Looking at a 10 year old (plus) MB..

[badj]

+1 for a CLK petrol for a cheap sporty coupe short term, i don't know what would better it. Don't expect good mpg but its a good drive and very reliable.

To be honest, I've done 9000 miles in the last year, 6000 of them were in my old job which I left in mid-march this year, so I've done 3000 miles or so in the last 8 months, so MPG is actually of little issue tbh.

It's also a red-herring to look at mpg if you end up with a car that needs money spent on other issues - as it is, doing low mileage in a motorway muncher packed with a Euro4 engine of possible cackery (DPF, EGR & Cooler, Swirl flaps etc.) is going to slap me in the face soon.

 

[badj]

As a side note, if I loved cream leather and dashboards with silver paint I'd be spoilt for choice.

As it happens, I don't!

 

[Piff]

currently have r172 slk and e class cab (successor to CLK). SLK is the sharper drive but the e class is better fitted out & a nicer car.
e class more family friendly too.

 

[Milton7]

I would have to say the CLK 320 petrol, but i am a bit biased.
Very reliable cars.

I have to agree. I bought a 2001 CLK320 18 months ago and since then my expenditure after 11,000 miles had only been £500 on a service and MOT at PCS at Horndean plus a A/C regas and a headlamp bulb. I've been delighted with the car, effortless performance and grace, and the computer shows average mpg 33mpg. It's a third car only used for long journeys at which it excels, I've used it a couple of times to commute to work and found the poor rear vision a handicap ; as always the secret is to find a good one, mine was a cherished one owner car with very low miles. I think it was £39k new now I'd be very lucky to get £2.5 for it so these offer fantastic value and your difficulty will be finding a car for sale without hidden issues.

 

[219]

To be honest, I've done 9000 miles in the last year, 6000 of them were in my old job which I left in mid-march this year, so I've done 3000 miles or so in the last 8 months, so MPG is actually of little issue tbh.

It's also a red-herring to look at mpg if you end up with a car that needs money spent on other issues - as it is, doing low mileage in a motorway muncher packed with a Euro4 engine of possible cackery (DPF, EGR & Cooler, Swirl flaps etc.) is going to slap me in the face soon.

That's so true : I went from a W126 500SEL , which returned mid to low twenties mpg , but never missed a beat in my 5 years ownership , and other than one road spring , a couple of ball joints and a couple of bits of welding for the MOT , never needed more than routine DIY servicing , despite annual mileage of 20,000 or so . My various W201 , 123 & 124 cars were similarly reliable , with the biggest jobs being a heater matrix on one 190 , a water pump on another , and an engine swap in the third and current one due to CHG failure - all these jobs done by myself on the driveway .

Anyway , after five years of happy W126 ownership ( at which point rust was getting the better of it ) with the only downside being big fuel bills , I decided to try a 'cheap to run' diesel ; our first diesel car , other than a cheap diesel W124 I had bought previously for SWMBO , more of an opportunist purchase since a friend offered it for a bargain price than a planned one , and after a bit of initial fettling on a car that had been lying unused ( servicing , glow plugs , tank filter ) it turned out to be a good car if somewhat ponderous .

Anyway , I did some research and consensus seemed that the 270 was the best engine , and I picked up a 2003 C270CDI Avantgarde SE estate on 115K miles for £3K , which at the time compared to others for sale seemed a decent price .

To give its due , it drove smoothly , returned around 50mpg throughout my two years ownership , but was plagued with problems , few of which were in my DIY comfort zone , and the garage bills amounted to more than the purchase price , so the fuel savings were completely wiped out .

I'm now back with older Mercedes cars , swapped the 203 for an R129 , which I had to sort out the results of neglect by previous owners but am now on top of with a good , reliable car and 30mpg economy I can live with and 12000 miles covered since purchase in May ; and the 190 I bought for £250 while still running the 203 and had a year's pleasurable motoring , covering 5k in it as a second car , before deciding to embark on the engine swap from 1.8L to 2.3L , new engine now in and running sweetly , new tyres and numerous other service items done , towbar fitted , brake upgrade to do before putting back on road and car still owes me well under £1K thus far , but looking forward to same or better fuel economy than the SL .

 

[KillerHERTZ]

As long as yours has a Bosch radiator and not a Valeo time-bomb .

I very much doubt there's a single faulty radiator out there anymore.

 

[badj]

That's so true : I went from a W126 500SEL , which returned mid to low twenties mpg , but never missed a beat in my 5 years ownership , and other than one road spring , a couple of ball joints and a couple of bits of welding for the MOT , never needed more than routine DIY servicing , despite annual mileage of 20,000 or so . My various W201 , 123 & 124 cars were similarly reliable , with the biggest jobs being a heater matrix on one 190 , a water pump on another , and an engine swap in the third and current one due to CHG failure - all these jobs done by myself on the driveway .

Anyway , after five years of happy W126 ownership ( at which point rust was getting the better of it ) with the only downside being big fuel bills , I decided to try a 'cheap to run' diesel ; our first diesel car , other than a cheap diesel W124 I had bought previously for SWMBO , more of an opportunist purchase since a friend offered it for a bargain price than a planned one , and after a bit of initial fettling on a car that had been lying unused ( servicing , glow plugs , tank filter ) it turned out to be a good car if somewhat ponderous .

Anyway , I did some research and consensus seemed that the 270 was the best engine , and I picked up a 2003 C270CDI Avantgarde SE estate on 115K miles for £3K , which at the time compared to others for sale seemed a decent price .

To give its due , it drove smoothly , returned around 50mpg throughout my two years ownership , but was plagued with problems , few of which were in my DIY comfort zone , and the garage bills amounted to more than the purchase price , so the fuel savings were completely wiped out .

I'm now back with older Mercedes cars , swapped the 203 for an R129 , which I had to sort out the results of neglect by previous owners but am now on top of with a good , reliable car and 30mpg economy I can live with and 12000 miles covered since purchase in May ; and the 190 I bought for £250 while still running the 203 and had a year's pleasurable motoring , covering 5k in it as a second car , before deciding to embark on the engine swap from 1.8L to 2.3L , new engine now in and running sweetly , new tyres and numerous other service items done , towbar fitted , brake upgrade to do before putting back on road and car still owes me well under £1K thus far , but looking forward to same or better fuel economy than the SL .

This is quite common with the modern diesel. The 1.6 TD unit that is in Minis, Peugeots, Citroens, Fords and Volvos is a shocker. A large number of people are sucked in by the "70 mpg" and £20 RFL, but someone forgot to tell them that they have an EOLYS additive (£50+ every 37.5k) a disposable DPF (£400 or so every 75k) and as such, they all sudden end up on the used market just before the 75k service, which is £1000+, or ignore the maintenance and end up spending thousands trying to keep their 'cheap' diesel running correctly. Very few crack 50mpg in real life situations.


You can buy an old peugeot with the XUD9TE 1.9 turbo diesel engine and Bosch VE pump, throw any old stuff in it (be it chip pan oil or supermarket diesel) and it'll do 400k at 50mpg all day long, occasionally needing no more than an engine mount or drop link every couple of years.

 

[badj]

currently have r172 slk and e class cab (successor to CLK). SLK is the sharper drive but the e class is better fitted out & a nicer car.
e class more family friendly too.

Unfortunately it's a little out of my price range.

They did have a very nice E class coupe for sale at work, but £29k is probably 10 times my budget

 

[martyp87]

I think you should be able to find a decent CLK for your budget. However, having previously owned a 2003 CLK240 I know that rust is an issue with them.

Started off on the rear quarters which I had properly repaired & resprayed then the wing started to bubble. Was a great car though, 2.6 V6 had enough grunt and was a great cruiser with leather/COMAND/heated seats etc. but most importantly it looked fresh and they still do.

If you can get a 2004+ then you know its galvanised so less issues with corrosion but if not just have a really good look at all the panel edges.

 

[badj]

I think you should be able to find a decent CLK for your budget. However, having previously owned a 2003 CLK240 I know that rust is an issue with them.

Started off on the rear quarters which I had properly repaired & resprayed then the wing started to bubble. Was a great car though, 2.6 V6 had enough grunt and was a great cruiser with leather/COMAND/heated seats etc. but most importantly it looked fresh and they still do.

If you can get a 2004+ then you know its galvanised so less issues with corrosion but if not just have a really good look at all the panel edges.

Not too sure if the budget will quite cover anything beyond the 02/03 entry w209s.

I'm not quite mental enough to buy one of these (after Clarkson's £600+ coil pack issue on the one he bought on TG!) but I could insure one FC for £350...

Mercedes-Benz CL 5.0 CL500 2dr

 

[martyp87]

Best not look at CL / S class, one repair will wipe out your budget. lol

 

[badj]

Best not look at CL / S class, one repair will wipe out your budget. lol

But the reviews say it's 4.5 stars out of 5 for reliability :bannana:


Lol.

So damn tempting to have a 5.0 monster uber-bachelor wagon, but unfortunately I think common sense would prevail!

 

[ianrandom]

Such a short commute, I'd say bicycle.

 

[Hawkwind]

Not too sure if the budget will quite cover anything beyond the 02/03 entry w209s.

I'm not quite mental enough to buy one of these (after Clarkson's £600+ coil pack issue on the one he bought on TG!) but I could insure one FC for £350...

Mercedes-Benz CL 5.0 CL500 2dr

Surely it's possible to get a coil pack for less than £600 WTF are they made from gold?

 

[badj]

Surely it's possible to get a coil pack for less than £600 WTF are they made from gold?

Here's a used one...

MERCEDES S-CLASS W220 S600 W215 CL600 IGNITION COIL PACK LEFT 2751500580 | eBay

 

[badj]

Such a short commute, I'd say bicycle.

I won't go into how unrealistic this is

 

[ianrandom]

I won't go into how unrealistic this is

Fair enough.
It's so bad for cars to drive such a short distance though. Condensation in the oil, blah blah etc.
I read in some owners manual that if you drive short journeys of less than eight miles, three times per week or more, the recommendations were to change the oil four times more often. (Or expect a quarter of the engine life.)
That was a manual for a new Vauxhall Astra though, so make of that what you will
Sitting down is bad for people too, although of course many people have to.

I bike in town but have my three babies for out of town trips or carrying stuff etc.

 

[190]

I have the same problem with short commutes and with some steep hills cycling is also out for me. So rather than the car I use a two wheeler with an engine in it. Air cooled motors warm up fairly quickly but still not quick enough as BMW Airheads are rather overcooled in the winter with the cylinders stuck out in the wind. A little insulation on the valve covers eliminates internal condensation and does raise the oil temperature if not as much as I'd like.

 

[flango]

Here's a used one...

MERCEDES S-CLASS W220 S600 W215 CL600 IGNITION COIL PACK LEFT 2751500580 | eBay

About £200 for aftermarket ones in Germany

 

[Hawkwind]

Here's a used one...

MERCEDES S-CLASS W220 S600 W215 CL600 IGNITION COIL PACK LEFT 2751500580 | eBay

Ahh, I see. It would appear it's one per side for all the cylinders. Expensive way to do things, if anything goes wrong.