Running a MB CL600
Discussion
IMO there are three things to consider with regard to cars like these (having had similar experience).
Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
It's the parts that murder these.
They are prone to eating something next to the injector, which name has left me. Ignition side, not petrol.
Most cars these can be bought singularly. Not the v12 6 cylinder. They are two modules made out of 6 each.
Cost £1200 a side.
5.0 much more sensible
They are prone to eating something next to the injector, which name has left me. Ignition side, not petrol.
Most cars these can be bought singularly. Not the v12 6 cylinder. They are two modules made out of 6 each.
Cost £1200 a side.
5.0 much more sensible
I'd avoid, can't see the warranty being a good one on a car at this price point. We've sold a few and believe me, they are cheap for a reason! If you are the sort of person who can live with sporadic warning lights, random electrical failures, paint bubbling, occasional limp modes and the potential for regular four figure bills then it's the car for you.
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
IMO there are three things to consider with regard to cars like these (having had similar experience).
Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
Great post! I am tempted to print it off and stick it to the inside door of the wine cupboard Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
Matt UK said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
IMO there are three things to consider with regard to cars like these (having had similar experience).
Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
Great post! I am tempted to print it off and stick it to the inside door of the wine cupboard Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
AndyT77 said:
I've spotted one for £6000 with a 2 year warranty
That sounds like bargain of the week! I'd be looking very closely at that warranty - sounds too good to be true. I'd also want to know when the car had its last "proper" service. With the boxes ticked driving one of those for £3,000 a year all-in is a bargain.
surveyor said:
It's the parts that murder these.
They are prone to eating something next to the injector, which name has left me. Ignition side, not petrol.
Most cars these can be bought singularly. Not the v12 6 cylinder. They are two modules made out of 6 each.
Cost £1200 a side.
5.0 much more sensible
Coilpacks! They are prone to eating something next to the injector, which name has left me. Ignition side, not petrol.
Most cars these can be bought singularly. Not the v12 6 cylinder. They are two modules made out of 6 each.
Cost £1200 a side.
5.0 much more sensible
Matt UK said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
IMO there are three things to consider with regard to cars like these (having had similar experience).
Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
Great post! I am tempted to print it off and stick it to the inside door of the wine cupboard Insurance - possibly not an issue if you're old enough and live in a reasonable area.
Running costs with regard to fuel - again, probably not an issue if you use it for high days and holidays...but as a DD, low teens fuel consumption can give you a sense of humour failure quite early on.
And the big one - running costs with regard to servicing, but the main elephant in the room - repairs.
The first two are easy enough to deduce what's ok for you personally.
The last point depends on either A) the depth of your wallet and your general demeanour and good humour, with regard to possibly having to pay out costs approaching the value of the car, to cover an expensive repair to a complex system within the car, or B) your skills with your own spanners.
To give you my example. A while ago, my G/F at the time had a complete penchant for wanting to own an early 90's R129 shape Mercedes 500SL. A lovely car, but fearsomely complicated, with the cost of parts and repairs to it's many inherently complex and expensive systems running into many thousands of pounds for someone who isn't happy and confident to fix the car themselves.
Luckily, I have a comprehensive toolbox and the knowledge to go with it, and the ability to pretty much fix anything...not being big-headed, it's just years of experience is all.
Once we bought one, it certainly did give me some fairly numerous and challenging failures to deal with - like the horrendously complicated vacuum-operated central locking system, the equally complicated hydraulic roof mechanism, and an exciting handful of general electrical and mechanical failures to boot.
Looking back, if this car, or one like it, had been bought by someone who would have had to have taken the car to a specialist to repair each time - I am fairly confident that the bills would have been enough to have threatened bankruptcy at the very least!
Luckily, as said, my opinion is that if something, anything, mechanical or electrical has been designed and built by a human being - then as another human being, I can probably, eventually, suss out how it was designed and built, and therefore understand it enough to pull it to bits and repair it. Which I did. However, this ran to a level of detail that included pulling apart electrical black boxes down to their component parts, and de-soldering dead bits of electronics, finding a replacement part, and re-soldering it to a 15-year old printed circuit board.
There were some failures that were fairly easy mechanical parts to repair / replace, but on these old complex Mercs, a great deal of failures are to some complex, difficult to access and repair electronic ECU's and black boxes.
I also found that Ebay was my friend in order to source many replacement parts at decent prices. At the time, I ended up stumbling across a chap that was fairly local to me in Norwich, who had contacts and therefore a huge lock-up of new 'old stock' genuine 90's Mercedes parts. So that was also a great help - and the chap sold me many bits for bargain prices. If you had to buy new from a Merc main dealer - then it would make your eyes water!
So - if you're fairly handy with the tools and a bit of electronic diagnostics, then yes, do go for it. If you know nothing - then I might suggest that a car like this will be a soul-destroying money pit, if you are unlucky!
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
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