SLK200 - Should I go for it?

[Deleted member 5443]

Hi everybody,

I looked at a Silver SLK200 last night in London.

X (2000 reg). Facelift features.
3rd owner (bought it from a Merc dealer 1.5 years ago at 6K miles. Has done 29K miles in 1 year.
35K miles. MBFSH.
Automatic.
Not smoked in.
No A/C.
Body (apart from alloys) and interior are in excellent condition.
Hood moves smoothly up/down without hesitation, each transition taking < 30s.
Single Audi 10 CD player.
Tax/MOT until Feb 2006.

My reservations about it are:
- 2 of the alloys have been slightly kerbed and some have white bleachy
marks on them (bit like unremovable bird crap).
- Somebody smashed into the O/S/F wing/headlamp; damage fully repaired
under insurance at a Merc dealer.
- Sat in the car with driver for a short distance. Driving style was slightly
aggressive.
- Engine area under hood seemed quite dirty/'tired' looking for a car which
had only done 35K miles.

What do you all think? Asking price is £13,500. I would expect this to come down because of the alloys.

If I decide to go ahead, I would test drive it at the weekend and have somebody (independent merc specialist or RAC) check it out thoroughly for me.

Appreciate your feedback. I just want to make sure I pick the right car!

Thanks,


bernie

 

[C240Sport97]

overpriced ... no a/c is not good either. if there's no leather, then avoid like the plague

 

[Will]

I'd say it was overpriced as well, and one of the most basic models too. Remember, it's a buyer's market out there.

Have you looked at or driven one of the SLK230 (Kompressor) models. Might make a more pleasant drive than the 200. Also, try and get one with some of the desirable options in it (eg A/C). Even if you are not too worried, it should certainly help resale in the future

You'll know when the right car comes along

Will

 

[MainMan]

If it's not got A/C it must be an import because the UK spec has A/C as standard. If i't's not UK spec you may get problems with insurance, servicing etc. As has been said, the lack of leather is a BIG problem. I've got a completely immaculate 2001X 320 with 24k miles and I don't think I could get £13,500 for that. The car should probably be nearer £10k.

 

[fuzzer]

i agree, 10k or less.. 13k and the guy is having a giraffe

 

[glojo]

It is very easy to be tempted by perhaps the first car you look at. I am a great believer in being very, very fussy when buying a second-hand car. The perfect vehicle will be out there. It might indeed be the first one you look at, but usually I find that it is the tenth or maybe even the fifteenth.

Solely reading your description, I would walk away, the owner does not sound the type that has treated the car with the TLC that I always look for.

My son and I looked at about twelve Escort's before finally making a purchase, and he has had to admit the car was easily the best of the bunch (even though he fell in love with most of the one's we looked at)

Good luck with whatever you decide,
John

 

[Ted]

It's expensive.
My daughter bought a facelift 200k from a MB dealer last week
X reg, 36k, fmbsh, signature warranty, B service done, aircon, 6 speed manual, leather, upgraded alloys, linarite blue,
Car is unmarked, and all paintwork looks original, engine bay hasn't been cleaned, but is very clean.
The car drives as I would expect a new car to drive - it really is nice.
She paid 14 1/2 k for it - I always reckon that MB garages put a couple of k on top (signature warranties and flashy showrooms can't come cheap)
And I thought that was expensive.........

 

[Alfie]

It's expensive.
My daughter bought a facelift 200k from a MB dealer last week
X reg, 36k, fmbsh, signature warranty, B service done, aircon, 6 speed manual, leather, upgraded alloys, linarite blue,
Car is unmarked, and all paintwork looks original, engine bay hasn't been cleaned, but is very clean.
The car drives as I would expect a new car to drive - it really is nice.
She paid 14 1/2 k for it - I always reckon that MB garages put a couple of k on top (signature warranties and flashy showrooms can't come cheap)
And I thought that was expensive.........

A colleague of mine recently bought an SLK200K manual She searched the entire country for a dealer that had one and guess what, she found just one.

Things to remember when buying a Mercedes that you might one day want to sell on or trade-in;

1; Always always always always get an automatic. Manual Mercs are very very hard to sell on.

2; A decent darkish colour or Silver. Never white (sorry howard), Flat red or bright green/turquoise.

3; Leather always help resale and is much nicer to sit on.

4; A/C is a must have

5; Any other options simply help resale and will not add value unless you have COMAND which can add anything up to £2k depending on the car.

Everything else is pretty much common sense like low miles, low owners, FMBSH etc.

Good luck

 

[mickl]

there's this on MB used search

2000 / W
SLK230 KOMPRESSOR Obsidian Black Metallic with Anthracite/Silver Leather 39700m £14995

costs more than your slk200 but a slk230k, auto, leather and A/C with full MB warranty and dealer backup.

 

[gary350]

The white stains on the wheels is corrosion, they will need refurbing, I will go with the rest no leather stay away.

gary

 

[Deleted member 5443]

SLK - few further queries

Hi everybody,

Thanks for all your replies. I value your advice.

I forgot to mention that it did have full black leather seats. I've decided to walk from it because of the lack of A/C.

I'm a little puzzled by how much you believe I should be paying (£10K).
I've been guided by the recent Parkers guide and found the cheapest prices for an X registration 2000 with mileage to match were:

Dealer Private
SLK200 £14,945 £13,830
SLK230 £16,215 £15,010

Most cars I am seeing advertised for a 2000 X reg, tend to fall somewhere in this region.

Am I looking in the wrong places? I keep an eye weekly on AutoTrader, Exchange and Mart, London Loot, The Daily Telegraph (Sat) and the Sunday Times. I also look at the web-site fish4cars. Are there any other avenues I should be considering? I've given up looking at main Merc dealers prices as they are just too expensive.

A few more queries:
How can I identify a fully UK speced 200 or 230 when I go to see it?
Do all the Automatics (200 or 230) have TipTronic thrown in as well? In other words can you have pure Automatic without the TipTronic?
What does the term Kompressor actually mean?
What is the high-capacity battery that gets talked about? Is this std on all models?
How do you recognise if a model has Xenon headlamps? Are they simply much brighter than normal lamps?


Thanks in advance.



bernie

 

[GrahamC230K]

What does the term Kompressor actually mean?

It means the engine is supercharged.

 

[Alfie]

Hi everybody,

Thanks for all your replies. I value your advice.

I forgot to mention that it did have full black leather seats. I've decided to walk from it because of the lack of A/C.

I'm a little puzzled by how much you believe I should be paying (£10K).
I've been guided by the recent Parkers guide and found the cheapest prices for an X registration 2000 with mileage to match were:

Dealer Private
SLK200 £14,945 £13,830
SLK230 £16,215 £15,010

Most cars I am seeing advertised for a 2000 X reg, tend to fall somewhere in this region.

Am I looking in the wrong places? I keep an eye weekly on AutoTrader, Exchange and Mart, London Loot, The Daily Telegraph (Sat) and the Sunday Times. I also look at the web-site fish4cars. Are there any other avenues I should be considering? I've given up looking at main Merc dealers prices as they are just too expensive.

A few more queries:
How can I identify a fully UK speced 200 or 230 when I go to see it?
Do all the Automatics (200 or 230) have TipTronic thrown in as well? In other words can you have pure Automatic without the TipTronic?
What does the term Kompressor actually mean?
What is the high-capacity battery that gets talked about? Is this std on all models?
How do you recognise if a model has Xenon headlamps? Are they simply much brighter than normal lamps?


Thanks in advance.



bernie

Tiptronic tends to be standard on all auto's these days, however to be sure, look at the gear selector and if there is a + and a - on either side of the selector, then its tiptronic.

Kompressor is already stated, a supercharger for the engine. All 230 SLK are supercharged and to the best of my belief so are all 200's. The 320 is a V6 with no supercharger (doesnt need one )

Xenonx on a Mercedes always come with headlamp wash. If there is a headlamp wash button in the car then it might have Xenon's I say might as headlamp wash is available without Xenons but Xenons (factory fit) are not available without headlamp wash.

To see exactly what any car you are interested in has fitted when it left the factory, take a note of the chassis number and put it in to this website;
http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/code/?lng=eng

You will see every option and code associated with that vehicle including country of origin.

Good luck

 

[MainMan]

The heavy duty battery is UK standard on the 320 - not the others. UK spec should have A/C, cruise control and ESP. 15" alloys are standard on the 200, with 16" as an option, and 16" are standard on the 230/320. 17" are options on all but the cost was basically equivalent to chucking away the standard wheels - it was about £1200 extra for the AMG 17". 17" look best however. Unfortunately if they weren't an option from new the insurance company will load your premium.

I'm surprised by the Parkers prices. Maybe the fact that the new model is so much more money has pushed up the prices of the old model, or maybe they're just wrong. A couple of years ago I was thinking of selling my SLK320 (because of the hopeless performance in snow) and I phoned round various dealers and people advertising to buy Mercs - I know this is not a way to get a decent price but I wanted to get some idea of the market. The max offer I got for a 2 year old still under guarantee, one owner SLK320 with 15K on the clock and as new condition was £17k.

I'd be very surprised if someone can get over 50% of the new price for a car that's over 5 years old. This is a buyer's market and has been for a couple of years. Also remember that the SLK is not cheap to put right and is not as reliable as a Honda/Mazda/Toyota, so that affects residuals too. It would be interesting to know what the Glass's Guide prices are for the 2000 facelift SLKS200,230,320 (you don't want the pre-facelift) - someone on this site probably has access to one.