Should I buy a second hand Mercedes C300h / C300dh

[RicoBanderez]

Good morning fellow Pistonheads, I'm new here

I need some help and advice please ...

I’m planning to change my family car next September and I was originally thinking of a Skoda Superb Estate 2015 with 80-90k on the clock with a budget of £10k plus whatever value is left if my current car.
Current Drive : 2007 Seat Altea XL. I drive 11k a year in this every year and it’s coming to the end of it’s life.
My Basic Requirements Being : Estate, 2.0L Diesel, 4WD via Haldex preferred, 80-100k on the clock, Comfortable for long journeys so best trim possible for the money

BUT … I’m having a change of heart and am considering a second hand Hybrid.

I’ve been checking AutoTrader and the options that interest me are Lexus RX400/450h OR Mercedes C300h / C300dh. Yes the Prius and some other options are there but they neither have the space that I’m looking for and … well I just don’t want to drive them (sorry not sorry). This is my family car that I use for long journeys and I want to be comfortable.

I’m more nervous about the big Lexus because they are typically 10 years old. The Merc’s on the other hand are typically 5 years old with about 125k on the clock (+/- 7k)

So … should I buy a Merc Hybrid instead?

Long term plan with any new car is to keep it for 7 years and then sell towards the next but what makes me really nervous is spending £10k on a hybrid knowing that when I’m done with it, it’ll be 12 years old, the battery will be dead as a doornail and it won’t be worth a single penny. Even if I target 5 years it’ll still be 10 years old and how much life will be left in the battery? I'd image the Skoda should still have some value left in it being as I take good care of my cars ... but then again in 5-7 years will a 2.0L diesel have gone totally fashion?

I feel like the move into Hybrid / EV is happening whether we like it or now so the sooner I get involved, the quicker I can adapt. I really don’t have the money to buy new whichever way you look at it ( I just plain don’t have the money) but second hand is opening up to me.

So, what’s the risk / rewards of Skoda Superb Estate vs. Mercedes C300h/dh knowing that I’ll be owning for 5-7 years and buying a car that’s already 5 years old?
How different are servicing costs going to be?
How different are wear items costs going to be? (brake pads / discs / bushes etc.)

In my situation…. What would you guys do any why ?

Thanks all

[HocusPocus]

MB battery replacement is reputedly 6-9k and risk of borkage after 8 years is high (given regularity of me replacing Lithium phone and laptop batteries). So I have avoided hybrids as long term used. Battery failure could render many of these cars as beyond economic repair....which does not seem very green.

For long term used car ownership, I would stick to ICE vehicles until battery tech is more reliable or the price of a replacement battery pack drops into 3 digits.

[off_again]

HocusPocus said:

MB battery replacement is reputedly 6-9k and risk of borkage after 8 years is high (given regularity of me replacing Lithium phone and laptop batteries). So I have avoided hybrids as long term used. Battery failure could render many of these cars as beyond economic repair....which does not seem very green.

For long term used car ownership, I would stick to ICE vehicles until battery tech is more reliable or the price of a replacement battery pack drops into 3 digits.

Concern is fair and to be expected, but I would check what the warranty is on the battery. We have an i3 and that has a 100,000 mile battery warranty and then it drops down as you go over that. And as more of a model are sold, more get crashed and spare parts are available. Prius, Leaf and other battery packs are readily available and actually pretty cheap now. Ok, so the volumes are much higher and hence availability high, but all of the leading manufacturers use common modules and there are a bunch of specialists cropping up who can replace with refurb'ed batteries now.

And if you are daft enough to go to MB for the battery pack, yeah its going to be stupidly expensive. Just looking online and you can get a full battery pack for an i3 for $4k and hybrid batteries for Merc and BMW seem to be between $1k and $4k, depending on model. But thats full replacement and there are even companies who will recondition your battery pack, replacing cells that are not working etc. This is usually less than $1k.

But a balance between cost savings and risk does need to be reached. Makes little sense if the potential repair cost is high and the savings in fuel minimal - at which it makes sense to just get something cheap and simple. But of course, there could be a tax advantage too!

[matt3001]

Have to assume in 5 years time there will be alot of indy's that are able to do this at a fraction of the cost today and with the latest cells.

[HocusPocus]

Maybe. However OP intends to drive car beyond the manufacturer battery warranty time/mileage. So he needs to factor in the car will be undriveable if or when the battery unit borks. That could be a similar bill but at higher risk than a modern ICE engine/gearbox being replaced. Until battery repair/replacement costs reduce, or reliability improves, then I am sticking to ICE for used purchases.