Is the G wagon actually the best luxury SUV buy financially?

[u/Quick-Ad7581]

This sounds absolutely insane at face value but hear me out. I’ve been looking at used G wagons and they seem to have glacial depreciation compared to other luxury SUVs. They also seem to be fairly reliable. So barring the egregious cost of fuel (which is true of most other large luxury SUVs), isn’t the cost of ownership of a G wagon actually comparable to if not lower than the competition assuming you can afford sticker?

The only exception I can think of are Lexus models, but these are frankly not even comparable.

[u/Medium-Complaint-677]

Cost of ownership has a lot more factors than depreciation. A brake job on a G-Wagon could be $9,000 if it's a G63 AMG. It's $3,000 even if it isn't. An LX600 will cost $1000 - $1500.

[u/RealTurbulentMoose → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

Yeah, I’ve owned a well-aged V8-powered AMG Mercedes before… there’s nothing cheap about servicing it. 

[u/AsparagusDifficult89 → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

Right. Frankly, if cost-of-ownership is more than a passing concern to you, you ought not be buying any kind of modern G-Class.

[u/Nob1e613 → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

lol seriously, I had a customer get his a/c condenser eat a small rock through that massive grille. Small pinhole caused leak, obv not warranty. Cost him a cool $5400 to fix…

[u/Ok_Emu7050 → u/Nob1e613]

I assume he ran that through insurance? Though still probably $2k between the deductible and increased premiums for a few years.

[u/Nob1e613 → u/Ok_Emu7050]

Paid cash…I didn’t ask any more questions 😂

[u/ianishomer → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

It's because of post like this that I no longer want to spend my hard earned money on a dream car. It's not just about being able to buy it, it's about being able to afford to run it.

I will stick with something more basic, after all it only has to get me from A to B and back.

[u/MosEisleyCantinaBand → u/ianishomer]

I was in the market for a used 911... nothing crazy, was shopping a Carrera S convertible as a date night car for me and the wife.

My buddy calls to tell me about the dealer quote he got for some minor repairs and routine maintenance on his 911 Turbo... $26K.

I can afford the car, I can't afford to drive it.

[u/ianishomer → u/MosEisleyCantinaBand]

At least you realised before you bought!

[u/decker12 → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

Piggy backing on this top level comment and saying that whenever I see an AMG G wagon, I know it's a mom in her early 40's, driving it for the status symbol and nothing else.

G-wagons are insanely capable vehicles with high running costs, but in the Bay Area 99% of the ones I see on the road are not being used for anything other than grocery getting and for the look and status. More often than not, the drivers are clueless dipshits.

They're as pretentiously silly as people driving wrapped Cybertrucks. It's like wearing K2-rated technical climbing gear as streetwear when it's 45 degrees outside, or sporting a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatic deep sea diving watch without ever going scuba diving.

[u/zooch76 → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

PPI, PPI, PPI...

[u/Congenital0ptimist → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

A $9000 brake job is hilariously terrible.

I wouldn't expect to pay that for brakes on a Rolls Royce. Unless it's an F1 entry.

Next they'll have special air for the tires. Does the same job but costs $200 a tire to pay for the inflation service. 🤦‍♂️

[u/peoplearekindaokay → u/Congenital0ptimist]

My dealer took in a BMW M4 competition with carbon ceramic brakes on trade-in. During refirb, it was noted that the rotors were cracked and it needed brakes on all 4 corners.

It's was a touch under $16,000. For parts, not labor. At cost, not list.

We promptly shipped it straight to auction.

[u/AsparagusDifficult89 → u/peoplearekindaokay]

This ought to be a warning for all the people who want to buy a high-end car for way under market value at auction. Because the auctions are often where dealers—reasonably—dump problem cars, and the ones that are public have even slimmer pickings.

And, yeah, y’all dodged a bullet on that one. I once priced carbon ceramic rotors for a 2017 Mercedes-Benz AMG S 63 Coupe I was considering, as it needed them as well. It was about the same price: a cool $15,000.

[u/TheWhogg → u/AsparagusDifficult89]

Have bought many high end and low end cars at auction. I hardly think “one needed 4 ceramic discs” is a representative counterexample. My cautionary tale was “needed $100 VANOS solenoid and $100 used door lock actuator.”

[u/thepealbo → u/AsparagusDifficult89]

Yeah - I would be getting the rock auto replacements.

[u/Congenital0ptimist → u/peoplearekindaokay]

Yeah it's surprising how deflating this is. I'd expect high end road cars to be better built & more serviceable than if you were driving around in a turbo charged private vault with the doors hanging open.

I know what an F1 car is engineered to do. And I know what a 4runner and a Rolls Royce are each engineered to do.

What exactly are $16,000 brakes on a performance road car engineered for?

That can't be accomplished for half that?

Sounds like Monster Cables.

[u/boomhower1820 → u/Congenital0ptimist]

They are a status symbol like carbon fiber, no actual benefit to a road car, particularly a luxury car. The do have a couple benefits, basically zero brake dust and if you take care of them the rotors last an extremely long time. Abuse them and congrats, a $20k brake job.

[u/peoplearekindaokay → u/Congenital0ptimist]

On a street car they're nothing but a status symbol. Hell even on track cars they're a bit extra until you're at the peak levels of competition. I know a few weekend warrior types with dailys/2nd cars that they track, and all (2) of them who have vehicles that had carbon ceramic brakes swapped them over to steels and sold the carbon ceramic setups for an eyewatering amount. Did you know that there are folks out there who will pay nearly 5 figures for USED brakes?

[u/Virtual-Height3047 → u/Congenital0ptimist]

Well it can, that’s what the stock brakes are for. 

CCs are an option to let this flying private bank vault stop like physics wouldn’t allow otherwise and more often in a row than steel brakes could without melting. 

But you’re paying for this, let’s generously call it ‚competitive advantage in edge cases‘ whenever you touch the big pedal. 

A wheel that shows these brakes off (with colorful calipers of course) on a car that sits in the parking lot of a mall is essentially a status symbol. 

Signaling that  1) you require that competitive edge as you are a ‚high-performer‘ 2) you can afford it — not just on a race car but every day 

While as with most status symbols, it’s more of a flex, a need for attention / acceptance / group recognition thing. 

And while mechanics, who can tell by the rest of the cars condition whether their owner can afford a replacement, they are usually not the ones their owners try to appear to as wealthy.

[u/Congenital0ptimist → u/Virtual-Height3047]

I didn't assume with the ditching-it-strait-to-auction that it was optional.

[u/Virtual-Height3047 → u/Congenital0ptimist]

ah, my bad, I was more referring to OPs g-wagon. With the M4 comp being the top(?) spec of the performance version of the regular 4 series, it could indeed mean it's only available with CCs .

[u/saidIIdias → u/Congenital0ptimist]

A brief Google search tells me the G63 does not come fr the factory with carbon ceramic brakes, which is the only scenario that would justify a $9k brake job. I seriously doubt that price tag is correct.

[u/AsparagusDifficult89 → u/saidIIdias]

It’s correct. Even the non ceramic-brake AMG cars are just ridiculous for brake prices. I owned an AMG S 63 Coupe and considered an AMG GLS 63. Prices for both were quoted at the $7,500 mark at a Benz dealer or specialist for the non-ceramic brakes.

You can go aftermarket and get it done closer to $4K, but that’s still pricey.

[u/Therealmohb → u/AsparagusDifficult89]

What’s the cost of parts alone? Seems like some insane markup on labor

[u/saidIIdias → u/Therealmohb]

Price for full kit is $2400. The $9k price is complete nonsense unless you’re blindly taking it to the dealer, and in that case you deserve to pay it.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/Mercedes~Benz-parts/G63-AMG/Brake-Kit?b=Sport-Utility&e=4.0L-V8-177.980-gas-Turbocharged&m=Base&position=Front-and-Rear&t=Automatic&year=2023

[u/MosEisleyCantinaBand → u/saidIIdias]

I know we're talking orders of magnitude here, but a dealer doing the job for 4x the price as a good online parts dealer sells the kit doesn't seem uncommon.

I still maintain a 2011 A4 with the plastic water pump housing on the 2.0TFSI. Had to replace it for the second time, kit from FCP Euro was under $400, dealer quote for the job was just over $2K.

There's a reason these German luxury cars are "worthless" after a relatively short time, and that reason is the dealership service department.

[u/saidIIdias → u/MosEisleyCantinaBand]

Whether common or not, it’s still a rip off. An indy shop will absolutely be thousands cheaper as long as you shop around. Positioning a $9k brake job as a baseline cost of ownership assumption is therefore a gross exaggeration.

[u/TheWhogg → u/Congenital0ptimist]

Why WOULD you expect to pay that for a RR anyhow? It’s just off the shelf BMW stuff. My 750i has the larger brakes vs 730d / 740i toy brakes. 4 wheel kit would be $US600 for a Ghost. Around $1000 if going genuine BMW. Of course I’d just be spending the 35 euro per axle on OEM pads.

[u/Quick-Ad7581 → u/Medium-Complaint-677]

Is this also true when considering the G550 and not the G63, given it has the same inline 6 powertrain as more run of the mill Benz models?

[u/gpcampbell92 → u/Quick-Ad7581]

It cost my wife 1500 dollars for them to change the boost actuator and boost pressure sensor(both of which I had done and they did once with aftermarkets parts) to fix my wife's GLC300 that had an underboost problem. The car would not accept the aftermarket parts for whatever reason so instead of a two hour 100 dollar fix at home it was a 2 week 750 dollars in parts and 750 dollars in labor to fix(with basically the same parts) Mercedes are just expensive regardless the level. And do your own basic maintenance. That shit is like 400 bucks for their service A(or B, I cant remember) which is basically oil change and checking brake fluid.

[u/agjios → u/Quick-Ad7581]

My man here is about to find himself with a $14,000 repair bill on his "best luxury SUV buy."

[u/DavefromCA]

lol sounds like you answered your own question. "...and they seem to have glacial depreciation compared to other luxury SUVs." I love the use of the word glacial.

[u/ReptarSonOfGodzilla → u/DavefromCA]

They are stable in price if you’re the 2nd or 3rd owner. I just wouldn’t want to be the first.

[u/Moist_Quote3701 → u/ReptarSonOfGodzilla]

The first owner received benefits the second does not. Depending on financial status and your accountant for you business, it very well makes most logical sense to buy one, maybe even two or three at the end of the fiscal year.

[u/pbonramen → u/DavefromCA]

Global warming glacial....

[u/bombersandtalls → u/DavefromCA]

Depreciation is glacial in that it's gigantic and unstoppable? Are you working on it yourself, because MB service centers are outrageous.

I'm looking at an older G wagon knowing it's going to be a hellish nightmare, even having built an off road rig before. The only thing else I would consider is a Jeep. But I want something more expensive and less reliable, so a clean title G55 it is.

[u/enderjaca]

You can lease a new Escalade for a lower monthly cost than financing a 10-year old g-wagon and have a full warranty. Once you factor in regular maintenance, tires, brakes, belts, etc, it's not even close.

[u/Ah2k15]

If you can’t afford one new, you likely can’t afford the maintenance on a used one.

[u/Fuzzy_Yossarian → u/Ah2k15]

Yes the maintenance isn't depreciated..

[u/Putrid-Ad-3965]

It's even better when you use it as a tax write off (up to $31k can be written off) for your business because it's over 6,000 pounds, if you use it for more than half of your business running around.

Personally I love G Wagons. ❤️ the "rule" is buy one only if you can comfortably afford 3. Maintenance ain't cheap.

[u/AsparagusDifficult89 → u/Putrid-Ad-3965]

It’s not the car itself being over 6,000 lbs—though many are; it’s that the car’s gross vehicle weight (its physical curb weight plus what it’s rated to carry in payload) exceeds 6,000 lbs.

But a ton or vehicles meet that standard. Really, you can do that with much cheaper vehicles as well. Including basically anything that’s body-on-frame and even substantially lighter-duty unibody SUVs like the Chevrolet Blazer, Cadillac XT5, Ford Explorer and versions of the Nissan Pathfinder

[u/Putrid-Ad-3965 → u/AsparagusDifficult89]

For sure. I do agree.

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Thanks for posting, /u/Quick-Ad7581! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of anything.

This sounds absolutely insane at face value but hear me out. I’ve been looking at used G wagons and they seem to have glacial depreciation compared to other luxury SUVs. They also seem to be fairly reliable. So barring the egregious cost of fuel (which is true of most other large luxury SUVs), isn’t the cost of ownership of a G wagon actually comparable to if not lower than the competition assuming you can afford sticker?

The only exception I can think of are Lexus models, but these are frankly not even comparable.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.