How much you need to earn to “afford” a Mercedes-Benz C-Class

If you want to drive around in a Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the cheapest model on offer is the C180 at R723,000.

This gets you a four-door luxury sedan that puts out 115kW and 250Nm.

Need more power? Mercedes-AMG has the solution, with its “entry-level” C-Class – the C43.

This packs a 3.0-litre, turbo-petrol engine which produces 287kW and 520NM. Naturally, it costs a bit more – with a starting price of R1.18 million.

The ultimate C-Class on offer in South Africa is then the C63 S Cabriolet, which retails for just over R2 million.

It features a 4.0-litre, turbo-petrol engine that packs 375kW and 700Nm – along with rear-wheel drive, an automatic transmission, and an attractive two-door design.

Buying a C-Class

To work out how much you need to earn to afford a Mercedes-Benz C-Class, we must first calculate how much it costs to buy the car using a vehicle finance plan.

The first model up is the C180, the most affordable C-Class, with a price of R723,360.

• Car Price – R723,360
• Payment Term – 60 terms (5 years)
• Interest – 9%
• Deposit – 10%
• Balloon – No balloon payment
• Extras – No optional extras

The result is a vehicle finance payment of R13,600 per month. Total interest paid over the agreement comes to R160,130.

Financial experts then recommend that you do not spend more than 20% of your gross monthly salary on vehicle payments.

Following this guideline results in a required monthly income of R68,000.

We can also run the same calculation for the top-end Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet – which retails for R2,027,040.

Monthly finance payments for this vehicle using the same parameters as above come to R37,900, with total interest paid back over five years coming to R448,100.

The required income to “afford” this car is then R189,500 per month.

It must be noted that these calculations do not include monthly insurance premiums and fuel costs.