Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Doug – Thanks for the info on depreciation. It definitely helps us make our decision based on as many factors as possible. As for owning the car outside of warranty, we had a similar eye-opening experience when, in 2001 and with 11k miles on the odometer, the engine of our 2000 E55 blew up 18 miles outside of Elko NV (it swallowed a valve, destroyed a piston, and trashed the block). The car had to be towed 200+ miles to Salt Lake City. When we returned a few weeks later to pick the car up, the service rep said it was a good thing that the engine was under warranty, for a new engine costs $40k – about half the cost of the car at the time. As for the parts thing, I know that the days of taking things apart, replacing a broken part, and putting the assembly back together again, seem to be long gone. My question about parts availability was for my own purpose. I have always done much of my own out-of-warranty work. I have a well-equipped garage (including both four-post and two-post lifts), so I can compensate for much of the cost of out-of-warranty repairs. I even hope to get into coding someday (one of my former jobs was as a computer programmer, and I still build my own PC’s from basic components).
As for dealer servicing, my wife and I were in Southern California earlier this week, and we decided to spend a couple days to see if any good deals could be had on either a B6 or a CLS63. We stopped in at a dealership that had an Alpina Blue B6 (with red sycamore trim) on the showroom floor, and my first stop was to the service department. I asked the question I posted previously to one of the service writers, and he said that whether a dealer services an Alpina is up to the service department’s discretion. Then two of the service writers spontaneously called the service departments of the two dealers nearest to me (one is 1.5 hours away, and the other is 4+ hours away). Both dealers said that they would service an Alpina. The closest dealer definitely would service a B6 because apparently the General Manager of the dealership owns one. So I guess that answers that question as far as it goes, although the actual competency of the mechanic, as in any dealership, would remain to be seen.
We then went over to see the blue B6 in the showroom and quickly noticed the sticker quoting a $20k added dealer markup. I always ignore those things, so we simply offered the TrueCar target price for the vehicle as equipped ($10K off of MSRP). The “deal” the salesman offered was MSRP and not a penny below, so that made for a quick exit on our behalf.
We did find another dealer (McKenna) who, after an hour of the usual high-pressure, time-wasting BS, finally agreed to $10K off MSRP. By that time it was 8:30 PM, so we told the salesman we would be back the next day to discuss the trade-in value of our CLS55. He said the deal was available for that night only, which guaranteed our prompt exit. I live by the maxim of never doing a deal you are not willing to walk away from, and I mean it. In reality, the trade-in value of the CLS55 was a non-issue because we had already gotten an appraisal from Carmax (as we always do when purchasing a new car), and we simply sell it to them if we can’t agree on a trade-in value at the dealership. So basically McKenna blew a guaranteed $120k sale because of an unsavory salesman. For more info on what went down there, see the one-star rating we gave them on Yelp.
The next day we visited another dealer who had three B6’s in inventory (none of which would do it for us) and offered them $5K off of a 2016 B6 when they begin production circa 3/15 (and assuming they can get an early production slot). Without hesitation, a 2016 was ours if we wanted it. If we get it, we’ll probably option the car identical to the blue one we saw previously.
So we can’t get an end-of-model-year blue 2015 B6 that is sitting on the dealer’s floor for less than MSRP, but we can custom-order a blue 2016 B6 for 5K off and have a car that includes the 6-series LCI (insofar as it applies to the B6 line). We’re willing to wait.
Although somewhat off-topic, we didn’t fare much better with the Mercedes dealers, even with cars that were acceptable candidates. The experience varied from very courteous and professional (MB of Beverly Hills) to lose-the-sale-before-you-even-discuss-price (Fletcher-Jones). Just for the hell of it, we stopped in at MB of Sacramento on our way home and offered them $5K off of a newly-ordered CLS63 (better than the TrueCar estimate, and in line with the average price paid). The offer was accepted without haggle, even without a commitment from us, and they proved to me that they had a 2/15 production slot. Isn’t car buying fun? We don’t care if we don’t pay the lowest price, but we definitely prefer not to pay the highest price if we don’t have to.
Mr. Nguyen – thank you very much for your input. How is tire noise compared to your previous M6? Have you driven over any grooved pavement? In my M6GC the tire noise is somewhat loud on grooved pavement, maybe a little more than our CLS55, but acceptable. Nowhere nearly as bad as it was in the ’06 Z06 that I owned for 11 months (I just couldn’t take it anymore, even with Dynamat and ditching the run-flats for decent Michelins).
Mrainv23 – I saw an i8 at the BMW dealer in Scottsdale, AZ during a recent trip there. Wow. Just Wow. Looking forward to the pics when you get your ride!
I would get it in a heartbeat. Problem is, the new car is mostly for my wife, and it is just a little too wild for her tastes.
Trez – I know the RS7 won C&D’s comparo with the CLS63 and M6GC, but we don’t have an Audi dealer near us. We would have to drive about 5 hours to get it serviced, alas.
So at least we have two acceptable options. Now we have to decide which car we want.