Reflections
Jim Luikens
 
The Bargain of a Lifetime
 
I have been reading with interest what classic Mercedes-Benz vehicle various contributors to The Star would buy if they had $15,000 to spend. That got me to thinking: What contemporary Mercedes-Benz would I buy if I had an extra $15K lying around and didn’t already have five modern Benzes?

To be fair, I must tell you that I thought I knew the answer before I began my research. However, we’ll have to see if the facts bear out my initial assumption.

 I learned to drive in a 1957 Chevrolet station wagon. Not only is the ’57 Chevy one of the iconic cars of all time, my family’s wagon was in the iconic 1957 Chevrolet colors of Sierra gold and adobe beige. As a result, I’ve been a wagon fan all my life. My first Mercedes-Benz wagon was a 1984 300 TD and I have owned many, many M-B wagons since then, including my current driver, the famous Hammer Hauler. In fact, I have always had at least one M-B wagon in my fleet, no matter what else I owned at the same time.

Because I have been driving M-B wagons for the last 30 years, it goes without saying that my choice would have to be another M-B wagon this time around. Although I’ve engaged my 4Matic only three times in the past seven years, I still want 4Matic on my new wagon – just to be safe.

 Searching Kelley Blue Book pricing at www.kbb.com, my May 23 surf revealed that a 2006 E350 4Matic wagon in excellent condition had an average value of $14,983 when purchased from a private party in the upper Midwest. Kelley Blue Book (KBB) takes into consideration weather conditions when establishing prices, so actual values may vary, depending on where you live. As they say, check local listings.

But, wow; $14,983. That certainly comes as close to $15K as you could ever hope. However, suppose I told you that another 3.5-liter, 4Matic-equipped 2006 Mercedes-Benz model in similar condition could be purchased for a whopping $2,997 less from a private party and that it was even more useful and spacious than the E350 wagon. A $3,000 savings – or 20 percent – is nothing to sneeze at in my book.

Like any bargain in any market, you have to think contrarian to uncover that kind of savings. In this case, I am talking about the beautiful but unloved – in America at least – R350 4Matic Sports Tourer. According to KBB once again, a 2006 R350 4Matic should go for approximately $11,986 from a private party – if it, too, were in excellent condition. The R-Class is popular in several markets, especially China, but virtually non-existent in the United States.  
I can’t explain why this vehicle never took off in this country. All R-Classes use the same 4Matic technology as other Mercedes-Benz models, and the venerable 3.5-liter V-6 is a competent and well-proven engine. R-Class materials are certainly equal to any other M-B model of that year.

Best of all, when Daimler updated the R-Class a few years ago, the company retained the R’s original body, merely changing the styling from the windshield forward. Thus, it takes a real R enthusiast to distinguish a 2006 from a 2013 model. Would you care to guess how many other Mercedes-Benz models – besides the iconic G-Wagen – use the same body today they used in 2006? In round figures, that number would be zero. And that’s about as round as you get.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I thought I knew the answer to the question and my research bore me out. The R-Class is the steal of the contemporary Mercedes line. Better yet, all R-Classes are made in America. While that fact is not as important as it once was, it still holds some value in a “Buy-American”  state such as Michigan.  

The R-Class line forms behind me.