As I mentioned in another post, I'm a MB customer for quite awhile, looking to avoid having another MB in my driveway. I'm impressed by the improvements to Audi interiors, and the motor in the SQ5 seems superior to me to the new tiny GLA45.


I absolutely cannot fathom the pricing of these cars as CPO's. One year old, with 10-15k mi on them they are selling for almost their invoice price!

Are people getting any movement on pricing of these new, or is sticker minus 2-3% about all you can hope for?

 

This won't help, but there's no dickering room up here in Calgary, CAN. Not from what I experienced. I haven't seen any SQ5's on the used car lots yet, but they will probably hold their value strongly since they basically kick ***. If and when you get one, I'm sure you'll agree.

 

Rare car, high demand. Just like you pay a premium on the S4, you will on this vehicle too. S4, S3, Q5, SQ5 are your top holders

 

NOT a race car, it is in high demand because production numbers are only 10% of q5 production. It's a small hauler with some sack...but you can't hang with a sports car, so you're kind of in no-man's land.It's the best and worst of both worlds. If ya gotta drive an SUV it's very seductive.
I was IN a blue SQ5, I asked the dealer to take a deposit to hold it for the weekend and he refused, over the weekend he raised the price $1k...then offered me the "discount" of his friday asking price! such a guy!

I got tired of chasing this vehicle and bought a CPO MB ML550. More HP, more volume, and an interior that's incredibly plush. Fully loaded this CPO was $8k less than the Audi CPO(plus I would have to add another $2k for winter wheels). Not an apples for apples substitution, but when I looked at my list of what I wanted in an SUV, carving twisties was not on the list, and that suspension seemed to be the only Plus in the audi column.
My wife is already talking about abandoning her E class and stealing the ML(she likes the ride height), in which case I'd be back in the market for an S6 or S7(much better looking than the Panamera!).

 

LOL yeah well you've discovered what Audi does with pretty much all their models. Unlike other companies that just pump car after car out of the plant and then end up with too many every year, Audi is actually relatively tight with production numbers along with allocation, especially to places like Canada. So while BMW and MB dealers all have more cars than they know what to do with, Audi dealers are typically "sold out" of models for a given model year (other than highest volume units like A4) about halfway to 3/4 way through the calendar year. Why make more cars and worry about getting rid of them each year when you can instead make not enough cars and have people clamouring over them and paying premium prices because they are "rare"?

You combine that with a specialty model like an SQ5, the numbers get even smaller. Then the dealers get to claim these cars are "rare" and "special" and demand high prices for them even on the used market

It's not really surprising you found an ML550 for cheaper, given Audi's gouging and fake "scarcity" they pretty much engineer on their own.

In other words unless you buy one of these cars new, good luck with getting one at a decent price for a few years. Furthermore even if you do buy one new, unless you drive a really hard bargain or have a good relationship (or are friends with) someone higher up at a dealership, you're still gonna get gouged lol.

Hopefully you'll have better luck with an S6/S7 but don't get your hopes up as you/your wife may find yourself sitting back in another MB :P

 

Typically I only buy CPO's or used unless it's a drastic model redesign year or a new model. Something my father beat into me, never eat that year one depreciation unless you intend to keep a car for a long time. the ML with basically the same mileage as the q5's I'm looking at, was $25k off it's MSRP(which says a lot about MB's MSRP's). MB also does an absolute shitload of leases on C, E and M classes. Since I only intend to keep it for a year, that depreciation curve flattens out considerably.

The problem with the SQ5 is, they're new, and Audi is offering this absolutely insane CPO program, that adds easily $3-4k to the cost, but is immediately devalued when you drive it off the lot. So buy an SQ5 for $58 today, trade it in tomorrow and you're looking at $48k. I admit, it made the car much more attractive(the warranty) but I honestly don't think I'd own it very long.
My ML is on a truck somewhere, I haven't even taken delivery but I'm already shopping again...my wife is picking out curtains for it, so I'm destined for her E Class. My audi dealer has a cherry RS/6 for under $70k.