E class Estate a definite maybe.

[hawk20]

Estate great choice for dogs and you can get custom cage made to fit exactly in load bay from a well known company - I transport my Newfoundland in mine and the cage stops hair getting everywhere and prevents drool running down the windows !

Who does the custom cages please? And does anyone make a cage that does not rattle?

 

[gIzzE]

I would like to know that too please??

 

[Barryh]

Who does the custom cages please? And does anyone make a cage that does not rattle?

I think it is Lintrans and they are expensive.Details in shooting magazines or try searchin on web

 

[hawk20]

I think it is Lintrans and they are expensive.Details in shooting magazines or try searchin on web

Correct on all counts. www.lintran.co.uk Thanks.

Had a look at several E estates today but all way dearer than they are further north. You can pay up to £29,995 for an E220cdi Avantgarde demonstrator with few extras in dealers south of Watford. Or £26/7k if you go North of, say, Manchester. Odd.

And most have a pretty sparse extras list.

Tuesday I shall be looking at an E estate from definitely North of Manchester. With the extras I listed earlier. Hope it is in good nick. It is the front runner.

 

[Rory]

Nothing like getting a new motor, I swap every 6 months and still feel like a kid the night before picking the new one up.

If you don't mind me asking; do you just change the car, and to heck with the cost? Or is there some cunning way of doing this and limiting the financial impact?

Two of my neighbours are in company car schemes where the cars get changed as they approach 10K miles - one of them has a new car every 3mths, the other a bit longer. I'm quite envious as they tend to get a different model each time (but the same make) and barely need to even wash them!

 

[st4]

How many E class threads do we have, I can't keep up.

 

[hawk20]

How many E class threads do we have, I can't keep up.

And many looking for estates all at the same time. Odd
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=57694&highlight=estates

 

[gIzzE]

If you don't mind me asking; do you just change the car, and to heck with the cost? Or is there some cunning way of doing this and limiting the financial impact?

I do 30-40k miles a year, and my wife does around 15-20k miles a year, and between us we do 50-60k.

To make it work financially I always buy them at 3-12 months old and make sure I get at least 35% off list.
Have to travel a bit to do it, or be prepared to buy over the phone, but with a sub 5k mile car that has not caught me out so far.

I then run them for 6 months, or when they had 20-30k miles on them, advertise them at a couple of grand less than I paid and be prepared to drop it by a grand if needed.


It works out that the depreciation costs me around £3-500 a months depending on the car.
The 535d sport touring I ran for 12 months and sold it with 42k miles on it, I got £2k less than I paid for it, I paid £424 a month for that car on finance and when I settled the agreement I walked away with £52 I think it was. So £424 a month for a £51,000 car was not bad.


However, my wife has just had our second child so she is no longer doing the miles and so her 320d sport touring is going on Tuesday and I am not going to be doing half as many miles either so don't really need a diesel estate either. We will use the W210 E320 estate while the baby still has loads of kit, it owes us nothing and is returning 400 miles per fill up wich is pretty good.

And with the car market on it's **** I am not going to buy anything new, I sold my CSL last year and regret it so I think I am going to buy another E46 M3 so I have a fun car sat on the drive. I have been offered an E55 estate today, but the thought of 8-16mpg puts me off, tempting, but however cheap it seems right now it will still be loosing shed loads every months the way things are.


I think the days of swapping every 6 months and not loosing much are over.

Buying at 3-5 years old seems to be the only way to not loose serious money any more, or certainly at the moment anyway.

 

[Rory]

The 535d sport touring I ran for 12 months and sold it with 42k miles on it, I got £2k less than I paid for it, I paid £424 a month for that car on finance and when I settled the agreement I walked away with £52 I think it was. So £424 a month for a £51,000 car was not bad.

Thanks for that - agree on the purchase strategy, that's certainly the way I acquired my MB.

Have you usually sold the cars privately? Normally private buyers steer away from high miles in relation to age (and dealers mark the value down for the same reason).

 

[gIzzE]

Yeah always private sales.

Keep it under 30k miles and they sell well, even at a year to 18 months old.

Sell it at 2 years old with 60k though and it starts to get tricky.

 

[Barryh]

Had a look at several E estates today but all way dearer than they are further north. You can pay up to £29,995 for an E220cdi Avantgarde demonstrator with few extras in dealers south of Watford. Or £26/7k if you go North of, say, Manchester. [/QUOTE]


Dont try Scottish dealers,they seem the most expensive.I think that MB direct are best value and will do a good deal.Just make sure everything is in writing.

 

[hawk20]

Dont try Scottish dealers,they seem the most expensive.I think that MB direct are best value and will do a good deal.Just make sure everything is in writing.

Yes MB Direct are pretty competitive. And usually you can haggle a good deal with them. I phoned them about one that caught my eye, but nobody bothered to phone back. So for the time being I've moved on and will be checking out the one I liked north of Manchester on Tuesday. It has the spec I want and you don't often find just the spec you want so I'm fingers crossed.

 

[gIzzE]

Some dealers really will haggle hard at the moment.

I have managed to agree a price of £23k for a nice late 2006 E320cdi sport, 7 seater with comand and all the toys. That is down from £26k.
Not sure yet whether I am going to go for it or stick with the E320 and get another M3 as well. Will know by tomorrow night though.

 

[Barryh]

Yes MB Direct are pretty competitive. And usually you can haggle a good deal with them. I phoned them about one that caught my eye, but nobody bothered to phone back. So for the time being I've moved on and will be checking out the one I liked north of Manchester on Tuesday. It has the spec I want and you don't often find just the spec you want so I'm fingers crossed.

Good luck,hope you find it a good un.You are right not often you find the correct spec.

 

[hawk20]

Good luck,hope you find it a good un.You are right not often you find the correct spec.

Thanks. 24 hours to go. I'll keep you posted.