Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 10]

[Iain-h2z6m]

E65Ross said:

Iain should be getting home round about now, keen to hear how he got on with the barge

I can report back that the 745i was faultless on the 450mile drive home. Averaged around 33mpg which is pretty good. Drives nice and smooth and has plenty of poke.

Thanks again Ross for an easy transaction the car was exactly as described and I am very happy

[brickwall]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Mercedes E320 TE

126,000 miles

£4,250.00

Expensive but looks in good condition


http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Oof. Strong money though - I remember a friend bought a 320 W124 for £3k about 5 years ago.

[Krikkit]

Iain-h2z6m said:

E65Ross said:

Iain should be getting home round about now, keen to hear how he got on with the barge

I can report back that the 745i was faultless on the 450mile drive home. Averaged around 33mpg which is pretty good. Drives nice and smooth and has plenty of poke.

Thanks again Ross for an easy transaction the car was exactly as described and I am very happy

Good economy overall. Would be good to see the fleet lined up once the dust settles.

[E65Ross]

Iain-h2z6m said:

E65Ross said:

Iain should be getting home round about now, keen to hear how he got on with the barge

I can report back that the 745i was faultless on the 450mile drive home. Averaged around 33mpg which is pretty good. Drives nice and smooth and has plenty of poke.

Thanks again Ross for an easy transaction the car was exactly as described and I am very happy

Glad to hear it. Sad to see it go though!

Told you it'd have no trouble with the trip! Hope the weather wasn't too bad either. But.... 33mpg.... Not trying hard enough! I assume you easily made it back on a single tank then?

[wack]

W124 E200 £450 ONO
dry stored since 2010 spares or repair , plausable story

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-W124-E200-/2918...

[harrykul]

brickwall said:

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Mercedes E320 TE

126,000 miles

£4,250.00

Expensive but looks in good condition


http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Oof. Strong money though - I remember a friend bought a 320 W124 for £3k about 5 years ago.

Don't say that, I'd want considerably more than that for mine!

[anonymous-user]

harrykul said:

Don't say that, I'd want considerably more than that for mine!

Many of the bargain barge cars we are able to pick up just now are going to be outwith the price range soon.

Personally feel if your going to buy one make it pretty soon.

Don't worry Harry good examples will always shine

[derin100]

harrykul said:

brickwall said:

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Mercedes E320 TE

126,000 miles

£4,250.00

Expensive but looks in good condition


http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

Oof. Strong money though - I remember a friend bought a 320 W124 for £3k about 5 years ago.

Don't say that, I'd want considerably more than that for mine!

Don't worry Harry. Both may have a '124 label' attached..yours is a different commodity.

But that also looks like a very smart car.

Edited by derin100 on Saturday 20th August 22:24

[hornetrider]

tenfour said:

I couldn't disagree more

Der started this thread way back when and its remit has always been about unearthing motors which were once the preserve of industry captains, but are now relative pocket change for the cunning bargist.

Up the budget any more, and we're talking significant investment... Which is what the £5-20k Barge thread is for.

In my humble opinion.

I completely agree. The beauty of this thread is that the upper limit is PHer back of the sofa chump change.

5-20 is more significant investment and the thread is less frequented as a result. This thread is an institution and should be recognised and cherished as such.

[31mph]

hornetrider said:

tenfour said:

I couldn't disagree more

Der started this thread way back when and its remit has always been about unearthing motors which were once the preserve of industry captains, but are now relative pocket change for the cunning bargist.

Up the budget any more, and we're talking significant investment... Which is what the £5-20k Barge thread is for.

In my humble opinion.

I completely agree. The beauty of this thread is that the upper limit is PHer back of the sofa chump change.

5-20 is more significant investment and the thread is less frequented as a result. This thread is an institution and should be recognised and cherished as such.

[Beardo]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Many of the bargain barge cars we are able to pick up just now are going to be outwith the price range soon.

Personally feel if your going to buy one make it pretty soon.

Don't worry Harry good examples will always shine

This is why I've finally shaken hands on a really nice Saab 9-5 - won't be too long before any sort of car like these is out of sensible reach either to buy or run

[Lowtimer]

I understand the desire to keep things cheap but pretty soon the only stuff available in this bracket is going to be four-cylinder diesels as the great NA petrol engine barges of the 1990s and early 2000s move back upwards out of banger territory into neo-classic territory. Perhaps we need a new home for all the 90s petrol stuff.

[Thankyou4calling]

1-5k smoker barges is fine as a price point. There's a long running thread for 5-20k and likewise the sub 1k bargain basement.

As for saying cars are getting pricier and moving out of thread budget I'm thinking the opposite.

Lots of lovely CLS Mercs moving into thread budget, the later model S Class getting close, fresh Audi A8's, not long until the Lexus LS 450 drops in.

Exciting times for bargees.

[E24man]

Did any of the Brooklands Auction cars sneak into Thread budget?

[defblade]

Lowtimer said:

but pretty soon the only stuff available in this bracket is going to be four-cylinder diesels

And we may start to find ourselves buying those cars... and if I ever find myself having to buy a diesel, then a biggish one coupled to a decent auto box and fitted some way from my ears with 3 feet of sound insulation between it and me is the one I'd go for

However, what might happen instead is there has always been a %age spec'ed with the correct fuel and we're the only ones who seem to want to buy them, so prices may start to look even better!



Personally, my car budget hard ceiling is £6k, so I'd choose to read the thread limit as upto £5999 before it becomes a £6k car
I actually tend to prefer to buy in the £2-3-4K area.... a £2k car you can bin when something major/expensive breaks; a £4k car you might well be agonizing about fixing or not; at £6k you've pretty much got to swallow a big bill if it crops up. So I say leave the thread budget where it is - it's more about the running philosophy then exactly what you can buy - if diesels are the only choice, then diesel it will become. We'll still bin them when something breaks.

[anonymous-user]

Bi Turbo S600 needing a bit of work for less than thread budget

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-MERCEDES-S600-5-5-V...

[tobinen]

31mph said:

hornetrider said:

tenfour said:

I couldn't disagree more

Der started this thread way back when and its remit has always been about unearthing motors which were once the preserve of industry captains, but are now relative pocket change for the cunning bargist.

Up the budget any more, and we're talking significant investment... Which is what the £5-20k Barge thread is for.

In my humble opinion.

I completely agree. The beauty of this thread is that the upper limit is PHer back of the sofa chump change.

5-20 is more significant investment and the thread is less frequented as a result. This thread is an institution and should be recognised and cherished as such.

This is how I feel about it. No doubt over time 129s, 124s et al will appreciate out of this thread limit but I think there's a fair way to go yet, plus there are many barges/smokers which still fit. No one seems to mind the odd over-limit post when it's of interest.

Bargain basement has the sub-£1,000 covered well. I say perhaps review again in a year but for now the thread seems to be in fine health.

[BlueMR2]

279 said:

Bi Turbo S600 needing a bit of work for less than thread budget

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-MERCEDES-S600-5-5-V...

Alot of barge business sellers not confident in their product recently.

"The car is sold as spares or repairs / parts as there is no warranty implied or given as advised by Trading Standards."

[S3_Graham]

BlueMR2 said:

279 said:

Bi Turbo S600 needing a bit of work for less than thread budget

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-MERCEDES-S600-5-5-V...

Alot of barge business sellers not confident in their product recently.

"The car is sold as spares or repairs / parts as there is no warranty implied or given as advised by Trading Standards."

In my experience it rarely reflects badly on the car unless it's advertised with a specific fault. It's just a way to get around the '3 month warranty' side of things that all dealers have to provide these days.

I bought an Integra type R, hit the dealer with a low offer. Said you can have it at the lower price but I'll sell it spares or repair. Car was fine

[PowerslideSWE]

W00DY said:

Nice.


Reliability concerns are for boring people.

Precisely, I wanted another Alfa, so I got one