Opinions please.

[Deleted member 6183]

I bought my W220 at 5 years old last November. 35k miles, full MB history and in top condition. At the time I was doing under 20k miles a year and intended to keep the car 3 to 5 years or sell at under 100k miles either way.

I get a car allowance which I do not intend to fully spend on finance/lease as I need to account for service, repairs, tyres and a hire car if mine is off the road for more than a day or 2.

Things have changed, I have changed job within the organisation and now do far more miles. 30k so far this year and most likely over 50k for the year. My W220 mileage is now up to 65k.

I have an excellent aftermarket warranty on the car which runs to April next year and will not be renewable at this level because of excess miles.

Depreciation is a concern, as I'm aware that while the car is good for many hundreds of thousands of miles, the value at much over the 100k mark will be severely affected.

As we have a house that needs money spending I'm not inclined to spend a great deal on a new car.

Lease is difficult as most examples are for 10k miles pa, I know that there are those that allow for higher mileage but then the monthly premium increases so that end up looking at a Ford Focus or equivalent.

I've even considered one of the Korean manufacturers who offer an unlimited mileage 5 years warranty, or they used to anyway.

So far I'm thinking stick with the W220 until at least next April then decide what to do but my worry is that the car will be next to worthless as will probably be on aroung 120k miles by then.

BTW, drove an 07 E class today and it was pretty good. Didn't feel much smaller than the S, sharper steering and was easy to get comfortable in. Would be cheaper to run of course..........

 

[saorbust]

If you are happy with the 220, then stick with it.

It's probably good for 200k miles at least.

 

[neilrr]

What's your 220 worth right now?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Thanks for your responses.

Chatting with the service manager this morning and he has a customer who runs a W220 with well over 700k miles on the original engine and gearbox! I'm not too concerned about whether the car is good for high miles as I'm sure that it is.

I'm not sure what it's worth right now and that's probably a big issue as I suspect that I've lost £4k in 9 months and I really don't want to realise that loss if I can avoid it.

 

[A210AMG]

Hello

My brother does 60K miles a year and the biggest killer on a car is depreciation. If your runing it yourelf assuming fuel is covered for business its the loss on the car that will hurt.

100K is the cut off most peope are put off and or the value is affected big time.


When he bought his own car rather than take a compnay one this hit home.


Your best in a way to buy a car ex repmobile thats lost a shed load already and on 50K 60K miles full service etc. That way spening on 5 or 6K on a car your losing very very little and after a couple of years its almost throw away. Trouble is your use to the S class and this may not look like a good plan

Thing is keeping your car I've no idea on year / value but if you sell in on 120K say I bet you would have to find a big lump sum to sit in the same again on lower miles?

Looking at what cars you have save the SLK for the weekend and fun days and buy a cheaper car for clocking up the miles. It may not have anything like the qudos though and that will take some getting use to.

PS, can you choose a car off the work scheme?

 

[elpeterol]

A210AMG makes sense, run an ex company car into the ground and accept little value after 2-3 years. Modern diesels are generally pretty good and most ford/vauxhall/peugeots should be good for well over 100k.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.

A210AMG, I agree with you (somewhat reluctantly!) but I'm not sure if I can do the big miles in an inferior car.

I've had a look at what's available and unless I want to buy something like a low miles nearly new Fiat Punto I'll be looking at something not unlike the S class anyway so I'm leaning more towards running the S up into 3 figures as far as mileage is concerned.

Shame in some ways as I always had a soft spot for small Fiats as they give good driving pleasure, sadly these days I'd look more like I was wearing one than driving one.

 

[Mark300SL]

I have been here many times and I do all my miles in a diesel Astra!

I run a car into the ground every 3 years and replace it for peanuts with another nearly new Diesel Astra. Whilst I can appreciate many on here wouldnt be seen dead even looking at one it works for me.

£5000 got me a 56 plate, 14 month old 1.25 Astra CDTi Estate, with £20k on the clock, It now has 58k on it and hasnt cost anything bar servicing and 2 tyres. I expect to run it to about 150k and at that point it will still likely return £1500/£1800 for a cash sale.
The last 3 astras have made me money and they actually are not bad at all to drive. the new 1.3 diesel has a lot more go than my previous 1.7 and I dont ever see me going back to the bigger engine as the car is just there to get me from A to B
If you need to carry clients etc then its a different matter and I have often used my 15 yr old SL for summer business meetings where I feel that using the company Aston might make me look like a very expensive proposition!



If you feel that the S is what you need to feel comfortable, when doing that sort of mileage then I cant argue, but my own mind wont let me spend a lot of money on a car that depreciates massively as every month goes by.


Mark

 

[Mark300SL]

BTW

Eddie got his S320 from Jaymanek with well over 100k on the clock and now with over 120k on it it still drives like new!
He dropped it into Olly for servicing and to get all niggles sorted when he first got it and Olly recently gave it a clean bill of health!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Thanks Mark, food for thought there.

I'm still thinking it through, I do like the comfort of the S class but baulk at the idea that it may be unreliable and worthless in a couple of years time.

Having said that I'd always intended to run long term, will the extra mileage matter that much?

 

[timskemp]

Thanks Mark, food for thought there.

I'm still thinking it through, I do like the comfort of the S class but baulk at the idea that it may be unreliable and worthless in a couple of years time.

Having said that I'd always intended to run long term, will the extra mileage matter that much?

My opinion, and I've run big miles on cars before, is that you keep them. If you enjoy the car, what else would you want.

Yes, you could go pick up a perfectly comfortable Vectra for 5000 quid or so, but it'll be worth scrappage in 2-3 yrs time, and you'll either (a) wish you'd kept the S or (b) keep the S and wish you were driving it.

Running costs are not high when spread across real mileages - for example in 300k miles over ten years you'll have spent a lot of money in cash terms, but you'd have bought 2 vectras.

Main thing is to keep on top of maintenance. Change the fluids on time or early. Drive with some mechanical sympathy but don't baby the thing everywhere. If anything breaks fix it quick before little jobs pile up and you look at a psychologically big bill.