C43 engine failure

[Fastcar155]

Hi , you pays your money !

 

[BTB 500]

Often, if you want a 'low risk' car that's been faultlessly looked after, I find there seems to be a large number of VW polos. One elderly owner for past X years. Age forces reluctant sale. Only every serviced at VW with all the DSB history. Garaged all it's life. This sort of buy is what I aspire to when purchasing second hand.

A downside though is that these cars are often only used for very short local trips and rarely get up to normal operating temps. A lot of older drivers also seem to opt for budget makes (Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo/Chevrolet/, Dacia etc.) these days for a small 'shopping car' ... I suspect due the combination of low price and long warranty (typically 5-7 years).

 

[GraemeB]

Slightly tangential question: is the C43 engine still 'hand built' as the earlier AMG V8s were? Compared to BMW M engines, the older AMG engines seemed to be very reliable.

 

[RogerSausage]

Slightly tangential question: is the C43 engine still 'hand built' as the earlier AMG V8s were? Compared to BMW M engines, the older AMG engines seemed to be very reliable.

No, not in this application. It's based on the regular M276, but called the DE 30 LA version. It has a slightly higher compression ratio and a bit more boost.

 

[GraemeB]

No, not in this application. It's based on the regular M276, but called the DE 30 LA version. It has a slightly higher compression ratio and a bit more boost.

Ah, interesting.

 

[Fastcar155]

That is not my experience with company cars at all - times really have changed. The last company I worked for had a fleet manager who was meticulous at making sure ALL the company cars were impeccably maintained. Servicing intervals were strictly adhered to, fitting anything other than manufacturer recommended tyres was a no-no given the fact that the lease company would charge back if the cars went off lease in anything less than excellent condition (i.e with junk rubber fitted etc).

In my eyes the fleet manager is responsible for everyone's safety, at least he was at my previous place. enfed up at auction The company (like many) wanted to run their fleet as economically as possible, but not at the expense of a law suit.

Ex-company car can be very good buy's, provided you do your due diligence.

Hi , I respect what you have said , but I must have been really unlucky in that the company I worked for purchased all the cars and worked out that most high mileage ended up at auction.

The value of the car , serviced correctly or a running wreck was little difference to the trade.A friend of mine was a car buyer purchased hundreds of cars per month, he admitted he acquired a few duffers , just put them back into auction.