CL600

[langlands]

My wife has a lovely 83 280 SL owned from 1985 I have a lovely 1990 500 sec, both cars looked after by John Haynes, I am tempted by a 2001 I owner 43000 miles CL600 V12, would this be a good buy or am I being stupid???

 

[DSM10000]

Is it in good condition, are there any outstanding repairs required, can you afford to repair anything that goes wrong?

If yes, no ,yes then why not?

Just remember that this was a car that was priced at £90k plus and parts prices even now are in keeping with the original price.

 

[alabbasi]

I am tempted by a 2001 I owner 43000 miles CL600 V12, would this be a good buy or am I being stupid???

Yes???

Okay maybe i should elaborate as I kinda own all three. First of all, if you're thinking of replacing any of the two other cars with the CL600, buy a fitbit because you're going to be doing more walking. It's not that the CL600 is less reliable, it's probably more reliable but not more dependable. This is because when things break, they will be more expensive to fix which will require you to budget and it will take much longer to do the repairs.

The 280SL and 500SEC are simple cars. Simple in the sense that they have the complexity of an old Chevy pickup truck so it's easy to keep them maintained. The CL600 will be a different story. You should probably talk to your mechanic instead of asking us to see how he feels about working on them before pulling the trigger.

He might not want to touch it with a 50ft barge pole.

 

[Alex]

You want a facelift 2002+ car for many reasons not last of them a completely different and much, much more reliable V12 engine.

 

[roviw1]

The minute you step up to a V12 then your service and repair costs will surge upwards as well. Someone else may correct me but did I once read that the engine has 24 spark plugs ?
They will not be a couple of £ each from Halfords either !
Having said the above , a friend of mine has a 2007 CL600 and the noise and smoothness of the engine is just amazing, however he has had an extended warranty on it each year up until last time when they have now said it is too old, he had several claims on it and I think the transmission issue he claimed for was about a £10000 job !

 

[tonysmb]

How long is a piece of string?

If you've any concerns, I'd ask the chap who works on your cars. You might be looking at a 1-owner car where no expense has been spared and which might be trouble free for years, or you might not. Unfortunately, only you can really decide.