Keep my E class or get rid?

[tommytucker]

Hello all, for one reason or another I haven't posted on here for a long time but now I find myself with an issue and any advice would be most welcome. I bought my S211 back in 2013 from John(Developer, I'm sure some of you know him). During my ownership I have to say it's been an excellent car and only ever required wear and tear items so now to my problem. The car is in very good condition on 115k but if I keep it I feel it deserves a bit of a spruce up but at considerable expense as follows.
1 Get rid of Artico for Nappa leather £3300
2 Get car detailed and ceramic coated £2500 aprox.
3 Small repairs to paintwork £620
4 Replace both offside door handles as keyless go doesn't work £?
As you can see the bill is heading towards £7000 and I'm also thinking of replacing the car with another E class but for a 5 year old car that's going to cost £20k-£25k. I've been retired for 5 years now and I do no more than 6000 miles a year so not sure I can justify the expense of replacing the car, what would you do? All replies gratefully received.

 

[Alps]

Johns always looked after his cars, so no surprise its a good un.

1. Buy a 2nd hand interior, plenty about!, £500 mark max
2. 2 stage correction and ceramic coating should be about £1000 max!
3. paintwork - price varies
4. locate some 2nd hand ones, couple of hundred max.

I think the amounts are slightly high , maybe you have put these in to persuade yourself its time to move on?, realistically £2-3 k max for everything you need to do.

regards

 

[Larkone]

^ agree with Alps
except
For a car with 115K miles is it worth 2 stage paint correction and ceramic coat? A good clean, bit of a polish and some wax/detailer.
Do you need keyless go?

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Hello all, for one reason or another I haven't posted on here for a long time but now I find myself with an issue and any advice would be most welcome. I bought my S211 back in 2013 from John(Developer, I'm sure some of you know him). During my ownership I have to say it's been an excellent car and only ever required wear and tear items so now to my problem. The car is in very good condition on 115k but if I keep it I feel it deserves a bit of a spruce up but at considerable expense as follows.
1 Get rid of Artico for Nappa leather £3300
2 Get car detailed and ceramic coated £2500 aprox.
3 Small repairs to paintwork £620
4 Replace both offside door handles as keyless go doesn't work £?
As you can see the bill is heading towards £7000 and I'm also thinking of replacing the car with another E class but for a 5 year old car that's going to cost £20k-£25k. I've been retired for 5 years now and I do no more than 6000 miles a year so not sure I can justify the expense of replacing the car, what would you do? All replies gratefully received.

If it were me i wouldn't spend that much on your existing car. I would possibly spend a grand or so on bodywork correction and maybe a cheap detail to give it a freshen up if it is mechanically sound. I would though think you could retrofit a nicer interior (used) for a lot less than £3300 if you really wanted? There's a set of multicontour seats for an S211 on ebay for less than £1k for example. Most likely though i would look to a later S212, maybe 10 years old or so.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Don't understand the question.

If you put £7k into your car, you'll get the pleasure, but the money will go up in smoke - you'll never see it again.

If you like / love your car, why not get the paintwork fixed and get it modestly detailed for a grand? It'll look great.

Nappa for how much? Why would you? Makes no sense. Ditto keyless entry.

Why jump to a 2017 car? Why not a low mileage (60k) 2010 car for £10k ?

.

 

[Tattmaylor]

I say keep, but just keep on top of maintenance as and when required.
I wouldn't spent that much on detailing and ceramic coating. You could invest in a good electric buffer and polish+wax regularly, it will look just as good. Likewise with the interior, I wouldn't spend the money on replacing as you'll never make that back - just give it a good steam clean and polish to freshen it up.
Paintwork I think is a good investment but shop around for quotes. I had one bodyshop quote me thousands to fit and paint a new front wing on the old SL, citing the extra 'blending' with other panels that would be required, whereas the place I eventually went with said it was absolute bollo**s that it needed blending. The result was perfect and cost nowhere near as much.

 

[JHS]

Leave it as it is and spend the money on a cruise or good holiday. Both beat sitting on a leather seat looking at a shiny bonnet.

 

[Benz17]

Hello all, for one reason or another I haven't posted on here for a long time but now I find myself with an issue and any advice would be most welcome. I bought my S211 back in 2013 from John(Developer, I'm sure some of you know him). During my ownership I have to say it's been an excellent car and only ever required wear and tear items so now to my problem. The car is in very good condition on 115k but if I keep it I feel it deserves a bit of a spruce up but at considerable expense as follows.
1 Get rid of Artico for Nappa leather £3300
2 Get car detailed and ceramic coated £2500 aprox.
3 Small repairs to paintwork £620
4 Replace both offside door handles as keyless go doesn't work £?
As you can see the bill is heading towards £7000 and I'm also thinking of replacing the car with another E class but for a 5 year old car that's going to cost £20k-£25k. I've been retired for 5 years now and I do no more than 6000 miles a year so not sure I can justify the expense of replacing the car, what would you do? All replies gratefully received.

Hi don’t know what year your car is, but at 115k mileage I also wouldn’t do the above.

Having said that I did replace Artico leather to Nappa on my 2017 W213, in 2019 when it had around 9k miles, also did a few other retro fits at that time. Also did 2 stage paint correction and ceramic coated a two months ago (28k miles) cost was £1500, so your figure is definitely on the high side.

Retrofits on a newish car with low mileage, and which I would keep for a good few years, seemed worth it for me. I wouldn’t have done it on a high mileage car though.

If it’s worth it for you, then you should go ahead.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

1, 2 and 4 are all a bit bonkers. Just get a new car if you want those things. And a polish and ceramic coat is not £2500, someone's pulling your leg...