E500 Estate

[horatio]

The government's emissions data for a September 2005 registered E500 estate say it is a Euro 3 car. If we look in more detail at the individual limits for Euro 4, it seems that the data on the government site fall within the Euro 4 limits, so it seems the TfL checker is more likely to be correct and the government emissions data is wrong to class the car as euor 3 when the values seem to indicate euro 4 limits are passed. I didn't look at things in a very detailed way, but there does seem to be a discrepancy. As long as TfL is happy, then I would concur that your assessment is reasonable.
per Select a search : Directgov - Car fuel data, CO2 and vehicle tax tools
Manufacturer
MERCEDES-BENZ
Model
E-Class (S211) Estate
Description
E500 (245 Tyres)
Engine capacity
4966
Transmission/gearbox
A7
Fuel type
Petrol
Vehicle tax details
You can pay by Direct Debit for certain vehicles, either annually, six monthly or monthly. Where Direct Debit is available the rates are shown.
Standard rate 12 months
£325.00
Monthly cost: £28.44 – total: £341.25
Standard rate 6 month cost
£178.75
or £170.63 if renewing automatically by Direct Debit
Tax band
K
CO2 emissions (g/km) (weighted)
276
Fuel consumption
Imperial Urban (cold)
16.3
Imperial Extra Urban
33.6
Imperial Combined (weighted)
24.4
Metric Urban (cold)
17.3
Metric Extra Urban
8.4
Metric Combined (weighted)
11.6
Further details
Before using the data here to compare models, please read "how to use the data" in the glossary section
Noise Level [dB(A), moving]
71
CO Emissions
[g/km or mg/km under Euro 5/6]
0.264 ***<1.0g/km per Euro 4***
HC Emissions
[g/km or mg/km under Euro 5/6]
0.044 ***<0.1g/km per Euro 4***
NOx Emissions
[g/km or mg/km under Euro 5/6]
0.016 ***<0.08g/km per Euro 4***

I believe the ULEZ is based on whether the car meets the NOx figure. I put a Y plate CL500's reg in and it's ok. That said, by the time the N/S circ extension is running I wouldn't be surprised if they have turned the screw and you need a Euro 5 or whatever. I wouldn't buy a car because of it yet.

 

[Will]

As nice as an E500 might be they need to be a fair bit cheaper than a typically well optioned E55 (which comes with a better standard spec)

The running costs are very similar - fuel, VED, servicing, usual 211 repairs etc and an E55 with full airmatic is a comfortable place to be with plenty of power on tap

Or to put it another way, buying an E500 you get the same sort of running costs as an E55 without the performance - I think in a nutshell that is why they are rare!

I thought the Euro 3/4 thing was to do with when a car was registered? Is it not possible for two otherwise same model cars to be classified as either depending on the date of registration?

 

[E55BOF]

Ulez aside, I've just read the ad again, clearly shown as Airmatic, yet this is one of the advisories on the mot "Offside Rear Shock absorbers light misting of oil or has limited damping effect (5.3.2 (b))".

The Airmatic strut is weeping a little oil.

Let's see what it bids to. At half the mileage, that one in Durham is likely to be a better bet if it's as good as it sounds, but I suspect the original car won't bid to more than half the Durham car's asking price, if that.

It's still worth a punt as the bidding stands now, but at £3k, I wouldn't. Just for comparison, I sold my '03 E500 estate in silver, a bit poverty spec and with a blue, Marmite, only part-leather interior, but sweet as a nut on 83K miles, on eBay about eighteen months ago, and that only bid to £3100. I wish I'd kept it...

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Disagree completely on the E500 / E55 comparison.

As with all AMG cars, they're bought by different customers.

E500's are luxury estates bought by blokes with a few bob and several motors on the drive. AMG cars, by definition, are bought by people who love a touch of speed, and they bear the signs, and scars, of that use. You won't find an E55 that's just been used to take the family down to the second home on West Wittering Beach or on the Île de Ré. (Ditto CLK500's and CLK55's, S500's and S63's etcetera etcetera...)

And, by definition, AMG cars do tend to get flipped regularly - less than every two years, maybe? 500's can be in the same hands for five years or more, with all that that means in terms of servicing and money spent.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

The point about ULEZ is simple. Rightly or wrongly, TFL is treating that particular E500 as exempt.

As Paul Simon once said: "Who are we to disagree?" No one's going to write in and say "Oi, his motor should be classified as Euro 3, guv"

 

[E55BOF]

Disagree completely on the E500 / E55 comparison.

As with all AMG cars, they're bought by different customers.

E500's are luxury estates bought by blokes with a few bob and several motors on the drive. AMG cars, by definition, are bought by people who love a touch of speed, and they bear the signs, and scars, of that use. You won't find an E55 that's just been used to take the family down to the second home on West Wittering Beach or on the Île de Ré. (Ditto CLK500's and CLK55's, S500's and S63's etcetera etcetera...)

And, by definition, AMG cars do tend to get flipped regularly - less than every two years, maybe? 500's can be in the same hands for five years or more, with all that that means in terms of servicing and money spent.

Actually, the E500/E55 comparison is strictly factually speaking pretty accurate, but as you say, the market for the E500 always was, and still is, totally different. An old, high-mileage E500 is likely to be a better long-term proposition than a similar-mileage E55 of the same age, simply because it won't have been driven by Ernest Thrasher and his like.

Forgive the slight thread hijack, but coincidentally, for exactly what that E500 has bid to at the moment you could have had this:

mercedes ml 500 amg | eBay

I said ML500s would get progressively harder to sell, but ! No, !! Mind you, it bodes well for what I'll need to pay when I find the one I really want...

 

[SW18]

Front bumper is of different shade and the shutting line is way to big and the spec is a basic (now even the parking aid) for £6k.

Hmm, doesn’t sound so attractive now! That’s the second one on eBay recently that has had an enlarged shut line between the bonnet and bumper - is this perhaps because the number comes off for a respray (a poorly executed one in this case) and then is put back wrongly? Or do the bonnets get bent somehow?

 

[MercedesDriver]

Copied from tfl web site: "Enforcement of the ULEZ is based on the declared emissions of the vehicle rather than the age. Generally speaking, petrol cars that meet the emissions standards are those registered after 2005. However cars that meet the ULEZ standards have been available since 2000."

 

[A-AvantGarde]

I believe the ULEZ is based on whether the car meets the NOx figure. I put a Y plate CL500's reg in and it's ok. That said, by the time the N/S circ extension is running I wouldn't be surprised if they have turned the screw and you need a Euro 5 or whatever. I wouldn't buy a car because of it yet.

Yes, this is true, it's based on the NOx figure. However the figure they need to comply with is broadly interpreted as a minimum of EURO 4.

Copied from tfl web site: "Enforcement of the ULEZ is based on the declared emissions of the vehicle rather than the age. Generally speaking, petrol cars that meet the emissions standards are those registered after 2005. However cars that meet the ULEZ standards have been available since 2000."

Absolutely, my 2001 W203 C320 is ULEZ exempt (at present) despite being listed as EURO 3 on the V5C. As above the TFL checker shows that it's exempt.

One odd thing though, and I'm not sure 100% sure what causes this* but although my X6 M is exempt (I checked before buying it), but was then surprised to get a fine for non-payment of the T-charge. After purchasing it I transferred my private plate which was previously on a non-compliant vehicle. I needed to send them a copy of my V5 with the EURO status showing, the charge was removed and my car now correctly shows as being ULEZ compliant.

*I suspect it's because the ULEZ checker has an old data feed / doesn't have a real time check with the DVLA records (so they don't have to pay per search).

 

[Will]

Disagree completely on the E500 / E55 comparison.

As with all AMG cars, they're bought by different customers.

E500's are luxury estates bought by blokes with a few bob and several motors on the drive. AMG cars, by definition, are bought by people who love a touch of speed, and they bear the signs, and scars, of that use. You won't find an E55 that's just been used to take the family down to the second home on West Wittering Beach or on the Île de Ré. (Ditto CLK500's and CLK55's, S500's and S63's etcetera etcetera...)

And, by definition, AMG cars do tend to get flipped regularly - less than every two years, maybe? 500's can be in the same hands for five years or more, with all that that means in terms of servicing and money spent.

My own experiences tell me otherwise - I bought my last E55 from the second owner and I kept it for four years. When I sold it on at 16 years old it was a 3 owner car and had averaged 10k PA over it’s lifetime. It was our family car, and the previous owner was an IT consultant. No signs of use or scars that you wouldn’t see on any 211 at that sort of age/mileage.

The E63 I sold earlier this year was effectively a 1-owner car when I bought it at 7 years old with 11k miles and full MB history. I only kept it a year but sold it as we’d outgrown it as a family.

My current GL63 was again a 1-owner/full MB history car when I bought it this year at six years old with 22k miles. Not sure about second homes on the south coast but both my ‘63s had been owned by multi-millionaire London businessmen from some of the most exclusive locations I know of

Certain AMG cars appeal to different demographics - usually smaller chassis variants for those more interested in speed/performance whereas an E55 was the range topping E-class. In the same way as not every Golf GTI is owned by a boy racer, neither has every AMG led a hard life. You don’t have to use the performance all the time to enjoy the cars for what they are but it’s nice to know it’s there for when you want it.

That’s the thing with AMGs, they’re not one trick ponies, and are generally based on mainstream models (E-class in this instance), come very well specced and usually nicely optioned too and generally get well cared for by wealthy or enthusiastic owners. Certainly to afford the depreciation on a new one you must ‘have a few bob’

I’ve had countless Mercedes cars over the years, and several E-class estates - 124 300TEs, 210 E320 and 430, 211 E55s and a 212 E63 and can honestly say that the AMG estates have been the most pampered and best cared for and have been owned by the wealthiest sorts of owners.

There’s obviously exceptions to the rule - and I’ve seen a few E500s that have been a bit ‘got at’ for example with wannabe badges/exhausts/wheels etc - presumably not by the original owners though!

I judge every car on its own merit, I understand completely what you’re trying to say but have to disagree with it based on the cars I have seen/bought over the years

 

[E55BOF]

Will, I think you've been quite lucky/done quite well with your E-class AMGs, but they were mostly low-mileage. Not all of us have been so lucky buying high-mileage AMGs ..

 

[Will]

Both my E55Ks had 100k+ miles when I bought them. It’s only my more recent ones (the ‘63s) that have been low mileage purchases.

In fact I bought both the E55s effectively blind, and from quite far away. Private sales with no warranty - a risk I accepted but I had otherwise done what homework I could before purchase. Likewise when I bought my (70k miler) CLK55 from a forum member on here - it was a 500 mile round trip for a car I’d never seen but it was a great car and I kept it for 5 1/2 years as it turned out.

I think you need to be patient when looking and buy with your gut instinct. The ‘63s cost me a lot more, hence I was keen to buy low mileage immaculate cars with warranty - but if you were a glass half empty sort of person you’d never buy an old Mercedes of any kind, AMG or otherwise

 

[DITTRICH]

84 watchers at present.
I wonder how many snipes have been set up?
If it were me, I would! No sense in bidding up the price before the closing seconds.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Understood: I was generalising about AMG vs main factory.

I was in Affalterbach recently, and they tell lots of stories about AMG's in private collections / hands that had done very low mileages in loving hands. Those AMG's are out there - but they need to be found. It's just a matter of trawling through the ads and seeing what your options are.

However, I still think you'll pay quite a chunk more for an AMG than a 500. "It's the badge, you see"

 

[E55BOF]

£1650 - now that's a bargain, I reckon.

 

[MD5]

£1650 - now that's a bargain, I reckon.

I spent more than that having my rear airbags replaced!

 

[DITTRICH]

As people have noted, this has to be someone's bargain. A Christmas present which even after preventative repairs, will have cost less than £5k. I wonder if the new owner will surface and confess?

 

[merc85]

I’m with mike, I think most AMG’s get driven harder than there stable mate, All the AMGs I’d looked at deffinatly had a harder life than the non AMG counterpart, age also is another thing AMGs can be more expensive and suspension brakes etc all get a harder life , some buyers of say 10k examples forget the car was 80k once upon a time and struggle to fix bits n bobs wen needed or just put it off leaving a hasty bill for the next person to deal with, It’s sad to see so many of these Special cars get in the state that some of them do.

 

[SW18]

Here’s another E500, only a brief ad and it looks like it might be only basic spec but it’s yours for £2.5k.
Auto Trader logo

 

[MercedesDriver]

Here’s another E500, only a brief ad and it looks like it might be only basic spec but it’s yours for £2.5k.
Auto Trader logo

I'll never get the people taking a photo of a car for an ad with tow eye fitted.