I really thought the 45 would be my next car, unfortunately the pricing guide is beginning to make me think twice. To start, MANY of the options should be standard on a $48,000 car in 2013. I won't even go over how ridiculous it is that the are charging $2200 for the Prem. 1 pkg. for features (dimming mirrors, dual climate, etc.) that I can readily get standard on a mid-trim Nissan, Hyundai or Ford... So screw you MB for that but w/e I'll begrudgingly pay it.
Then as I scroll down the sheet I see they want 3750 for the Recaro seats and have not even announced the price for the "RED CUT" version which I am sure will be more expensive. And lets just say that if the stock seats were my only option I would NEVER buy this car, so basically I'm stuck paying 4K for SEATS on an AMG! But Wait! Theres more... The Carbon Fiber exterior trim that I originally thought would look so great didn't look so great for $3700. The saving grace was the Night Styling pkg. Which I thought would also look great, especially on a white car, and for $750 its a bargain. But of course there has to be some downside, which I discovered when I saw the red lettering informing me that a car with the night styling pkg. would be delayed until Jan. 2014.... GRRRRR!
Once I recovered from my initial annoyance, I decided to price out the car with the options I want (I was planning on getting one fully loaded). For the month or so as I have been researching this car and what not, I expected the car to top out with every single option for around 60K or below. I thought that was expensive seeing as thats around 12K in options in a car that already costs 48K and is an AMG (supposedly the highest level trim with the most features and options, right?). But of course I was once again disappointed. When I optioned out the car fully loaded, it cost $69,770!!! Are you serious MB??? So instead I priced out the car only adding the essential things that I had to have, which ended up being a lot of things, bringing the price to just over 60K. And thats when I realized that I actually really dislike the standard CLA 45 AMG and the car only becomes cool and desirable with 10-20K in options. This makes me sad :**(
When I had finished reading the order guide I finally came to terms with the fact that there would be no option for Keyless go, as many people had said on the forums, that was the final straw that forced me to write this ranting post. A 70K car and it wouldn't even have Keyless go pshhh. Overall I would have to say I am just sad at this point and have no clue what car to get. I HATE the new 3-series/4-series and although I love my 11 Audi S4, I want a change from the Audi styling. Mercedes you almost had my 60k in your pocket but now I'm not so sure.
