Thinking of selling the SLK

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gaz_l

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This isn't a for sale ad in disguise, BTW, more a request for comments.

In a couple of months (actually August 1st), I'll have had the SLK 6 years, an eternity by my standards. I bought it at 4 years old with just 11K on the clock, and it's been used sparingly in my ownership - it's a bit of a garage queen TBH. By the time it hits its 10th birthday in September, it'll probably just be rolling over 34,000.

Although it needs a little tidying - it's got the odd paint chip and a few scuffs on the alloys - it's a low mileage AMG that with a little bit of fettling should still return decent money. So why am I thinking of selling? Although I still like driving the car, and that V8 always puts a grin on my face whenever I floor the throttle, I've come to the conclusion I just don't need it any more. It's too fast for real world use - an SLK200 would do just as well day to day. I loved taking it to Goodwood the other month but that's the only time you can really stretch its legs, and it's a bit of an expensive day out.

The other justification I had for keeping the car was that our little one (a Fiat Panda) wasn't really up to long journeys, and indeed it was a pain - literally and figuratively - to sit in for more than an hour or so. The Panda went a month back and its replacement, the Ypsilon - although ostensibly a city car - seats 4 grown ups in reasonable comfort and cruises happily at motorway speeds.

So should I sell the SLK, and if so what should I get to replace it? I can still justify having a second car on the grounds that a) Mrs. Gaz needs the little car for work occasionally, thus leaving me without one, and b) I like cars and can afford to run two, so bugger it, it's my money.

My thoughts are:

1. Porsche 911. I've always wanted one, and I really thought about this before I bought the SLK but TBH I think the arguments still stand. For the same money as the SLK I'd only be able to buy one that's older, with more miles on and it wouldn't be any faster.

2. Classic. I love cars and would love to have a classic of some sort in the garage. As it wouldn't be the main driver, I can live with the fact that it may need TLC. The trouble is now, anything over 20 years old is a "classic" and prices have quite frankly gone stupid. The bubble's got to burst sometime IMO, and when it happens a lot of people are going to get caught out.

3. Snotter. There's something quite liberating about having a car you don't care about. I'm thinking something barge-like, an old Lexus LS/BMW 7 series/Jag XJ. If it goes disastrously wrong leave it by the roadside and get the train home..

What to do?

Cheers,

Gaz
 
Options 2 & 3, what would the budgets be? I'm assuming the snorter budget would be about £2k?
 
3. The Snotter factor is ace. My zero purchase cost SAAB 95 is still going strong - I'm in two minds to change it or not, for either an Audi RS5 or go back to another W124 300E-24V saloon or coupe.
 
Snotter - cheap as possible. 1500, maybe 2K. No doubt it would have to have intergalactic mileage for that money, but something that's been looked after should be good for more. SAABs also crossed my mind.

Classic - I don't know, like I say I think pretty much everything is overpriced these days. It doesn't have to be quick, so maybe something quirky instead. I quite fancy a Citroen Ami Super with the flat four engine from the GS - that's different from the SLK!

Cheers,

Gaz
 
I agree something about the snotter factor does appeal
 
gaz_l said:
Snotter - cheap as possible. 1500, maybe 2K. No doubt it would have to have intergalactic mileage for that money, but something that's been looked after should be good for more. SAABs also crossed my mind. Classic - I don't know, like I say I think pretty much everything is overpriced these days. It doesn't have to be quick, so maybe something quirky instead. I quite fancy a Citroen Ami Super with the flat four engine from the GS - that's different from the SLK! Cheers, Gaz
Four years ago I sold my beautiful W208 CLK 230K Coupe for just £2k. It was only just run in with 115k miles. So you can get something much better than a snorter for all that money. I'd go for a sub £1k barge like a BMW 7 or an XJ (as long as you're not planning on doing lots of miles in it).
 
I would say snotter or classic, after all the only difference is whether you are buying or selling. I picked up a Honda Accord V6 coupe with a wonderful sonorous engine for very little, shoved an induction kit on it and it now howls like an NSX, but with real world costs, practicality and all in cost of virtually nothing...

I don't think all classics are that expensive, many are hideously so though, but quirky tends to be cheap.
 
Don't see the logic in a 911 based on your logic for getting rid of the SLK.

Unless its a box you just need to tick.
 
Don't see the logic in a 911 based on your logic for getting rid of the SLK.

Unless its a box you just need to tick.

That's what I thought.

Getting rid of the SLK because its too quick and you cant use the performance? And then a 911? lol
 
Hi Gaz

I know exactly what you're going through. I think we all go through that on this forum and at the end of the day it's our heart that rules our head. As much as you try to do the sensible thing, your heart tells you that you want to go through that experience no matter what the consequences you face.

I still long for a 911 but I face the same issue as you so I got the SLK. I had a TVR before that. I loved that. It was hard work but I loved it and I really enjoyed the experience. But after a while I wanted something easier to live with.

I got the Suzuki Ignis Sport as a snotter. It's really enjoyable to drive, it's barely worth £1000 now. But I got it for the very reason you state in option 3.

At the end of the day, do what your heart tells you because in a year or two, you will regret not doing so and then back track to buy what you felt like in the first place. You'll tell yourself that life's too short.
 
I know the feeling. Every time we have sold the "second" car (mine), after a month or so I start getting fidgety and fussing for my own car again. I am 5 ft 11 and the Mrs, is 5 ft 1, so one car is seldom satisfactory to both of us. We now have a new Juke which she loves, to me it is a hard riding, noisy lump. I have my old CLK, which has not let me down in 2~1/2 years. It is quiet, comfortable and reliable, but I am getting bored with it. If anything expensive breaks it will have to be scrapped
In your case, I would go with "snotter". Drive it for a while and junk it when it breaks.
 
Thanks all.

I realise I'd face the same performance issues with a 911 as with the SLK, it really is a "box not ticked" thing. Or more precisely a "do you remember when.." as opposed to "wouldn't it have been great if..". You're only here once, and I realise that if I live long enough, one day I'll probably be driving a Honda Jazz whilst wearing a trilby. Or, more likely, a baseball cap on back to front.

Had a chat with the guys up at the Brooklands meet today about this, I still really don't know where I'm going. The SLK's been a great car, running costs aren't the cheapest but it's not going to break the bank, why change it for something unknown?

Of course, if I'd have bought that Alfa Montreal a few years back, then I wouldn't have had any money ever again and the question wouldn't have arisen..

Cheers,

Gaz
 
If in doubt Gaz keep it. Until one day you see something that's absolutely spot on and you have to have it.
 
Keep the SLK AMG!

Spend a little dosh on it to bring it up to mint condition (as befits a 34k car) and treat it as a semi/future classic.

Then get a snotter to hoon around in too. :bannana:
 
Yup, second that. Swap it for my 1999 R129 SL500? ;)

What year is it?
 
Get yourself an A35 van :) James Hunt said he could loon about in that all day and never break the speed limit - sounds ideal :)

Seriously though - keep the SLK. If you got rid of it you would regret it every time the sun came out:)
 
Yup, second that. Swap it for my 1999 R129 SL500? ;)

What year is it?

Thanks for the offer, but an SL's not on the radar. It wouldn't fit in the garage for one thing - the SLK's a squeeze..

Cheers,

Gaz
 

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