My good friend Andrew asked me a couple of months ago to start looking for a suitable car to take over from his rusty 1997 C180. With a budget of £6.5 k ,a fairly easy challenge, although obviously down the scale of many on this forum!
Spent numerous hours (days ! ) , scanning ads on the net, then decided to whittle the list down to a few cars to look at. Always amazes me that when you phone sellers and ask a few pertinent questions , the car is not "as described " , they bought it for the wife , who really didnt want a Merc , the FSH , was actually carried out by a mate , or they are just selling for a friend .
Finally decided to look at 3 c180k coupes , a c180k avantgarde saloon , and a c220 cdi. We will have a look at all of them , then make a decision.
First up , is the C180k avantgarde saloon . Drive 25 miles to see it , on an 05 plate , 47k on the clock , the seller is the 2nd owner , who has owned it for four years , and buying another Merc. Jasper Blue , with full black leather interior ( totally unmarked). A thorough look at the bodywork reveals a couple of very minor chips in the paintwork, which had been touched in . Asking a reasonable £6500. Drove like a new car, full MBSH , with the last service being 6weeks/650 miles ago.
At this stage I am thinking , if I was looking for myself I would buy this, but cannot bring myself to make an offer until I know what Andrew is thinking . ( worse choosing a car for a friend than for yourself ). anyway , we need to look at a few more dont we ?
Hang on , Andrew is about to cream himself , eyes glaze over , and suddenly blurts out , "would you take £6000 for it? " . Seller looks mortified , and said he would be prepared to take £6300 . Struggling to find fault with the car , i observed that two of the alloys were a bit scuffed , so would have to have them all refurbished , and I would value the car at £6000, Finally settled on £6150 , car being collected next week . Is this a fair price , and are there any particular quirks to look for on this model ?
Spent numerous hours (days ! ) , scanning ads on the net, then decided to whittle the list down to a few cars to look at. Always amazes me that when you phone sellers and ask a few pertinent questions , the car is not "as described " , they bought it for the wife , who really didnt want a Merc , the FSH , was actually carried out by a mate , or they are just selling for a friend .
Finally decided to look at 3 c180k coupes , a c180k avantgarde saloon , and a c220 cdi. We will have a look at all of them , then make a decision.
First up , is the C180k avantgarde saloon . Drive 25 miles to see it , on an 05 plate , 47k on the clock , the seller is the 2nd owner , who has owned it for four years , and buying another Merc. Jasper Blue , with full black leather interior ( totally unmarked). A thorough look at the bodywork reveals a couple of very minor chips in the paintwork, which had been touched in . Asking a reasonable £6500. Drove like a new car, full MBSH , with the last service being 6weeks/650 miles ago.
At this stage I am thinking , if I was looking for myself I would buy this, but cannot bring myself to make an offer until I know what Andrew is thinking . ( worse choosing a car for a friend than for yourself ). anyway , we need to look at a few more dont we ?
Hang on , Andrew is about to cream himself , eyes glaze over , and suddenly blurts out , "would you take £6000 for it? " . Seller looks mortified , and said he would be prepared to take £6300 . Struggling to find fault with the car , i observed that two of the alloys were a bit scuffed , so would have to have them all refurbished , and I would value the car at £6000, Finally settled on £6150 , car being collected next week . Is this a fair price , and are there any particular quirks to look for on this model ?