Thinking of buying this...any feedback, pointers please

[such01]

Pics of brakes and plug

 

[such01]

Also looking at other cars I've seen a few with these repairs - this is on a 2012 plate with 76k.

What's the possible reason(s) for this - looks very expensive?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I'm thinking this is a good one as the condition looks as near mint as possible - certainly for it's age! Also the last owner was an elderly gentleman golfer from Glasgow. My only concern is that he looks to have skimped on servicing only having oil changes since 2017.
However I have noted that MB Mobilo was still in effect after each service - I thought this was only possible if ALL scheduled service items were done?
Could it be possible that these have been missed on the DSB?

Mobilo and breakdown assistance have been one and the same in the past but they’re not now.

Breakdown assistance comes with every main dealer A or B service, and is valid for 12 months, so you could not service the car at all for 10 years and then service it and get 12 months breakdown assistance, but it will expire if you don’t service the car with a main dealer gain.

Mobilo also included a “warranty” against corrosion of body panels which originated from inside the panel (not the same as under the paint), and excluded corrosion originating from the outside of the panel. There is supposed to be an inspection of the bodywork with each main dealer A or B service, which extends this cover.

Once the’s a break in the servicing schedule, then this bodywork warranted lapses and cannot be reinstated by performing main dealer services at a later date. It’s very difficult to make a claim too, so some say it’s not worth bothering. If you intend to use a main dealer then it’s a nice bonus (as long as the service history is perfect).

 

[such01]

Also in the frame:

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

I know I said I'm not keen on black interior but it's growing on me....
Has lots of history and been serviced on time with ATF on schedule

 

[AMGeed]

Also in the frame:

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

I know I said I'm not keen on black interior but it's growing on me....
Has lots of history and been serviced on time with ATF on schedule

I prefer that car to the first one, but again its got a lot of miles under its belt already.
If you are doing 15/20k a year its going to be hard to shift in a few years time with 150k+ miles on the clock.

I'd hold off and try and find a bit more in your budget to find a sub 50k mile car.
But that's just me

 

[such01]

I prefer that car to the first one, but again its got a lot of miles under its belt already.
If you are doing 15/20k a year its going to be hard to shift in a few years time with 150k+ miles on the clock.

I'd hold off and try and find a bit more in your budget to find a sub 50k mile car.
But that's just me

Thanks for your thoughts. I really wasn’t planning on spending much more as I know whatever I get will be hard to shift with the accrued mileage, that way I won’t feel so bad having to sell it for less.

 

[Will]

It’s often worth paying a bit more though to buy the best example you can afford.

I’ve owned 20+ Mercedes cars over the years and mostly the cheapest ones to run in terms of total cost of ownership are usually the lower mileage ones that I paid a premium for up front.

In other words, the premium you may pay for an absolute peach is usually money well spent, and likely less of a premium than what you think you’ll have lost come resale time in the future once you account for often lower costs during ownership too.

Buying a car with 50k fewer miles would potentially put you three years ahead of the mileage come resale time too (if that makes sense!)

I think with cars like these there will be a much smaller group of buyers looking for a 120-150k+ miler in the future and approaching 200k it would be very difficult to shift IMHO.

 

[MrGreedy]

Also, don't forget these are £735 road tax now, which could be heading nastily towards £1,000 in three or four years time.

Enthusiasts will possibly still pay that for low mileage garage queen, cherished examples, but I fear higher mileage examples might quickly shake out of the desirability group.

 

[ALFAitalia]

On looks ALONE... the first one by a mile..... but its not my decision or money!

 

[such01]

I may just hang onto it and keep it for my sons to drive around in - my eldest should have got rid of his 9 points by then!

 

[such01]

Also, don't forget these are £735 road tax now, which could be heading nastily towards £1,000 in three or four years time.

Enthusiasts will possibly still pay that for low mileage garage queen, cherished examples, but I fear higher mileage examples might quickly shake out of the desirability group.

I didn't realise the VED is increasing...

 

[MrGreedy]

I didn't realise the VED is increasing...

I thought the way of things was that tax for set figure rates (e.g. VED, Council tax) go up every year without fail.

Editied to remove potential political aspects.

 

[st13phil]

Also in the frame:

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

I know I said I'm not keen on black interior but it's growing on me....
Has lots of history and been serviced on time with ATF on schedule

It doesn’t have as nice a spec as the pre-facelift car and both are similarly leggy, but…

Having owned both a pre-facelift and a facelift W212 E63 I would say that there are detail changes between them that make the facelift car a marginally better drive. If your use pattern is going to include lots of night time driving on unlit roads then I’d say the facelift car is a no-brainer due to the massively superior LED ILS headlamps.

 

[such01]

I prefer that car to the first one, but again its got a lot of miles under its belt already.
If you are doing 15/20k a year its going to be hard to shift in a few years time with 150k+ miles on the clock.

I'd hold off and try and find a bit more in your budget to find a sub 50k mile car.
But that's just me

I'll probably reduce my mileage a bit as I'll use another car for mundane local trips and use this for work journeys

 

[such01]

It doesn’t have as nice a spec as the pre-facelift car and both are similarly leggy, but…

Having owned both a pre-facelift and a facelift W212 E63 I would say that there are detail changes between them that make the facelift car a marginally better drive. If your use pattern is going to include lots of night time driving on unlit roads then I’d say the facelift car is a no-brainer due to the massively superior LED ILS headlamps.

That's the one thing that's swaying me to the facelift - the headlights. Although, having recently changed my xenons I was surprised by the difference this made.

 

[st13phil]

That's the one thing that's swaying me to the facelift - the headlights. Although, having recently changed my xenons I was surprised by the difference this made.

If you haven’t experienced the LED ILS on the facelift car you can’t really appreciate how much of a game changer it is for night-time driving. The way it selectively masks vehicles in front and oncoming traffic while maintaining good illumination on the rest of the road is superb.

 

[Will]

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

 

[st13phil]

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

Both are from the very last build period (COMAND is the giveaway) and both are poverty spec, but of the two the Hyacinth Red one looks the best.

Just goes to show that they are out there, you just have to keep looking.

 

[Will]

Sure, just pulled out a couple of examples with around half the mileage for reference.

I guess it’s a numbers game of age/mileage/spec/price etc - and then things like colour schemes, history, number of owners and who’s selling it etc

 

[ALFAitalia]

I'd love that red one.....the blues nice too...but as you know Im not a fan of black leather. Both are a bit strongly priced IMO seeing what else is about as the moment and the ever shrinking market for cars like that....but if you must have ones of those colours your choice is much smaller.....so if you wanna play you gotta pay!!

EDIT....according to those listing the red ones been on AT for sale since October........but the blue one will have its first birthday on there in about 2 weeks!!!......I think that pretty much proves that they are too expensive.....or not as nice as the pictures portray them.......