As you may have read a few days ago, I compared the BMW 328i to the Camry XLE, and found under certain circumstances I could actually drive a BMW for less money than Toyota. This time I will compare two more cars and hopefully show that you can actually drive a Premium Car for around the same price as an economy car.
This time I scanned the Web and found I can score a base C230 Sport for just $309.00 a month on a 27 month lease, now that is pretty darn cheap especially for a Mercedes Benz. This time I left Toyota out of the mix, and selected another proven value victim, the venerable Honda Accord EX-L.
Can I have a Mercedes Benz for less than a garden variety Accord?
Again a lofty target, but it was worth a shot. To make the challenge interesting I purposely chose a non hybrid model because it would unfairly stack the deck against the Accord. An Accord EX-L V6 appeared to be the closest match for the Mercedes C-230 and the lease was adjusted to the 27 month interval with a payment of $353.82.
One important note for all of the skeptics out there is that the annual mileage of the Accord can not be adjusted online from the 12,000 miles a year to match the 10,000 miles a year of the Mercedes plan. With that out of the way; there are the other factors to consider.
So out came my trusty pen and this is what I found taking a 27 month lease with $2,750 down:
Round 1: MSRP – Honda
$27,995 Accord EX-L V6
$30,425 C 230 Sport
Round 2: Fuel Cost- Honda
$2755* over 27 months with regular gas @ $3.00 a gallon avg. 24.5 mpg – Accord EX-L
$3580 over 27 months with premium gas @ $3.50 a gallon avg. 22 mpg – C 230 Sport
* Miles limited to 10,000 a year for comparison purposes. If you use the full mileage then add $606 for additional fuel.
Round 3: Insurance – Mercedes Benz
$4039 over 27 months – C 230 Sport
$4455 over 27 months – Accord EX-L V6
I checked this figure twice and found in Texas the Mercedes is cheaper to insure than the Accord.
Round 4: Maintenance - Honda
$ 1815 Over 27 months – Accord EX-L V6
$ 2367 Over 27 months – C 230 Sport
Round 5: Repairs – Mercedes Benz
$ 0 – C230
$ 140 – Over 3 years Accord EX-L V6
Round 6: Total Expenditure over 27 Months – Mercedes Benz
$21,078.55 (payments + maintenance + repairs + insurance) C 230
$21,468.24 (payments + maintenance + repairs + insurance) Accord EX-L V6
While the Accord apparently just misses the mark ($390 over 27 months), it is only because the driver did not use the additional mileage available on the lease. However there would be additional fuel consider if he did maximize the mileage.
As with my BMW vs. Camry scenario the Accord proves only to be slightly more reliable than the C 230 Sport with the rankings for Honda averaging 1.90 issues per vehicle while Mercedes came in with a 2.42 issue rate in the latest JD Power rankings. So in the worse case the Mercedes owner may visit the dealer 1 more time over the 27 month span, if that.
So in conclusion if you drive a limited number of miles (in this case 10,000 a year) you can actually drive a Mercedes for less than an Accord. At least for a short term lease the results are practically the same.
Sources:
Lease payments: www.mercedesbenz.com and www.honda.com
Round 1: MSRP: www www.mercedesbenz.com and www.honda.com
Round 2: Fuel cost calculated using EPA estimates
Round 3: Yahoo automobiles
Round 4: Yahoo automobiles
Round 5: Yahoo automobile
Round 6: Totals of round 1 through 6 plus monthly lease payment times 27 months