Keep or sell C 36.. advise please..

[Dan The AMG Man]

ifffff

[ConceptEuroMBZ]

I'd say #3. Of course you will be getting a faster car and something newer. Better than 1 because if your gonna pay, might as well upgrade:D ..2 isnt a good choice IMO, like you said, scary.. Esp since miles are starting to add up. I say get a C43, that would be awesome.

[briby]

#3!!!

[KWiK]

#2. and keep making monthly payments to a fix-it-fund

[CKlasse]

THREE!..there is one SILVER low mileage C43 on ebay rightnow :)

[TSR Racing]

#3............and give me your brakes, you don't need those things anymore :)

lates
TSR

[yvrbenz]

sell it!

to me!

for a dollar :D

[mrjones]

I'm in a similar situation, and I've now hung on to my '96 C280 for over a year without motorplan/warranty.
The car's not given me any nasty surprises and the 135000km service was barely R1000 (About $125).
Should you decide to keep your beautiful C36, just look after it well and it should keep going trouble-free.

If you do decide to sell it, the C43 gets my vote to. Your C36 is not a right-hand-drive by any chance? ;)

[J Irwan]

Dan,

Try Warranty Direct..

I paid $2000 for addtional 6 years or 100,000 miles ..

I bought these aftermarket warranty before my Original Warranty expired..

so far they never gave me any problem (last time I have Warranty Direct cover my new MAF)..


On the other hand C43 with V-8 sound so tempting :P

Regardz,

J Irwan

[Brabus]

Keep it since you've put so much into it already. But I would definitely add some type of warrenty...

[moedigga]

Get the C43 or keep your C36 and wing it without warranty. If you dont think a piston is gonna come through your hood i just dont think you need to drop g's on warranty. You wouldnt be drivin a benz if you really didnt have money to fix it would you?

[kodiak]

I have been rolling with option 2 for about two years now and it has worked out pretty well. I pay into a savings account every month and draw from it when needed. Don't for get that warranty only covers things when they break, so on your C36 the common problems, headgasket, diff seal will not be covered. Most warranties only cover gaskets if they have to be replaced as parts of another repair. This also means that when it comes time to replace the timing chain, etc they will most likely not cover it. So if you think you will get more than 2k out of them in the 15 months than go ahead, if not- save your money.

If you go with a warranty find a shop that will work with you and bleed the warranty over the period as much as you can. Fix every little thing. If the shop will play ball, and most will (it is money in their pocket) then you can get a lot of stuff done. But again you have to go over the 2k you shelled out. So on the short list:

Harness, Coils, Flex Disks, fuel senders, ball joints, A arm bushings - that should get you pretty close to 2k

And when you get closer to the end of the period, have the timing chain, valves and headgasket done, might as well swap in a fresh MAS while you are there (ask for the old one as well).

Not all of this will NEED to be done, but they will fail eventually so you might as well get it done.

Option 3 is probably the best if you can swing it, but that means taking on car payment again, as opposed to owning your car. Also consider that even an MB dealer will probably only give you about 13k for you car, so take that into consideration as well. I looked into the C43 upgrage a bit ago and was take back by the low ball trade in they were willing to give on my car. Perhaps it will be different for you, but the used car market is crap right now so be prepared.

~dnm

[kameraguy]

Depends on you. if you are bored of the C36, then any other car will be a new adventure.

If warranty is an issue, then get the extended warranty on the C36.

True, you can only extend the warranty so much, then you will have to "wing it".

MB are expensive to repair no doubt. But on the same token, if this car (C36) is truly a love, then it would be an obvious decision to keep it.

If it has no personal significance other than being a MB, then why not try a C43.

I just find it sad to get rid of a car because it doesn't have a warranty anymore. I would like to think MB were made to last a lot longer than a warranty period.

If you get rid of the C36 to get another car with warranty, what happens when that warranty runs out? Will you get another car? That would be an expensive path as well.

[run.exe]

#2

I've been rolling without a warranty for 2+ years. no problem.

These cars are built to last (well, my 500E is, I can say for a fact); just be prepared and conduct PM at regular intervals.

[redline]

hum... is your car the lemon?

[MidniteBluBenz]

VERY SCARY keeping it out of warantee. I just spent 4g's for a new tranny, and another 700 bucks for new upper A arms.


redline, i think you're talking about Rocky's car.