W211 e500 buying

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Very good point. I mentioned earlier that the low mileage actually puts me off more than anything. It might just be a ticking time bomb for me to replace all the items that should have been already had it done 100k.

Although I won't be adding many miles to car myself.



Yes, that's the one. It had a £4000 starting bid with a reserve. £6495 buy it now price.
A couple of PHers had made offers below 5k that were rejected.

Well if you assume that's it's a 1k premium for an estate that's a £5.5k saloon that looks like it's recently had some serious spend on some of the breaky bits.

If he's replaced the front air struts and rear bags (with decent replacement) that's a lot of cash. Plus all the ball joints etc.

Can you add some of the bork fund you won't now need to your budget?
 
So you follow the barge thread too :D

I'm just Scottish; short arms & deep pockets.

If I can, I like to buy a car where (a) the original owner splashed a LOT of cash on options and where (b) the previous owner(s) have relatively recently spent a lot on big ticket service items.

Those two things only add a small premium to the price of any given car - way out of proportion of with what was actually spent.

Five of my last six cars have been like that. The one that wasn't cost me nearly £2k when I asked the local MB specialist to "bring it up to standard".
 
Well if you assume that's it's a 1k premium for an estate that's a £5.5k saloon that looks like it's recently had some serious spend on some of the breaky bits.

If he's replaced the front air struts and rear bags (with decent replacement) that's a lot of cash. Plus all the ball joints etc.

Can you add some of the bork fund you won't now need to your budget?

A good way to do it. Wouldn't surprise me if I spent top end and then still got thrown a large bill.

So you follow the barge thread too :D

I have been following it recently, since I've been considering something with a bit more waft.
I actually posted an e500 in there a few days ago with the bilstein suspension
 
Second, there are bills, then there are 2k bills. That would certainly cause some issues for me. I suppose it's take the risk for a car like this, or stick with something I'd find miserable that would cost less when it goes wrong (in theory)

This is the problem for us petrolheads.

You are not the first and won't be the last!

The problem with these W211 E500s and E55K is they are disproportionately expensive to keep in fine fettle (if you opt for OEM components) and are getting older now.

I fix stuff as and when it goes wrong so the bills do not pile up and I avoid the bill expanding where it otherwise might.

So I never saw a £2k bill on my E55K in one go but I did spend into 5 figures on it over 5.5 years. I did add it up and I'm sure it was £15k just adding up all the bills from my inde so that didn't include insurance, modifications, MOT or tax. Was it worth the money for me? Shit yeah!

However, I did see a £1800 from a local independent on a 3.5 year old Saab 9-5 Aero HOT... so don't assume buying a car without air or SBC will save you! :crazy:

If you want cheap, buy a nearly new 1.2 Turbo Skoda Fabia manual and keep it for 10 years.

But make sure you have enough money for your funeral because you will die of boredom!
 
Yeah, like I said -- you'll be hard pushed to find one without deferred maintenance as once you're in deep, it isn't worth letting it go for the peanuts that they command in the open market. It's just as well that they're amazing cars and great mile munchers. I just completed a 2,000 mile round trip to Spain (I took the ferry to Santander) and it's a really good long distance cruiser (when maintained well).
 
Yep lol,

The E55k's could do around £1,000 every 1k miles easy lol, if you keep them a1
 
I was only recently looking at buying an e500 - I ended up with a cls and the 5.5 as it doesn't have the SBC pump and I don't need an estate as I have an estate as my other car and didn't matter about the poorer rear headroom as I don't sit in the back haha!

There was a silver estate e500 for sale at around 4.5k that looked worth going to look at if you're swaying towards an estate - there were two, one looked better than the other and think had better spec too.

I've had an m113 W215 so familiar with the 5.0 and prefer the 5.5 as it's quicker, think it's also better on petrol although not a fair comparison between 5g and 7g and w215 vs w219.

I'd go for any of the e or cls, 2003 onwards though to avoid rusty rear arches

HTH
 
I was only recently looking at buying an e500 - I ended up with a cls and the 5.5 as it doesn't have the SBC pump and I don't need an estate as I have an estate as my other car and didn't matter about the poorer rear headroom as I don't sit in the back haha!

There was a silver estate e500 for sale at around 4.5k that looked worth going to look at if you're swaying towards an estate - there were two, one looked better than the other and think had better spec too.

I've had an m113 W215 so familiar with the 5.0 and prefer the 5.5 as it's quicker, think it's also better on petrol although not a fair comparison between 5g and 7g and w215 vs w219.

I'd go for any of the e or cls, 2003 onwards though to avoid rusty rear arches

HTH

The 5.5 is quite a lot quicker and marginally better on fuel. But out of the budget, I presume.

The CLS is a good shout - there have always been more CLS 500's than E's. I really like them.
 
This is the problem for us petrolheads.

You are not the first and won't be the last!

The problem with these W211 E500s and E55K is they are disproportionately expensive to keep in fine fettle (if you opt for OEM components) and are getting older now.

I fix stuff as and when it goes wrong so the bills do not pile up and I avoid the bill expanding where it otherwise might.

So I never saw a £2k bill on my E55K in one go but I did spend into 5 figures on it over 5.5 years. I did add it up and I'm sure it was £15k just adding up all the bills from my inde so that didn't include insurance, modifications, MOT or tax. Was it worth the money for me? Shit yeah!

However, I did see a £1800 from a local independent on a 3.5 year old Saab 9-5 Aero HOT... so don't assume buying a car without air or SBC will save you! :crazy:

If you want cheap, buy a nearly new 1.2 Turbo Skoda Fabia manual and keep it for 10 years.

But make sure you have enough money for your funeral because you will die of boredom!

3k a year is quite the expense! But as you say, if it's worth it to you then it's money well spent...provided it's affordable
I really don't want to be stuck with a car I hate, purely for being scared by the prospect of a large bill. I may get away without, but that's the risk to take


I was only recently looking at buying an e500 - I ended up with a cls and the 5.5 as it doesn't have the SBC pump and I don't need an estate as I have an estate as my other car and didn't matter about the poorer rear headroom as I don't sit in the back haha!

There was a silver estate e500 for sale at around 4.5k that looked worth going to look at if you're swaying towards an estate - there were two, one looked better than the other and think had better spec too.

I've had an m113 W215 so familiar with the 5.0 and prefer the 5.5 as it's quicker, think it's also better on petrol although not a fair comparison between 5g and 7g and w215 vs w219.

I'd go for any of the e or cls, 2003 onwards though to avoid rusty rear arches

HTH


The 5.5 is quite a lot quicker and marginally better on fuel. But out of the budget, I presume.

The CLS is a good shout - there have always been more CLS 500's than E's. I really like them.

A 5.5 would be nice and I do like the cls (not quite as much as the e), but realistically more than I can spend right now.
 
A 5.5 would be nice and I do like the cls (not quite as much as the e), but realistically more than I can spend right now.
I've had an 04 E500 estate for about 9 years now, and still love it. I've probably spent about £10k + or so on service and repairs, the biggest job being the rear air springs. I also have an 08 SL500 with the 5.5 engine. Whilst it's no doubt quicker than the E, I find the 7G+ gearing in the SL a bit longer and not as well paired as the 7G box in the E. Overtaking is much smoother when kicking down in the E, with the gearing having a closer ratio, whereas the SL is often either too low or too high when changing down for an overtake. I don't know if the later 5.5 E500 has the same gearbox as the SL, but the M113 and 7G set up is almost seemless. Another thing to consider with the 5.5 is balance shaft issues within a know range of engine numbers of that era.
 
i much prefer the 5g box with a m113, slow changes yes but always in the right gear i find.

The 7g i always find myself knocking it up a gear with the CLK500 but i do drive like a old man lol
 
i much prefer the 5g box with a m113, slow changes yes but always in the right gear i find.
I might be wrong but I thought all m113 E500s had the 7G tronic box, the five speed being in the E55 AMGs? I was comparing the 7G with the 7G+, which may be in the M273 5.5 E500.
 
I might be wrong but I thought all m113 E500s had the 7G tronic box, the five speed being in the E55 AMGs? I was comparing the 7G with the 7G+, which may be in the M273 5.5 E500.
yes my fault sir, i mis read, but my opinion although not asked for lol, stands re 5g w211 and 7g ;)
 
yes my fault sir, i mis read, but my opinion although not asked for lol, stands re 5g w211 and 7g ;)
Sorry, I wasn't having a go, just clarifying the differences! I do have a 5sp box in a 96 SL500 and that also works well but the E500 7G combo works effortlessly and quietly and never seems to wrong foot itself, no matter what the driving conditions are.
 
I had the 7 speed in my e500 and it worked perfectly. I now have the five speed in my CLS55 and whilst i have no problem with it at all (and five gears are plenty with that amount of torque) I sort of just feel the difference in age of original development with the 7 speed just feeling a little "slicker" (plus the advantage of the possibility of a very long top gear)
 
yes my fault sir, i mis read, but my opinion although not asked for lol, stands re 5g w211 and 7g ;)
Early W211 E500’s had the five speed and they worked well together. I think 7G was introduced late 2003? I was happy with the 5-speed but the 5.5 was more economic with the 7G although I didn’t think the gearbox was much better change wise. The extra flexibility was nice - albeit coming with the likelihood of the £1800 bill when the speed sensor failed… As already said - any well-maintained 500 CLS or E is still a lovely car, but more difficult to find and will inevitably incur some bills. De-badge it and you’ll surprise a few people too.
 
Early W211 E500’s had the five speed and they worked well together. I think 7G was introduced late 2003? I was happy with the 5-speed but the 5.5 was more economic with the 7G although I didn’t think the gearbox was much better change wise. The extra flexibility was nice - albeit coming with the likelihood of the £1800 bill when the speed sensor failed… As already said - any well-maintained 500 CLS or E is still a lovely car, but more difficult to find and will inevitably incur some bills. De-badge it and you’ll surprise a few people too.

My 2005 S211 E500 was a 7G. I'd spent the previous 7 years in C43's with the 5 speed and that was a great box. The 7 was just that little bit better in terms of masking the changes which is partly, I guess, a function of having closer ratios.
 
I'd go for any of the e or cls, 2003 onwards though to avoid rusty rear arches

Later models don't guarantee no rust on the rear arches.

Just stops the rot from progressing beyond a certain point so arguably they are better to have and worth going for in preference.

As someone who had to clean up and Hammerite rear arches on a 2004/54 E55K, I found this a rather disappointing exercise to have to do.
 

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