Should it stay or should it go?

[hawk20]

Throw it away and take a look at a year old Audi A8 on long service schedule with standard tyres.


Back to back with the S it feels and drives loads better.

You have to be joking. Almost every major motoring magazine worldwide rated the 220 series S class, 'best saloon car in the world'. And it is. The comfort, the ride, the performance, the combination is without equal.

As for Bills my December 2005 S320cdi has now done 23,000 trouble free miles and the service costs so far have been one A service at a main dealer costing only £235 inc vat. The next service (B) will come up in about 4000 miles and will cost about £480. That's less than 3p per mile for servicing -really the small change of motoring. Fuel costs nearer 15p per mile (more for you with a petrol one).

As for your bills so far, most are just normal running costs. You include tyres, brakes, MOT and so on. Only the suspension pump is a repair you might not have expected. I drive lots of twisty, turny stuff in the New Forest, and in Dorset and in Cornwall. The car loves it. Drove to South of France and back in the summer and averaged 37 mpg. In a two ton car that does 0-62 in 7.6 seconds and has a topspeed of around 150 mph, that is truly amazing. I look forward to driving mine evry single day. Love it.

 

[big x]

If your getting internal misting water is present.Honest John says :

"What to Watch Out For niggling build-quality problems on first generation cars. VITAL to keep ventilation plenum chamber drains clear of debris, or water overflows wetting carpets, vent blower motor and wiring loom causing shorts and sometimes necessitating a new loom. If buying used, CHECK ALL ELECTRICS and feel for damp front footwell carpets.
Recalls
8/8/2000: 780 new S Class built 1/2000 to 5/2000 recalled because water from plenum chamber can cause a short circuit which could result in the heater blower motor regulator overheating which could lead to charring and smouldering. Blower motor regulator units to be replaced. But the culprits are the plenum chamber drains. 16-11/2005:"

Funnily enough the air con system seems to be one of the strong points of these cars.See here http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/car_search.html?apc=311
although overall claims on Warranty Direct policies are high.

adam

 

[graeme73s]

I can see where you are coming from. If you are not particularly in love with this car then it becomes very hard to keep throwing money at it. Try pistonheads.com to advertise the car if you decide to sell her. I've had quite a lot of success in selling cars from their site and it is free to private advertisers. I currently have my LHD SV12 advertised on there. I have one chap in Hong Kong who has applied to the china equivelant of our DVLA to re register his S600L as a tuned vehicle. Hong Kong will not import LHD cars so he will basically have to either swap all of the bits from mine to his or convert mine to RHD and this morning I have had an email from a chap in Ghana requesting further information and more pictures.

 

[hawk20]

Help me decide...

I bought a nice and cheap S320 (2000) last September
I have just spent £1600 on tyres, service, front brakes MOT and a new pump for the airmatic suspension and it is running well and all the electrics function perfectly but on the downside there are a few niggles:
1. Climate seems to have a mind of its own, needs to be at 28 degrees before it takes the chill off the air
2. Squeaky fan on ventilation system (although this seems to have stopped, come to think of it about the time that the climate started mis-behaving… …spooky eh?)
3. Bit of tin-worm at the bottom of the doors
4. Strange tendency to mist up when parked and dodgy climate then takes ages to clear it up
5. To look it's best the wheels need replacing.
.

But he is not chucking lots of money at it. He has a seven year old S class and he says 'it is running well and all the electrics function perfectly'. The only item he has bought -that is not normal running costs (tyres, brakes etc) - is a new pump for the airmatic. Not bad for 7 years old. As for the niggles:-
1. Get the aircon/ vent fan sorted
2. Thirty year rust guarantee should cover the door problem if stone chips/accidents etc are not involved. Merc have been very good at doing even cars without full MBSH -see other threads
3. Seven year old alloys do look a bit aged on any car. The big tyre discount outfit at Micheldever will refurb and recoat them at a fraction of the new cost. The ones I have seen look as new. I expect other firms do this too.

 

[Spin_bowler]

Thanks for all the comments on here guys, they're all being taken into consideration in my decison making. Hawk's making a pretty good case for the defence but the 'get rid' vote is still the strongest. The poll closes in a week and I'll be making my decision after that... ...I'll let you know what happens.