Well I have had my 2004 E60 for 33 months of a 39 month lease and it is time to bid it farewell.

Anyone who has read my posts will know I live in Canada, had to have my engine changed after 17 days of getting my car. Notwithstanding this, I have truly enjoyed this car and am a bit sad to see it go.

I have been thinking about what my new car will be for some months now and the thought of getting basically the same car when my lease comes up in May has just not been doing it for me. While I know that the 2008 550 does incorporates some changes over my 2004 545I, the price of the 550 is just so out of line here in Canada that I would have had to go down to the 535 to keep my payments comparable.

Anyways, one day a couple of weeks ago an incredible deal on a 2006 U.S. Mercedes E500 4matic got dropped in my lap and after angonizing about it for some days, I decided to take the plunge and import it from the USA. The deal was just to good to pass up and I am figuring that this car will tide me through until the completly new E60 comes out in 2010. Given what I am paying for the Benz, I figure that I could dump it at anytime if I get sick of it.

Even after paying the Canadian Duty and the complete rip off charge that Mercedes Benz Canada is making me pay to convert this car to Canadian standards ( $5,000.00 ) the car still lands me $20,000.00 less than the Identical 2006 E500 4matics that are being sold here in Canada by MB dealers.

I am not going to compare the two cars because after driving the MB I clearly see that these two cars cannot be compared, they drive completly different.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in this forum, you are all a bunch of great people, although I do not have thousands of posts, I have made it my business to check new posts on a daily basis almost every morning .

You people were there for me when I was first thinking about getting an E60, you patiently answered each and every question that I had, you lived with me through the deffective engine problem that I had, always lending support, and continued to be there through my whole ownership experience, for this I thank everyone, this is a great forum with lots of great people contributing to it.

Let's just say I am taking a sabatical, I need a change for awhile but I will be back some time in 2010, 2009 if the new car comes out earlier, that is for sure. I will probably keep checking in here from time to time to see how everyone is doing.

A buddy of mine who has a new M roadster, will be caring for my 545 for the winter until he can get back behind the wheel of his car so it will get used until the lease is up

Take care everyone

 

Good luck gabman and the all the best,

Hope you enjoy your M-B.

In some countries the car business is just so, that one has to be smart.

Hope to see you on the F10 Forum.

 

all the best gab !

 

Wow nice friend! I wish I had a bud who wanted me to finish off his lease of an awesome car!

Hey man the MB E5er is all class and a bunch more too boot. From my past experience I find MBs like a nice stroll in the park on a perfect cloudless sunny day-its a perfect cruiser. Looks super classy, turns lots of heads, has lots of good gadgets, plenty of get up and go and you jsut want to cruise. Plus it has a great safety record to boot.

I think of the bimmer-or atleast me and my bimmer as an actual relationship. I miss my car when I am gone and think about it. WHen I get in to drive I love pushing it to the max. I drive just to drive with nowhere to go. Not always the most power or anything but the feel of pushing a bimmer and watching it respond so easily to everything you throw at it is just awesome.

In the benzes I have driven I cant say I had that feeling-however I didnt drive the new C63amg or any of the high line amg cars so my opinion is skewed

Good luck bud-I am a fellow canadian as well-planted in the USA at age 16 but you gotta love america and the prices. I remember bmws were seemingly reserved for very wealthy people because they are so damn expensive there-here you can walk out with a lease deal that is similar to almost any other car-so I am glad you are getting to enjoy your pick of car in that crazy ass expensive place!!!

 

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

 

The 535i you would "downgrade" to would run rings around the E500 (and your 545)...but good luck with the new wheels.

 

Looks like it was a good run...keep us updated on the MB. Hope to see you back soon,

 

Enjoy your new ride gabman -- hope you find us down the road (pun intended) sometime in the future when you come back over to the BMW side again...

Don't forget, you can still pop in here from time to time and check up on things -- there is at least one other M-B E class owners here who posts as often as he did when he still had the E60!

Take care and have fun!

 

BMW can be irritating with their pricing....caused me to switch to MB also in prior cars also.
The problem is that as nice as MB's are, Their performance/handling etc is just ok, IMHO.
As you say, you'll be back. In the meantime good luck with your new ride.

 

So long and have fun with the MB.