Going to look at a CLK55

[Rose Chap]

I've got that designo interior in my CLK. Its linarite-blue, two colour (code X57).

Designo leather is great quality stuff, very thick and hard wearing. Proving that car has been looked after properly, 90K miles shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

[mergli]

Right, I went and had a quick look at the car (was running late so was only there for a few minutes).....

95,000 miles, no service book (One sheet of printed history showing last 2 services both B's at 75K & 85K approx).
Current owner on V5 was Daimler Chyrsler Fleet Management Services

The interior looked in good nick, didn't spot any tears on the seats, but was in serious need of a valet and there were 2 nav disks in the glove box.
I dropped the back seats down out of curiosity but I couldn't get one side to 'click' back up (this could be user error though )

The front of the car was peppered with stone chips but they showed no signs of rusting and the front splitter was hanging off. The arches looked OK with perhaps a slight bubble on the rear nearside (it was too dirty to be able to tell for sure). There was bad corrosion round the boot lock.

Couldn't see any obvious signs of accident damage under the bonnet or in the boot.

I'll have to look at some others to get a comparison, but don't think I'll be making a bid on this one.

 

[rossi]

Is that dear?Theres a Saab Dealer with a CLK55 in Bristol with 47k on a X for £19000 I think.There was no rust at all on that one.

 

[Fady]

I've got to drive up to Newcastle tomorrow to do some work over the weekend so I thought I'd call in to Keighley Trade Centre to have a look at a CLK55 that they've got in as it's (almost) on the way. To be honest I'm not expecting it to be very good as KTC has been slated in the past on the MR2 forums for the quality of the cars they get in, to be fair though they are Japanese import spec cars and this is a UK car.

Is there anything apart from rusty arches and boot lock that I should be looking out for?

PS - don't tell work I'm taking a detour

Out of interest, what MR2 forums are you on? I had to sell my beloved 1994 Rev 3 Turbo to help finance my current car Sold it last month to a guy on the IMOC forum

 

[saorbust]

Right, I went and had a quick look at the car (was running late so was only there for a few minutes).....

95,000 miles, no service book (One sheet of printed history showing last 2 services both B's at 75K & 85K approx).
Current owner on V5 was Daimler Chyrsler Fleet Management Services

The interior looked in good nick, didn't spot any tears on the seats, but was in serious need of a valet and there were 2 nav disks in the glove box.
I dropped the back seats down out of curiosity but I couldn't get one side to 'click' back up (this could be user error though )

The front of the car was peppered with stone chips but they showed no signs of rusting and the front splitter was hanging off. The arches looked OK with perhaps a slight bubble on the rear nearside (it was too dirty to be able to tell for sure). There was bad corrosion round the boot lock.

Couldn't see any obvious signs of accident damage under the bonnet or in the boot.

I'll have to look at some others to get a comparison, but don't think I'll be making a bid on this one.

Agree. Run away as fast as you can. Without a service history on these cars - forget it.

 

[fuzzer]

95k

welcome to the most unsalable clk55 you are likely to find...

offer them £7500 at most...

will need someone with brand new brains to pay that price for it ...

 

[Alfie]

Is that dear?Theres a Saab Dealer with a CLK55 in Bristol with 47k on a X for £19000 I think.There was no rust at all on that one.

Which dealer? Do you have a website for them?

 

[Shude]

95k

welcome to the most unsalable clk55 you are likely to find...

Time for someone to make them a silly offer then, c'mon there are only so many things that can go wrong...

 

[Flyer]

Agree. Run away as fast as you can. Without a service history on these cars - forget it.

OK, time for me to play the n00b; if the current owner is Daimler Chrysler Fleet Management, would it stand to reason that there would be a FMBSH somewhere? Surprised it's not been presented better though. From the description, really looks like one that's not been looked after and presumably one they would like to be rid of ...

"£16,995 ono" .... £12k would be about right wouldn't it?

 

[saorbust]

OK, time for me to play the n00b; if the current owner is Daimler Chrysler Fleet Management, would it stand to reason that there would be a FMBSH somewhere? Surprised it's not been presented better though. From the description, really looks like one that's not been looked after and presumably one they would like to be rid of ...

"£16,995 ono" .... £12k would be about right wouldn't it?

In a word - no.

I agree with you - if the owner is correct. the owners name SOUNDS offical - but is it who we think it is ? Without paperwork - forget it.

I think its worth at best £8k. It took me months to sell mine, and thats with all the paperwork and a low mileage. These cars rarely sell quickly - and that needs to be priced in. The mileage is way too high, and once this thing reaches 100k miles - you won't be able to sell it.

sorry to be so rude and blunt - but really this car stinks too much to be worth a 2nd glance.

 

[aka$h]

The car was probably a leased from MB, hence the current owner. However if it had been leased without a service contract, you'll probably never find the history (assuming it has one).

 

[Flyer]

In a word - no.

I agree with you - if the owner is correct. the owners name SOUNDS offical - but is it who we think it is ? Without paperwork - forget it.

Ah, got you. Didn't think of that ...

I think its worth at best £8k. It took me months to sell mine, and thats with all the paperwork and a low mileage. These cars rarely sell quickly - and that needs to be priced in. The mileage is way too high, and once this thing reaches 100k miles - you won't be able to sell it.

Really? Only £8k? That's purely because it's a 55 though, is it? With the corresponding high maintenance needed? Surely a 320 say, with similar mileage, would be around that price?

I'm casually looking at replacing mine with a 55. Mine has 72k and, mechanically, has been sound. I think if you could get a 55 for £8k, I'd have thought that was a bargain ... not that I'm going to go for a look at this one.

 

[996jimbo]

It's got to be worth way more than £8k.

What would it cost to recondition the engine / gearbox assuming that it had never been serviced? The next cheapest car on Autotrader is about £18k. OK so you may never be able to make this one worth £18k but even a few thousand pays for quite a few repairs.

I'd say absolute bargain at £12k, keen at £14k (but would want to investigate service history more) and will go for between 15 and 16 (remember they've got all sorts of tat so can't need to turn things over too quickly). And being an optimist (assuming only 1 owner) I reckon you'll find a service history.

 

[saorbust]

In selling my 55, I had to reduce the asking price by nearly 5,500 quid. I think you'll find these cars move so little the price is really silly when it comes to high mileage cars. Its worth next to nothing because of the mental thought process.

1; No service history
2; Owner is a little weird (in that you don't know it is who it says it is)
3; Its a 55 - very rare (only made about 200 of them for the UK)
4; Its high mileage
5; Its condition isn't perfect
6; Its being sold by an indepedent.

Why buy something as bloody great as this - and believe me they are just ace, and worry about it ?

I'd rather buy a 320.

Clarky.

 

[saorbust]

... not that I'm going to go for a look at this one.

Need we say anymore !!

 

[C240Sport97]

it's true, the CLK55 (W208) market is a 'niche' market. Generally though, the cars are well looked after.

I test drove one at a dealer, and from then on, had to have one.

Mine was one of the very few non silver ones that I saw.

I am used to the acceleration now, but it's still a (relatively cheap) thrill .. hills? what hills??

I don't think high mileage is necessarily a problem if it has been serviced regularly. Unless it's spent its whole life on a race track, it's unlikely to have been trashed -- you run out of road so fast that it's a real job keeping the revs high for an extended period!!!

In selling my 55, I had to reduce the asking price by nearly 5,500 quid. I think you'll find these cars move so little the price is really silly when it comes to high mileage cars. Its worth next to nothing because of the mental thought process.

1; No service history
2; Owner is a little weird (in that you don't know it is who it says it is)
3; Its a 55 - very rare (only made about 200 of them for the UK)
4; Its high mileage
5; Its condition isn't perfect
6; Its being sold by an indepedent.

Why buy something as bloody great as this - and believe me they are just ace, and worry about it ?

I'd rather buy a 320.

Clarky.

 

[mergli]

Out of interest, what MR2 forums are you on? I had to sell my beloved 1994 Rev 3 Turbo to help finance my current car Sold it last month to a guy on the IMOC forum

I was on MR2OC and TOC (Toyota Owners Club) mostly but I didn't post much as there were too many young lads asking about veilside body kits and 'what's the loudest dump valve'.....

 

[mergli]

I agree with you - if the owner is correct. the owners name SOUNDS offical - but is it who we think it is ? Without paperwork - forget it.

This just triggered something off - the DC Fleet jobbies were not the first owner but had owned it since 2001 if it was a genuine DC car why would they have not had it from new?

 

[glojo]

This just triggered something off - the DC Fleet jobbies were not the first owner but had owned it since 2001 if it was a genuine DC car why would they have not had it from new?

This is something I have thought of right from the get go. We sometimes get some very informative posts from an employee at Daimler Chrysler and I was hoping they would chip in with a constructive answer.

I am speculating here and first off, I go along with Soarburst... Is it what we think, or is it a similar name?? My second thought is was the car first registered to a senior employee at Daimler Chrysler, then bought back into the Daimler Chrylser fleet?

This car will obviously sell and it might make someone a very happy bunny, I have not seen it so do not have an opinion either way. The chipping on the front of the car is due more to the water based paint rather than being violently assaulted. When we had our 210, we always touched up these horrible chips as soon as we found them, poor car looked like it had a bad case of acne .

Good luck with your car hunting,
John

 

[mergli]

Good luck with your car hunting

Thanks John.

Just remembered another thing which struck me as odd - the gear shift knob had an 'Avantgarde' logo on the top
Is this normal?

I've run the VIN through the decoder and it all checks out on there.