Engineer in love with Mercedes

[Smatt]

Welcome to the forum!

It's the OP's choice as to what car to get when he starts work. He may already have a (non MB) runabout. Why not go for something different to all the fords/vauhalls & eastern cars.

I don't understand why so much offence was taken at the mention of salary. I know generally in UK people do not disclose their own salary, but I don't see why someone can't do so if they are not worried aboout 'hiding' it. People from many other countries have no such qualms and openly discuss salaries.
It is understandable that the OP is excited about the new job and the salary which will be like a premiere footballers' in comparison to student loans. I remember my first payslip after 7yrs as a student- it was like winning the lottery after years of scrimping!

The OP was not being overly 'flashy' in aspiring to a C class- he could have said he wanted an SL or CL....

I think a C-class would not be a bad choice at all for a working persons car. Possibly even the C-coupe- I have found mine reliable and it is very practical too, being effectively a hatchback- I have carted all sorts of things in mine when getting things for my first house!
Pontoneer has good advice too about the 190- many people rate them highly on here for reliability. The only problem is that they might be seen by some as being a little more dated.

Happy hunting & good luck. Well done for working hard & getting a good job!

 

[khimani_mohiki]

In my experience, if your living on your own and dealing with student loans/debts etc, after rent, council tax and bills £25-30k wont go that far. After tax its only £1500-£1800 and you dont want to end up spending it all on your car. I got my first car, a 190E, during ym first job after graduating. I ended up spending most of my paychecks on it and 2 years on im still spending most of my paychecks on Mercedes

 

[Bellow]

No reason you cant have a Mercedes now. Hell, it was a Mercedes I was driving as I finished my engineering degree - albeit a 16 year old W123! But it had to go as I just didn't have the time to finish the work required on it to make it reliable for the working life that I was about to embark on. For that reason, something less than 16 years old and 230,000 miles would suit you better.
My reckoning is that if you choose a middle of the road Mercedes, reasonable on fuel, road tax, insurance, service costs, etc, then you will be fine. Go the big powered V8 route and if it goes wrong the bills could be horrendous. The biggest choice probably lies on the level of electronics you want. Do you want an efficient younger car that needs a computer docking session for just about everything, or something older, more mechanical? Pontoneer gives some clues as to the compromise between low purchase price / higher running costs and vice versa.

Penultimately, welcome along. I hope you stick around as it is an interesting forum and will be a help to you if you do go ahead and buy a Mercedes. I for one took no offence from your opening post. Some though, round here are a little touchy on the subject of money. Perhaps sorting their own affairs is in order before lashing out at others.

Finally, picking up that good condition 190s are in demand... A very tidy example will probably be for sale soon. Owned and maintained by ex Mercedes and Porsche mechanic, he's talking of selling it. Express an interest here if you have one or PM me, and I'll put you in touch with the current owner. The car is in Aberdeenshire.

 

[SilverSaloon]

i'd say get a 10 to 20 year old "modern classic" mercedes.

 

[Nasco12]

I've just done the sums for my first year of ownership. Maintenance came to £650 but there were a lot of items such as ATF replacement that hadn't been done for ages. In theory this year's bill should be zero.

Repairs, on the other hand, came to £2,000. Half of this was a blown head gasket.

Given the age of the car I expect to be shelling out about £1,000 a year for repairs and maintenance.