repair costs on lexus vs. mercedes

First, my apologies for the cross post.

I currently drive an '87 300E and am thinking about making the jump to a lexus. My question is how do maintenance costs compare between mercedes and lexus. the car I'm looking at is an ES300, somewhere between 93-96, depending on price and mileage. I plan on keeping the car for a long time; is it worth it? Also, is 8950 a good price for a '95 ES300 with 125k miles?

Thanks in advance

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Kelly Blue Book value for that car with typical equipment and in good condition, at a private-party sale, is $7100.

-- Pete

Reply to
Pete

True for the years that the writer is considering....but not of the '02 & '03 ES. That car, which I own, is in the same size category as the "E" Class Benz and in some dimensions actually bigger.

Reply to
B.D. Newman

Have you driven the Lexus for any length of time? On paper you could take this pretty much anyway. Behind the wheel however, there is no comparison with an E-Class what-so-ever. Yes Mercedes maintanance is expensive but that is mostly at dealer. A good independent MB specialist can maintain the eClass at a resonable price.

Scott D

Reply to
Scott D

You are right that the ES is Camry based. And that happens to be a GOOD thing. The old and no ES were not small cars, neither was the '87 E-class a large car. I think you will find that they are comparable in terms of passenger space.

Now as to ride quality for the ES, I happen to have a friend who owns a '92 Camry. It has 160,000 miles on it and is an upscale trim version. A couple a days ago he gave me a ride in it and I was very impressed with how very well it still road and with the lack of rattles and groans. The interior looked very good. No cracks in the leather. I strongly doubt that a M-B of the same vintage would have been any better. This was a Camry. I'd bet you that the ES would be even better. Nobody builds cars that hold up better than Toyota. That absolutely includes M-B, Audi, and BMW.

Reply to
GRL

There's really no way to respond to this post. Comapring Camrys and Camry based ES's to E-classes is like comparing....I don't know, I can't even come up with an analogy for it. Toyotas are the most reliable cars out there, no doubt. If you can't tell the difference between the ride of a Camry or ES and an E-class, a 5-series or an A6, your decision should be pretty simple. If you can, as most car people can, than you will be dissapointed with the ride...that's all I'm sayin'... hope it helps...

Go on Ebay and look at a 1986 e-class, then look at a 1986 camry......Still think they are comparable??? (Rhetorical question)

In reply to:

Reply to
Chris O'Malley

My comments were meant to address reliability/maintenance costs... as for styling... MB is tops (in my book anyway!).

Chris: I owned a '90 SPG up until last year. Still dear to me ;-)

Reply to
Jerohm

Comparing an older E class Benz to the earlier ES Lexus will reveal the similarities and differences of each marque (rear wheel or front wheel drive, weights and dimensions, MSRP, cash value after five years, ownership costs, etc.). However I would say the real questions to address is how does each drive, and how does one feel driving. (More than any statistical comparison I think that is what really distinguishes the two cars.)

As for the argument that the ES "is a Camry", I would suggest comparing the two directly:

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Hope this helps

*+*

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Reply to
Bon Ami

Love those old saabs- was just looking to get a newer 900, but realized while driving a few that saab no longer exists as w knew and loved it. It's just another gm brand now. (with the exception of the 9-5 which is still a saab).

Reply to
Chris O'Malley

Agreed- the only way to really distinguish is to drive them. I should have been clearer on the camry comments. I'm not up on the 2003 lexus & camry. Don't know if they're still the same car. In the mid 90's though, they were the same car. Same exact car, except for trim levels. Just badge engineered, like gm in the 80's.

Reply to
Chris O'Malley

In alt.auto.mercedes Phillip Schmid wrote: [...]

Where I live, A/C is not an option, it's a necessity. We average over 100 days a year of 100+ degree temperatures. It'll be 116 here tomorrow.

Lights dimming is *nothing* compared to losing your A/C in the desert. That can be life-threatening.

--Paul

** Note "removemunged" in email address and remove to reply. **
Reply to
Paul Wylie

Don't understand what you mean by asking me to look at old Camry's vs. old E-class on eBay. If you mean the E will cost more, OK, it cost (a lot) more when it was new, was more likely to be pampered with pricey maintenance, and has much more snob appeal. An old Roller would have even more snob and cost more than a Merc and it would be an even worse car for someone who wanted a reliable ride. So what?

On the other hand you are right that comparing a Camry (or an ES) with an E-class is not really fair. The E-Class was much more expensive. In the early '90's the E-Class competed with the Lexus LS and the LS beat it severely about the head and shoulders. No question. None. Zip. Nada.

Reply to
GRL

If you don't want to believe J.D. Power, then go look at Consumer Reports and read their owner survey results. They closely parallel the J. D. Power results. You can doubt those results, too. Some people like to make up excuses when confronted with a reality they don't like. Does not change the reality, though.

Lexus is not a older person's brand any more than MB or BMW are. They all cost too much for most young people to buy. All the brands know this, are a little threatened by it and are doing something to try to deal with it, especially BMW.

Toyotas problem is that they have almost always chosen to build extremely reliable, but not very exciting cars. There are exceptions like the Supra (especially the TT which is still a living legend in California street racing circles), some Celicas, the MR2, but not many. All Toyota needs to fix their image problem is to build something like the WRX or Evo that young drivers can afford (or at least aspire to) and that is fun to drive. They certainly can do it if they want, but the corporate culture seems against it. The spin-off brand of off-beat inexpensive cars aimed at the young unemployed male is an interesting (goofy?) idea which I suspect will fail. Hope so. Then maybe they'll try the WRX halo-effect approach.

Reply to
GRL

Someone posted here asking for information about mid nineties ES's vs. e-classes, and your response is that your friend has a great old camry, and LS's are better than E-classes.... Did anybody ask?

Have you ever driven a '95 ES or an '87 e-class? That info would be on topic here.

Now you've changed topic and are comparing e-classes to LS's. I guess that's what you do when you realize you made a ridiculous argument. Change course in mid stream.You said that e-classes and camrys were comparabable in passenger space, which is true. You said that an older e-class wouldn't be any better than your friends old camry. Not true. In terms of performance, safety, handling and ride, the cars are incomparable. Come on, admit it...its ok.

Take your rant somewhere else.....

You seem to be very concerned about snob appeal- must be some sort of inferiority complex. I've had three Benzes, and they've all been amazing cars, granted none newer than a 1986. I will continue to drive them until they fail me. They haven't yet. You seem to have a problem with that- where does snob appeal fit into my reasoning?

Reply to
Chris O'Malley

Mercedes Benz is considered an old persons brand in Europe. Indeed, when I first took my crappy car back for creaking from windscreen, dashboard, and door pillars the salesman who sold me my car said "most of our customers are so old they don't notice faults like that"!!!!!

Reply to
Ric

I never said that BMW or MB weren't old people brands, but BMW is marketing their brand (especially the 3 series here) to younger people (older then I but younger then say people in their late 30's). And while people may not like it, those 2 brands are here to stay. They're now cultural icons about the American life. And for every brand that our family has had none has been perfect, there were cars that were better then others some that were worse. I've had the pleasure of being able to drive a Consumers Digest Best Buy car for a few years, a new Buick LeSabre. The first time it rained one windshield wiper wouldn't work. Later the intake manifold broke. I'm not saying that people shouldn't believe them, but would you take advice from a stranger about how to spend your money ? All in all, if I buy a car I'll go with ones that I want, not what others say to get. I also agree that Toyotas are extremely reliable, my neighbor has a 96 Camry and nothing's gone wrong while I have another neighbor that has a Lexus LS200 (or something like that) and he has over 250,000 miles without any major problems. Like this quote says best "Jim Press the chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA, points out that "people don't want to buy the products their parents drive."".

Reply to
Phillip Schmid

I highly doubt that the salesman would say that, especially since it means less possible income for the salesman.

Reply to
Phillip Schmid

His words exactly. The dealer was Bölle Autohaus in Konstanz. I'll give you the name of the dealer if you like and you can ring him.

Reply to
Ric

Funny you should say that. My family had a Buick Park ave somewhere around

1986.... ranked high in JD surveys. Needed a new front axle, tranny and i can't remember what else.... all before 50k. I drive whats good to methrough my experience, regardless of JD Power. I've had ridiculously reliable saabs that JD said were horrible too. Bottom line is, some people take their car to the dealer because a brake light bulb has burnt out, and they report that as a problem the same as if the head gasket went....
Reply to
Chris O'Malley

No thanks on the number, I think I'll pass. My family would get kind of mad if I called there from here in the US of A. I said I doubted it, never said it was impossible. Here at the dealership that I went to they were nothing but courteous with me even though I didn't have a car of my own and I looked like I couldn't afford a MB.

Reply to
Phillip Schmid

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