Thank you, gentlemen!

I applaud the true 500E connoisseur who appreciates his/her
vehicle more than a mere financial symbol of "arrival."

Salut Lausannois ,

Je vis à Genève.

Ca fait plaisir de voir de compatriotes sur le site. Je suis mordu depuis que je l'ai trouvé...

Magnifique ton EVO II, vraiment

Je me réjouis d'avoir des nouvelles du turbo

J'ai une 500E, pas de photos malheureusement... le week-end je roule avec mon p'tit bijou :

www.cardomain.com/id/swissthree

A plus,

Manu

A particular car is worth whatever price a buyer and seller will agree on. If you wouldn't part with yours for fifty thousand, then it is worth more (especially if you've actually turned down offers in that range).

Tom: I was thinking more of interested sellers who go to the trouble and expense to advertise. In the market of interested sellers and informed buyers, it seems "symbolic" pricing (i.e. thousands above book) may be a thing of the past for the 500e.

If a dealer spends money to advertise a car he does not really wish to sell over long periods in numerous publications, I wonder at his motive for doing so. I am sure, however, that the reason is his business, and not mine.

Farrukh: I'm not sure capital markets reflect economic conditions so much as psychology, but I do know that when they aren't superheated people are much less likely to pay way over market price for things like cars. I agree your 040 car should bring some more than a more commonly colored car (it's a great color scheme). It wouldn't bring me out of the mid twenties for a lower mileage, well documented silver or pearl black example into the price range you mentioned, but perhaps there is someone out there who would pay that (if you should ever want or need to sell it, I sincerely hope so).

Scott: I would have thought people interested in some kind of financial status symbol would pick a car other than an 8-10 year old Benz.

psychology of the sale.

Let me explain the dealer's possible strategy of multimedia advertising of the 'elusive dream'

Somewhere else on this wonderfull forum is a poster who tells a story of his desire to acquire an E500 Limited in which he attests that he is willing to give up one of his children to achieve his goal.(I hope he is kidding as I would easily give up my Benz for any one of his children) As I recall, that poster finally settled for an E420 HOWEVER, his intent was to purchase a pristine 500E or E500 which is what the dealer advertised.

If I were a dealer with a lot of semi hi-performance MBs to sell, I would advertise the best of the lot at a price well above it's current value to demonstrate to any reader that I MAY have an extremely well maintained example of what he/she may be looking for and I am just dying for you to come down to my lot and tell me why it is over priced. After agreeing with you that it is overpriced, I would show you the next best thing that would be closer to your price range and sell you any of the other cars on my lot.

Hello Tom, I'm glad you know the --sell my kid for E500 thing-- is a joke , it's hard to make jokes on the internet since you can't see the joker's face.

I do like the E500s very much but not enough to pay the prices they are going for and that's why I settled for the E420, I like cars a lot but I'm still cheap or practical. I can't justify paying so much for the E500 especially since the difference from the E420 is arguably minimal.

Dealers have a lot of sales strategies and what you said is actually true, when I went looking for cars I got lots of stupid sales pitches. As crazy as some of their pitches are I've seen them work on people, I've seen people go looking for BMWs and come back with pickups,cavaliers or $15,000 suzuki esteems, that's a true story by the way. I remember going to the Benz dealership and since they didn't sell any pre 1995 cars, I was offered a Lexus RX300.

I found myself caught in the 500E vs E420 dilemna. Starmarked were going in the early 20's in Northern CA., and 500Es were a bit more. After myfirst drive in an E420, however, I was not too impressede. I felt that I might as well keep my 300E, and save some $$$. As a kind of lark, I drove down to Palo Alto and drove what is probably the ugliest 500E (some sort of burgandy) I've seen. However, it was the only 500E for sale in the Bay Area. It FLEW! Even though I looked at a few more E420's after that, my heart was just not in it. I could see telling myself every day, "Why didn't you get what you really wanted?" Finally, I made the decision, totally irrationally, to find a 500E I could afford. I finally did, and every day I am grateful that I made the choice. I love my car and its performance, and I know that it is so much more car than the E420; much faster, much sturdier, much more heavy-duty (suspension, brakes, welds, seats, etc.). By now I would have been bored with the E420, andwishing Istill had my 300E.
Eachperson has to make their own decisions about these things.

Tom
92 500E 107,000 miles
Paid $19,500 with 96,000 miles, in pristine condition.

That's one of the things that also made me chose the E420, since there are so few 1994 E500s in this country(374) I would probably have to settle for a car with a color combination I didn't really like. I wanted a 1994 E500 bcuz of the upgraded looks and SL600 brakes, I didn't want to go thru the headache of buying an earlier 500E and having to upgrade it myself.

I agree with you that the E500 is a better car, it was $30k more than the E420 and the porsche pedigree is very tempting. Also the E420 doesn't have the E500's cult status, shoot, it doesn't even have the 300E's reputation, no one seems to write articles about the E420 or have websites dedicated to them.

I'm still kind of looking for an E500 now, I haven't driven one bcuz I know and my wife knows once I drive it, I might throw logic to the wind and decide to get it, this is what happened with the car I had now, we went to look at a 1998 BMW 740IL and I saw the E420 and said let me just take if for a spin see what it drives like, I came back five minutes later and decided to get the E420 just like that even though we had been looking at BMWs for six months since I couldn't find a E500 for the price I wanted to pay

There's a dealer here selling a 1993 500e with 45k for about $33K and I've been tempted to go drive the car but I found excuses not to go.

Everyone's different but I would have been thinking for 19K I could get a 1997 E420 with the sport package hopefully and an extended warranty.


Paid $11,250 for a 1994 E420 with 107k miles in mint condition

-fad said--
fyi- This car has been for sale in the Los Angeles area for 1.5 years believe it or not. I've referred no fewer than 8 serious cash offer buyers to Ed and there has been absolutely no room to bargain on the price!

If anyone is interested and would like a little more info on the car's background, PM me.

I bought mine from this dealer MB Fact Auth Sales/Service Dealer- - Starmark certified. Both mine and this one are creme of the crop (this one is not Starmark though- but can be Starmarked for like $1500 more to the buyer).


In the "for what it's worth" category, Ruznack in Pasadena has a long history of asking more than the full offered side. It's my local dealer, and the customer absolutely does not get a fair shake there.

Everyone has their own dealer horror shows, and it's irksome that you have to drive around town to find a trustworthy bunch.

__________________
'93 500E
'88 Tyrrell/ Ford Cosworth DFZ 017
'95 Ducati 916
'86 Laverda SFC 1000 #3184

You're likely on to something there.

I saw this car and test drove it. They were asking mid 30's and think it sold for low 30's. It had 67k miles on it and was not well taken care of as evidenced from the interior and exterior condition. There were alot of warning signs on this car, the bolster on the drivers seat was VERY worn, the car overheated in VERY moderate traffic on a cool day, the registration was very sketchy, and some sheet metal jus wasn't right. This was a corporate leased car and showed every sign of that. While I already had mine I test the market and while I paid the same price for a 92 I got one with almost half the miles, hidden mods I did not realize and a history that validated the price.

PS - While this one was a Starmarked car they were not sure if the engine would be covered since it was modified. Noone would give me a straight answer if the RENNtech mods were covered.

Anyway just my thoughts...

__________________
Mark
92 500e Spruce/Parchment (41k)
95 E320 Cab Cabernet/Parch (30K)
94 LS 400 Anniv Ed (traded on 500e)
85 Toyota Supra (103k)
90 Toyota 4Runner (56K)
------------------------------------------------
Sometimes you have to put your foot down to get a leg up

Mercedes will not cover a car that is modified by Renntech. Renntech will but, there warranty is extremely limited. You should contact Renntech beforehand directly for questions if, not sure.

BTW, I had a Renntech modified car. I don't even recall having a warranty. I think it was like for the first year or something like that.

I've got a 92 400E that is heavily modified that would probably fool all except the most knowledgeable E500 afficianado. See my Then there is the "lady". Excites me every time I go near her . I tell ya, I say a damaged RED one on the net about a year ago and said that if I ever got a shot at getting a RED 500E/E500...whatever....She was mine. It goes back to '92 when I bought the 400E. I wanted this RED/Black Demo that they had, loaded to the teeth, a Regional reps car as it were, but they were asking more for it than I paid for my car 6 weeks later from the same deal Brand new AND they had to swap it from another state. I never did get over that RED . Now....I'm cured! I say for those who are still on the fence. Buy your car but don't compromise on color choices. The update/conversion is an easier/less expensive fix than changing out interior / exterior colors

__________________
Regards,

Albert
aldedmon@yahoo.com

...observed there appears to be a majority of somewhat used and less fresh 500e/e500's out there (no problemo its a car to be driven) Reality is -that even low mileage 500e/e500 cars can have big issues if they were not cared/ stored for properly....(ie mice eat wiring harnesses while in storage)

on the other hand and consequently- creme of the crop 500e showpiece 500e/e500 sales prices may naturally gravitate toward the "delusionary pricing model"

Rusnak's "no budge on price" may also mean that this e500 is truely "as-new" or "better than new" or the "best of what is available given its vintage" (incl. full records, no problems, hyper maintaned, etc.)

I'm aware tha Rusnak is an "inflated" price (what the market will bear) type of seller....(I bought mine for their full asking price, but don't regret it).

fwiw/fyi- I've been solicited by more than a few folks to part with my e500 for more $ than I've got into it....and referrred them to Rusnak to get there own (with a smile)

best regards
-fad

Mark: I merely repeated what the dealer's salesman told me about the price and miles when I called to ask (around 45Kmi, sold in mid twenties), hence the caveat "...according to the salesman..."

Apologies to all; I hate passing bad information.

Also, I find the gray ‘92 I mentioned in my earlier post is back on Ebay, so that may not be a very good example of a sale either, although the seller mentions you can call and purchase the car for $25k before the auction is over.

-fad: beside the mice-chewed wiring harness, I'd be interested in knowing some of the other issues you've heard of or might think likely with a low mile car that's well maintained and documented but not quite Hatch & Sons condition (leaving out things like hidden body damage or relatively minor cosmetic problems).

Anyway, I appreciate the discussion and didn’t imagine when I started getting interested in this car that I’d find such a great source of experience in the processes of finding, buying and maintaining one (which seemed a little daunting at first, given its rarity and the potential costs of buying a loo loo). When the time comes, I will be well armed.