when the Nissan finally gave up. Our CEO drives a few-year-old (and usually muddy) 3/4 ton GMC pickup. I usually drive the Samurai in my sig. One day it wouldn't start, and I didn't have it parked on a big enough grade to gravity start it. The hood was frozen shut, so I couldn't jump it. The parking brake on my Lincoln was frozen, so I had to drive the Benz. In that parking lot, it stuck out like a h--d-on at a girls' school (as my chief in boot camp would say). Yes, it got noticed

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Before I opened my book store, I worked as a supervisor at the local Toyota engine plant. While they did not really look at the cars driven by the hourly labor, they did "suggest" that all exempt employees drive Toyotas. That did not have the desired reaction, most exempt employees that purchased new cars got things like Dodge trucks, Nissan 350s ect. I did not get my Toyotas until my last month there and used the employee purchase program. Toyotas are great cars but they just do not have the soul of my MBZ.

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Fantom71 aka Dale
Madison, AL

91 190E 2.6 5 speed 220k miles and this car still scoots!

Leasing can make sense if for example you wanted to devert some cash flow from the corp every month to make the payment and then write the whole thing off.

I'd do a two year lease so the new car smell doesn't wear off and I wouldn't have to do but one service.

So your only out of pocket costs would be the monthly payment and a $300-$400 service, thats not bad considering what you get to drive.

Putting $105k down on an S550 would be stupid. You could put $80k of that into an investment property, and with the power of leverage that $80k is worth more. $800k with a 90/10 note, maybe $8m with an option.

Remember cars are very poor things to tie money up in, so buying them with OPM may be a good idea.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Way back when my dad worked for AMC (told you it was way back), you didn't dare park anything other than an AMC in the parking lot. They had other lots further out for other makes, but the good ones were reserved for AMC. Things were different back then, no one *****ed, it was the rule. Maybe brand loyalty, maybe just the UAW throwing their weight around (when they had some).