W211 Tips On Buying An E270 or E320 cdi

[David404]

Check the MOT history

Do a web search and check the MOT history, the Reg number is clearly viable. MOT history can tell you a lot about a car, how its been maintained and when its changed hands, oh as well as spotting those that have been clocked. That one looks OK.

 

[mystic.bertie]

If the guy goes to the trouble of putting a new MOT on it and fixing the sensor fault, don't be surprised if he holds out for his asking price. He has already priced it well and the wheels alone are worth £500. That AMG bodykit won't have been cheap either.
Don't walk away from a potentially good car over a few £££

WV54 DWL - nothing shows up when you check the mot history. I thought perhaps it was not on the database if it has maybe had a private plate removed, so i was gonna check the previous mot's if he had any. It does show up as mot'd if you check mot status.

Over 2 hours of stressful driving in busy traffic and heavy rain to Bury, which is even further than Manchester (1st lie). He text me a postcode before i left, Albert st in Bury, no number.

I parked a few mins away, called him,, he said 'i was just on the phone with someone else about the car' (trader tactics) . He said ' meet me on this albert street and what car are you driving'? I asked him for the house number, he went quiet and just said 'meet me there in 10 min'. So im already smelling a rat. He pulls up, i got out, shook his hand, then asked him 'why are we meeting on this street' ' do you live here' he said 'no'. I then said 'i asked if i could view the car at the address it was registered too' he said ' its registered at my mums address in Prestwich'. There was a heavy scuff on the front corner bumper, not shown in the pics. The back bumper had bad scuffs too. I just told him this does not feel right and i walked away. I think he edited the pics to hide the scuffs.

So another dodgy lying bar steward who has wasted 5 hours of my time and fuel and stress. I specifically asked him if it was registered to him, to his home address where the car can be viewed, he said yes.

So this is why is sick of travelling to see cars. I used to be in my element when i was looking for a new car, now i cant be bothered, this is an example of why i have lost my car buying mojo.

 

[mystic.bertie]

CLICKY

Guys, i went today to see 3 cars in Birmingham, from dealers. The one above i really like, im gonna try and get a deal on it without warranty or without a new mot. It drove flawlessly, great service history, lovely black leather, loadsa invoices from the last 3 years, it looks cared for, there is a couple of not so good bits on the body but nothing major, other thing is it has 4 cheap chinese tyres. What do you think. If i could get it for 3k without a new mot or any warranty, would that be wise? I would offer 2700 and see where we can agree on. Bear in mind these is not many decent cars about at this price, within 50 miles of me.

 

[AMGeed]

It looks OK going by the photos, but so did the one near Manchester. Photos can hide so much.
Go for it. By the time you add up your travelling costs looking at and rejecting cars you could have had one for £3.5k
Re the cheap Chinese branded tyres....probably put on to replace the slicks the previous owner px'd the car with. Replace them with some decent rubber and sell them on eBay.

I assume the dealer doesn't fall into this category

i dont really want to buy from a dealer or any kind, doorstep or garage, they are mostly lying scum traders.

 

[mystic.bertie]

It looks OK going by the photos, but so did the one near Manchester. Photos can hide so much.
Go for it. By the time you add up your travelling costs looking at and rejecting cars you could have had one for £3.5k
Re the cheap Chinese branded tyres....probably put on to replace the slicks the previous owner px'd the car with. Replace them with some decent rubber and sell them on eBay.

I assume the dealer doesn't fall into this category

This salesman was a nice young man, not your typical bull****ting salesman, so that helped. He seemed honest and just told the the facts about the car.

Having seen the car it looks really nice, i love the interior, full black leather is lovely. I had a very long test drive, everything works, gearbox oil has been done too, but as you say weighing up buying this car against further grief, it makes sense. I will use the short mot, cheap tyres and marks on body to get the price down. I will call in the morning. I dont know if it would be wise to negotiate 3 months warranty, my experience of 3rd party warranties is not good. The genuine bmw warranty was amazing.

I went to see 2 other cars at dealers in Birmingham today, the second one looked ok but it did have paintwork done, the brake service warning was coming up, it could be just a sensor he said, or a pump i replied and left. The 3rd one was in a small lot and had about 15 different vans and a polo for sale as well as the merc, i did not even enter the premises. The one im interested in is at a respectful dealer with a great range of good cars.The eclass is actually one of his cheapest cars for sale.

 

[AMGeed]

Hope this one works out for you.

 

[mystic.bertie]

Hope this one works out for you.

cheers bud, will update tomorrow,

 

[mystic.bertie]

he wont budge on the price, he claims if the car had better tyres the price would be more. He must know he will get a buyer sooner or later.

 

[AMGeed]

So are you giving this one a miss as well?

Shame to miss out on a decent car for the sake of a few hundred quid.

 

[mystic.bertie]

So are you giving this one a miss as well?

Shame to miss out on a decent car for the sake of a few hundred quid.

He wont budge on anything. Yeah it is a shame but i dont believe its worth £3400 and then having to change the tyres and get the bits on the body fixed. I loved the all black leather in that car, now if i see the half leather or grey leather its not as nice imho. Maybe if nothing crops up in the next few days i will consider it.

I have plenty of cash, i just dont want to spend too much on a car at the moment, even increasing my budget to 6000 its still hard to find a decent private car for sale. I thought well maybe if i increase my budget ill find something nearer, its not to be. Dealers and doorstep traders seem to have the bulk of the cars for sale, then half of the ones you think are private, are traders in disguise.

I have start looking at bmw 5 series, i dont know if i could ever get used to that dashboard though. Im just trying to broaden my options.

 

[AMGeed]

BMW! Wash your mouth out

Something will come up.

 

[mystic.bertie]

BMW! Wash your mouth out

Something will come up.

The mot is running out on my old saab, i cant wait too long. There is a nice one in south wales, good advert on ebay, after the trip to manchester im reluctant to travel.

CLICKY

this is 70 miles away

clicky2

 

[AMGeed]

I like the first one, especially the unusual colour for W211. Its a facelift too and the price is reflected.

2nd one looks OK ,but if it checks out are you happy with the price. That's where you seem to be at odds with the sellers

 

[streethawk]

Don't rush and look at at least 6 before you choose as by 6 you'll see all the faults and condition appreciation.

 

[mystic.bertie]

Don't rush and look at at least 6 before you choose as by 6 you'll see all the faults and condition appreciation.

Find 6 to look at not thats a real challenge

I like the first one too, i have made inquiries to the seller. I would travel 500 miles if i were guaranteed a good car, the guarantee's are not there though.

 

[mystic.bertie]

the guy on ebay said this about his cars service history, he cant find anything regarding the gearbox service. Are these 7g tronic gearboxes reliable enough, this is unknown territory for me. Does it require more attention when doing a test drive?

His price of £5300 is actually a bit high, 07 models with similar miles have sold on ebay for less that 5k, the cheapest few dealers on autotrader are about 5 grand too.

I am unable to comment on the gearbox service except to say that the car was serviced with Mercedes Dealerships up until 90,000 miles and then the following two services were with Mercedes specialists, therefore I was very happy when I purchased the car that it had been correctly maintained. I did my homework and read up on gearbox issues but upon further reading many of these reports did not seem suitable substantiated, more internet ramblings from a few bad cases.

The service history is as follows:
Oct 2007 - 11578 Miles - Mercedes
July 2008 - 26537 Miles - Mercedes
Dec 2008 - 42705 Miles - Mercedes
June 2009 - 58438 Miles - Mercedes
Mar 2010 - 75085 Miles - Mercedes
June 2010 - 90277 Miles - Mercedes
June 2012 - 101365 Miles - Euro Motor Works BMW & Mercedes Specialist
July 2014 - 115480 Miles - Euro Motor Works BMW & Mercedes Specialist

I purchased the car in May 2015 and requested upon purchase from the Garage that it be serviced as part of the sale however I have just noticed there is not a stamp for in the service book. The next stamp is for the last service which I had carried out at a garage local to where I work up in Staffordshire in Feb 2016 at 134824 miles.

 

[SL300-24]

In my opinion you rarely get a really good car cheap. You get good cars and you get cheap cars...usually you have to pull out a few extra quid for something nice. Reading through this thread it seems that you do not wish to do this but in the grand scheme of things a few hundred extra at purchase time may save you much more a little further down the road.
W211's whilst now very good value for money to purchase can be an expensive buy if you end up with the wrong vehicle. That extra £500 will be long forgotten if you are happy with your car.
Mine cost £16k seven years ago and is probably worth about 6k now. Every time winter comes and I switch on the heated seats it's great. Whilst waiting for my wife I switch on the digital TV and watch for a while it's great, whilst searching for a street, or answering the phone via comand it's great, whilst looking at the nappa leather its great. whilst looking at those 18" sport alloys its great. If I paid £15k for less spec would I still be thinking after 7 years how happy I was saving that £grand....I doubt it!


Regarding the gearbox, mine was changed at 38k miles and was originally a sealed for life gearbox according to Mercedes. Tha's probably why you will see a lot of these with only one gearbox fluid change. General consensus now is change it every 40k. Mine has done 146,000 miles and has just had another fluid change by Ollie at PCS only its second fluid change, It felt slightly smoother after the change but it has always been a very smooth changing box. Once you have bought one just get the fluid changed, buy do not be put off a good car because it has not been done.

 

[mystic.bertie]

Thanks for your interesting post, a lot of what you say is true.. The problem seems to be i am very fussy and so finding a good car for around 3k is not an easy task. This is why i upped my budget, i did not want to do this but i was determined to find a good car. Not one i have to spend money on or change tyres etc. My quest is over, i have found my new baby. I had read what you said, dont be put off if the gearbox has not been serviced, so i did not let it put me off.

MY NEW CAR

I had seen this advert but i dismissed it, the pics were not the most flattering and i thought £5000 for an 2007 sport was a bit cheap. On further research i found the price was about right given the mileage. It was only 30 miles away. The woman seemed nice and genuine on the phone so i decided it was well worth viewing. The guy who owned the car seemed very genuine, nothing up his sleeve. It is a great car and it has heated seats, front and rear parking sensors, flappy paddles, 18" wheels and the usual sport features, the car looks really new in the flesh, only a few light scuffs on the bumpers which were not really noticeable ie they dont need repaired, good branded sports tyres, i could not fault the car to drive it or when i went over it inside and out. 2 services were missed in the book and there is no pile of invoices, it was last serviced 2 months ago, no evidence of a gearbox service so that will get done soon if merc has no record of it. The guy would not budge on his price, he already dropped it by 500, i knew it was a great car and a good price.. I left a 100 deposit and ill go and collect it in the next couple of days.

I think there is a huge difference when you compare what you can get for 5000 and 3000. I can believe how good this car is.

A big thanks to all who have guided me o my mission so far, i appreciate the help

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Great news, I'm sure you'll love it, bit of a cliche but it's a whole lot of car for £5k.

 

[sc3992]

The interiors on these cars are so much better than the newer ones..........