Mercedes B-Class Electric vs Chevy Volt
Originally published on EV Obsession.
What’s more expensive, a Mercedes B-Class or a Chevy Volt? Should the two different models even be compared? And, for that matter, which vehicle is actually the “better” one (ignoring brand-name hype/status)? Interesting questions — ones which were brought up recently by a commentator on the GM-Volt discussion forum.
That forum user, “comanchepilot,” started the forum topic off with this comment:
Current lease deals are around $375 a month plus whatever tax you have [15,000 miles] and then $325 for 10,000 miles a year.
The Mercedes B class comes with Nav, leather, 15k miles, and is a Benz – for $29000 cap cost, resulting in some pretty cheap leases – for example – ours is $309 a month and that includes tax for 15,000 miles a year.
The math looks like:
Sticker: $48950
Invoice: $46600
Benz discount: $5000
Benz dealer cash: $2500
Fed Rebate: $7500
Calif rebate [used as a down pymt] $2500
Cap Cost $29100
Good luck finding a Volt for $29100 cap cost with 15000 miles a year. . . . zero down net out of pocket with the tax, title, reg, lease acquisition cost, etc, plus – its not a GM . . . .
if you are using the car for commutation. . . and drive the usual less than 50 miles day – you’ll never buy gas anyway with the B-class . . . .
A quick rebuttal to this comment came from “goaterguy,” who wrote:
Meh. I got my fully equipped Volt with Premium interior, Bose and Nav, and safety 1 and 2 for: (this was in June 2014, very likely there are better deals now)
Sticker: $38,950
GM discount: $1,000
GM private offer: $1,000
Dealer rebate: $5,000
Incentive from work: $1,800 (I know this doesn’t apply to everyone but neither does the Calif rebate)
Federal credit: $7,500
Capital Cost: $22,650 – value when ready to trade in (you don’t get that with the lease) let’s be conservative and say $13,000 after the same 3 year of your lease = $9,650. I will likely trade when the 8yr drivetrain warranty is over.
I can drive it all the miles I want including trips over 80 miles and the best part its not a MB… MB depreciation and cost of maintenance is brutal but you already pay for it in the lease.
Hmm…
Another interesting reply comment came “DonC,” further supporting the Volt:
The Volt should be more expensive. The MB is a very ordinary car with a very limited range. I know one person who has one. He’s fine with it but no one else has been tempted. My wife and I looked at it when getting our last car and it was a total “Meh” experience.
You seem to be overly influenced by the logo or the high sticker.
Speaking for myself here — based on my admittedly not extensive experience with either the Volt or any of Mercedes’ offerings, I’d have to say that I’d be more interested in the Volt, personally — based on what I’ve read about the two over the years.
Do any of our readers that drive either of these models have anything to add?
Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.