300TD Buying advice

[k langdon]

I'm going to look at a W124 300TD tomorrow morning which on the surface looks a very good buy.

Can anyone give me some tips as to what I should be looking for.

It's a K reg with 143,000 on the clock with service history - MB up to 90k - independent thereafter. It's got 7 seats, alloys, walnut, air con and of course it's an auto

The guy's emigrating and looking for a quick sale.

I need feed back pretty quick - if anyone could help I'd be very grateful.

 

[andy_k]

search the forums for guides on buying estates, I've said it before aside from all the normal things you look at when buying a car the only area you need to be extremely careful with is the back suspension - if it's leaking or not working properly things can get expensive to put right.

At 143,000 if not already replaced the suspension spheres will be on their last legs so budget for replacing those in the not too distant future (doing it yourself will cost less than a couple of hundred quid getting it done at a dealers will cost you 4 or 5 times that amount)

Andy

Andy

 

[PJH]

A few weeks ago

See Bod's thread here

 

[k langdon]

Thanks for the info.

I didn't buy the car in the end.

The auto box was slipping, the car was pulling to the left badly, there were several dents, marks, scratches, etc on the bodywork and the interior was filthy - every seat was really badly stained. I think it would need something exceptional to clean them up. The engine bay was very oily in places and all the levels were low even though I was told it was being regularly serviced

The other thing that worried me was you needed to really push the accelarator down a long way to move off or get any reaction. I don't know if that's a common thing with the diesels. But it felt very sluggish compared with my petrol estate.

Overall it wasn't for me, even though it was very cheap. I think someone mechanically minded or in the trade could would have the ability to bring it up to standard.

 

[andy_k]

reminds me of that old adage

"there is nothing as expensive as a cheap Mercedes"

sounds like walking away was the best thing

Andy