Author Topic: Cars! What cars? Cars!  (Read 6092 times)

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Offline andym2

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2022, 09:47:04 pm »
I've got a W211 E-class that I've had for over 10 years, 254k miles. Can't fault it for comfort; I've done a few 500+ mile day trips in it and the only problem is boredom. From your list I'd get the E350.

I did think of getting a VW Caravelle, for a bit of 'Work from anywhere there's a 3g signal', but the used prices for those are absolutely ridiculous.

Talking of VWs, you could also look at the Phaeton which was used as the basis for early Bentley Continentals. Or so I'm told by a friend who worked for the firm in Coventry that made the radiator grills for them.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2022, 09:55:08 pm by andym2 »

Offline Matt

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2022, 10:09:29 pm »
Thanks man. Yeah the Phaeton is a heck of a car, think that's the one with a W12 engine maybe? Crazy days!

If weather is conducive I may go and see the E tomorrow. It's in Newbury so I can lay some flowers at Brian's old house  ;D
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Offline Bruno

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2022, 10:20:54 pm »
My old E46 is dead. I had a lovely 4 or so years with the 2.5 automatic wafting about, doing about 3k miles a year.

I'm now looking at replacements in the 4-6k GBP region. I am in two minds and am hoping for some new brain inputs from our brain trust here :).

1. I do 3k miles a year. Get a big V8 before they all dead/collectors items. Namely a BMW e63 650i, xj 4.2, xf. - top/over the top of budget
2. I do 3k miles a year. Get another 3 series in the 325i or 330i range, probably e90 pre facelift. - middle of budget
3. I do 3k miles a year. Do what <insert your username here> says.

I wish getting 'into' bikes got one 'out of' cars but I still have a hankering for subjectively nice cars. I got very close to going to see an SL350 (circa 05 vintage) before a friend with one dissuaded me with his tails of leaky bits. Whilst I can technically afford to throw money at old 'luxury' cars, I'll probably still get annoyed having to do so too often. One day I need to find out why Mercedes thought using the pneumatic stuff from a Lego technik set for their central locking was a good idea.

The increase in price of all cars is also rather annoying. What was 5k a year or so ago is now 6 or 7k.

Help me EuroK, you're my almost only hope.

Hi Matt, I'm assuming that your friend had an issue with water ingress into the boot?

Yep! And I think he has a vacuum pump issue thing with his central locking at the mo.

Bri: yeah, use cases are generally more than 75 percent of miles going into Sutton region, 25 percent trips up to brum. So either boring motorway or congested a roads.

My best mate had an a6 for a while. 07 ish vintage. It is irrational entirely but it's put me off them as it was in a bit of a state, and also the 2.0tdi which was... A 2.0tdi.

So, my short list is currently:
 - a 8.5 grand gs450h
 - a 8.5 grand sl350
The above two are at a nice dealer in a nice place, which is half my battle. Friend bought from them before.
 - a 6.5 grand E350 cdi
 - a 5.5 grand 630i but for sale in somewhere I don't even want to leave my bike for 5 minutes.

I'm struggling to find non messed with 330i cars within arsedness range of me.

If you make sure that the roof drains are clear, then you shouldn't have any problems with water in the boot on the SL (the issue with the vacuum pump - or PSE as Merc call it,  will be caused by water ingress.
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Offline andym2

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2022, 10:35:58 pm »
Thanks man. Yeah the Phaeton is a heck of a car, think that's the one with a W12 engine maybe? Crazy days!

If weather is conducive I may go and see the E tomorrow. It's in Newbury so I can lay some flowers at Brian's old house  ;D

I think they came with various engines, from a sort of sensible 3.0 V6 to a 5.0 V10. Probably the best value German Luxo-barge, if that’s what you’re after.

Offline Swindon Andy

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2022, 12:02:09 am »
The GS... I had a GS430 for a few years. Nothing wrong with it, a good car, very reliable and went well (V8), But I didn't  love it.

Offline Matt

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #20 on: January 13, 2022, 09:38:14 am »
My old E46 is dead. I had a lovely 4 or so years with the 2.5 automatic wafting about, doing about 3k miles a year.

I'm now looking at replacements in the 4-6k GBP region. I am in two minds and am hoping for some new brain inputs from our brain trust here :).

1. I do 3k miles a year. Get a big V8 before they all dead/collectors items. Namely a BMW e63 650i, xj 4.2, xf. - top/over the top of budget
2. I do 3k miles a year. Get another 3 series in the 325i or 330i range, probably e90 pre facelift. - middle of budget
3. I do 3k miles a year. Do what <insert your username here> says.

I wish getting 'into' bikes got one 'out of' cars but I still have a hankering for subjectively nice cars. I got very close to going to see an SL350 (circa 05 vintage) before a friend with one dissuaded me with his tails of leaky bits. Whilst I can technically afford to throw money at old 'luxury' cars, I'll probably still get annoyed having to do so too often. One day I need to find out why Mercedes thought using the pneumatic stuff from a Lego technik set for their central locking was a good idea.

The increase in price of all cars is also rather annoying. What was 5k a year or so ago is now 6 or 7k.

Help me EuroK, you're my almost only hope.

Hi Matt, I'm assuming that your friend had an issue with water ingress into the boot?

Yep! And I think he has a vacuum pump issue thing with his central locking at the mo.

Bri: yeah, use cases are generally more than 75 percent of miles going into Sutton region, 25 percent trips up to brum. So either boring motorway or congested a roads.

My best mate had an a6 for a while. 07 ish vintage. It is irrational entirely but it's put me off them as it was in a bit of a state, and also the 2.0tdi which was... A 2.0tdi.

So, my short list is currently:
 - a 8.5 grand gs450h
 - a 8.5 grand sl350
The above two are at a nice dealer in a nice place, which is half my battle. Friend bought from them before.
 - a 6.5 grand E350 cdi
 - a 5.5 grand 630i but for sale in somewhere I don't even want to leave my bike for 5 minutes.

I'm struggling to find non messed with 330i cars within arsedness range of me.

If you make sure that the roof drains are clear, then you shouldn't have any problems with water in the boot on the SL (the issue with the vacuum pump - or PSE as Merc call it,  will be caused by water ingress.

Damn it :P I'm trying to dissuade myself from 2 seats!

@Swindon Andy sounds about right. I test drove a gs430 several years ago and recall the sensation of a giant engine sounding and feeling like it was several metres away out front. Lovely car though, but your summary matches what I read. And as much as I appreciate the h side of things, it is a bit wasted on me. If I was still commuting it'd be the ideal big miler.

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Offline Phmode

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2022, 06:49:08 pm »
Thanks man. Yeah the Phaeton is a heck of a car, think that's the one with a W12 engine maybe? Crazy days!

If weather is conducive I may go and see the E tomorrow. It's in Newbury so I can lay some flowers at Brian's old house  ;D

Just watch out for the druggies at no. 22  8)

Offline Matt

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #22 on: January 24, 2022, 07:05:46 pm »
To tempt fate as I'm typing this two days before I go pick it up:

I went with a 2011 E350cdi coupe in the end. So now I have to keep talking about torque figures to offset my move to the dark side fuel :p.

At the start of last week I went to view another e46 but when I got there and rang to ask where he was, he told me he'd sold it. Then I suffered from a bad case of budget creep and found the E class. One owner, old man SE spec with nice 17 inch wheels for a smooth ride, and in a colour that isn't grey or black or white. It's blue.

Mostly I am relieved to have found something in decent condition. Petrol 350s are hens teeth and a bit more money so I'm happy to try this for now. First task is to address some peeling chrome lacquer on the seat handle you pull to get unlucky adults in the rear seats. I googled it and apparently people have been slicing themselves open on it so I'm hoping that's an easy DIY.
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Offline richtea

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #23 on: January 24, 2022, 09:42:04 pm »
I went with a 2011 E350cdi coupe in the end. So now I have to keep talking about torque figures to offset my move to the dark side fuel :p.

Showing my ignorance here, but is that a BMW or a Mercedes? And I'm not joking. BMWs usually come with 3 digits, no?

Offline andym2

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #24 on: January 25, 2022, 07:33:42 am »
You do know that the coupe and convertible E class are based on the C class platform? Just means they don't 'waft' quite as well as the saloons.

Offline Matt

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #25 on: January 25, 2022, 08:48:18 am »
Rich: Mercedes this time :)

Andy: yes indeed! The full size E class I thought was a bit mad for just me.
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Offline black-k1

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #26 on: January 25, 2022, 09:17:41 am »
To tempt fate as I'm typing this two days before I go pick it up:

I went with a 2011 E350cdi coupe in the end. So now I have to keep talking about torque figures to offset my move to the dark side fuel :p.

At the start of last week I went to view another e46 but when I got there and rang to ask where he was, he told me he'd sold it. Then I suffered from a bad case of budget creep and found the E class. One owner, old man SE spec with nice 17 inch wheels for a smooth ride, and in a colour that isn't grey or black or white. It's blue.

Mostly I am relieved to have found something in decent condition. Petrol 350s are hens teeth and a bit more money so I'm happy to try this for now. First task is to address some peeling chrome lacquer on the seat handle you pull to get unlucky adults in the rear seats. I googled it and apparently people have been slicing themselves open on it so I'm hoping that's an easy DIY.

Well done on the purchase. A good choice.
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Offline flatfour

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #27 on: January 25, 2022, 02:57:37 pm »
As my wife was advised to avoid wearing a helmet during last year (following an attack of Bell's Palsy) due to possible compression of the facial nerves, I made good on my 40 - year old promise to buy her a sports car, a Mercedes 200SLK Kompressor in our case.

We made two longish trips with it last year (1000 + miles each) and, although I am some 6' tall, I found it to be surprisingly comfortable. It seems to run well, has a good performance and showed 53.3 mpg on the trip meter when we returned last time. Practically, I've driven more than 600 miles on a tank of fuel with the gauge still showing 1/4 remaining, something borne out at the pumps when subsequently refueling.

I'm now thinking of using it for the annual trip to the Coupe de Moto Legende in Dijon this year, as I will only need to refuel once in France, so if things become difficult (as they have so often before) I can return home without the stress of constantly looking for fuel.

Overall, having never owned a Mercedes before (though I've had lots of BMW's and Jaguars as company cars) it has impressed from the first drive.

Offline Matt

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #28 on: January 25, 2022, 03:43:03 pm »
Ah nice! Which generation is that? I read a lot of positives about the SLK, R230 I think I was looking at most. The SLK500 must be insane!

I only realized this week (Harry's Garage, YouTube) that the Z8 used the e39 M5 engine. Another tiny car with huge engine!
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Offline flatfour

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Re: Cars! What cars? Cars!
« Reply #29 on: January 25, 2022, 04:48:52 pm »
It's an R171, Matt. We thought it the best choice of the three series as it has the galvanised body for corrosion resistance, yet keeps the low frontal shape that my wife likes so much.

It is fitted with the folding metal roof of course and has A/C, heated seats and air scarves. It is also the (comparatively) rare manual transmission model.

When we married all of those years ago my wife was on the point of buying an MG Midget, though she decided to put the money into the wedding and our more immediate needs. I promised that one day she could have the sports car, and here it is!