Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 10]

[Croutons]

BlueMR2 said:

0a said:

BlueMR2 said:

Come on then, who's daring enough.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-MERCEDES-s600-BI-TU...

I'm not.

Let's bet on what it will go for though - I think £2,956.

At £2759 with over a day left.

Made £3900.

[SuperHangOn]

Might not be the sellers house in the background but this sounds really nice for sub 2k.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131824749887

[BigBen]

SuperHangOn said:

Might not be the sellers house in the background but this sounds really nice for sub 2k.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131824749887

I thought that earlier cars had an analogue odometer but it is digital on this car. Dash change?

I also recognise the pictures, a PHer's car I think.

Ben

[Stegel]

RenesisEvo said:

forzaminardi said:

Bargistas, What's the gen on W211 (2002-2009) E classes?

Someone with considerably more knowledge than me will be along shortly to help, but in the meantime I can offer one snippet, you will be better off looking at the facelift cars that appeared from 2006, which had numerous issues resolved.

Agree, facelift cars lost SBC and general niggles that supposedly plagued early cars (although I has a 2005 car from new for a year that never put a foot wrong).

They're quite heavy on front suspension ball joints, and springs break with amazing regularity (we have changed six in 216k miles in a 211 and its sister 219) but otherwise pretty well screwed together and so far rust free. Ours are diesels, and both have suffered inlet port shutdown motor failure due to an oil leak from the inlet tract, and are prone to clogged turbos unless exercised properly. Early V6 diesels are prone to exhaust manifolds breaking up and destroying the turbo, but most of those will have been dealt with by now. I have no experience of petrol engines in these, but the rest of the car is well screwed together. Gearboxes (7 speed in the larger engined cars) can be clunky, but "they all do that sir" and a fluid change every 40k miles is advised and often helps.

[derin100]

S3_Graham said:

31mph said:

S3_Graham said:

TheLordJohn said:

Details, details, details!

520i manual, 118k, Lots of history, drives lovely but paint is pretty bad. Interior is good bar the drivers seat (holed) and a rear door card. Seems remarkably rust free from what I can see! Was sub thread budget.

Damn! I nearly bought that one

Near Reading?

Yep, thats the one! Guy even threw in some spare parts. I wont be keeping it long as its just to tide me over until new car arrives in a month or so. Feel free to make me an offer

I've just had a go by hand with some compound and it might just be the knock on the head from the bootlid shutting on me... but it looks better! With a proper mop it might actually get rid of the scratches!

Depending on the colour and pattern of cloth (I assume it's cloth?) you could get a passenger seat cover (which is likely to be less worn or unworn) and swap it out for your driver's seat cover. I'm pretty sure they're interchangeable. There are a few cloth interiors (and leather ones) on Ebay at the moment.

[BigBen]

Stegel said:

RenesisEvo said:

forzaminardi said:

Bargistas, What's the gen on W211 (2002-2009) E classes?

Someone with considerably more knowledge than me will be along shortly to help, but in the meantime I can offer one snippet, you will be better off looking at the facelift cars that appeared from 2006, which had numerous issues resolved.

Agree, facelift cars lost SBC and general niggles that supposedly plagued early cars (although I has a 2005 car from new for a year that never put a foot wrong).

They're quite heavy on front suspension ball joints, and springs break with amazing regularity (we have changed six in 216k miles in a 211 and its sister 219) but otherwise pretty well screwed together and so far rust free. Ours are diesels, and both have suffered inlet port shutdown motor failure due to an oil leak from the inlet tract, and are prone to clogged turbos unless exercised properly. Early V6 diesels are prone to exhaust manifolds breaking up and destroying the turbo, but most of those will have been dealt with by now. I have no experience of petrol engines in these, but the rest of the car is well screwed together. Gearboxes (7 speed in the larger engined cars) can be clunky, but "they all do that sir" and a fluid change every 40k miles is advised and often helps.

I have an early car so have the risk of SBC problems but this can be fixed much more cheaply these days so isn't such a worry in the scheme of barge purchasing. Generally it has been very good although it has needed front ARB joints quite often. I have also recently had to change the rear self levelling bags which was not so cheap.

That said it is an excellent car and generally feels very well screwed together and the features were relatively advanced for its years so it does not feel like a 12 year old car ISYWIM.

Ben

[anonymous-user]

Croutons said:

BlueMR2 said:

0a said:

BlueMR2 said:

Come on then, who's daring enough.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-MERCEDES-s600-BI-TU...

I'm not.

Let's bet on what it will go for though - I think £2,956.

At £2759 with over a day left.

Made £3900.

I'm 99% sure that was the other 600 that was for sale when I bought mine. I remember being more interested in this one as I much prefer Black on black... Bullet dodged I think!

It made no more than £4,500 in December when it worked, so £3900 with it on its bump stops and at least a grand's bill looming seems strong.

My other concern would be that this is a relatively minor fault in the grand scheme of 600 Bi Turbo ownership - Selling after 5/6 months for one of the most common faults just seems fishy to me. I'm thinking the owner was either running it on an absolute shoe-string or there are even more faults beneath the surface to make the car not worth much more once repaired.

Edited by 279 on Monday 23 May 23:40

[Max M4X WW]

Hi all,

I've been a bit quiet in here recently mainly due to mixed relationship with the W215 at the moment since the air-con packed up and it took me three attempts to get the wheel alignment and balancing sorted. Anyway, we had a great couple of days in France with the car which confirmed it as our Le Mans steed for this year but after that I suspect it will be up for sale.

I've wanted an E90 M3 for far too long so think I will go without a 'weekend' car for a while and save a few pennies to get one. I'm not sure if I will fix the air-con before selling but if I do it needs to be soon so I can make use of it over the Le Mans week as it would be silly to do it after. Can anyone recommend a specialist local to me? (Hindhead area) I'm struggling to even identify which compressor I need from the list on the Euro Car Parts Website at the moment! (they seem to be a lot cheaper on here with discount compared to what I was quoted by a local 'semi-specialist')

Thanks in advance!

[cat220]

SuperHangOn said:

Might not be the sellers house in the background but this sounds really nice for sub 2k.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131824749887

I really like that.

[BlueMR2]

cat220 said:

SuperHangOn said:

Might not be the sellers house in the background but this sounds really nice for sub 2k.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131824749887

I really like that.

My Dads favourite car was his W140 500SE, few funny stories, the exhaust dropped of at one stage so it needed a new one. Problem was it fell off in a back street shortcut in a ropey area just out of town.

Thankfully he could show the broken exhaust to the police car that stopped to see what he was up to, parked up in an industrial estate at non industrial times.

It would probably still be on the drive, but after replacing the useless wiring loom that was busy biodegrading (£600), the eta wires suffered the same fate and at the time it was a step too far mechanically for me to try and too much (£1500 ish) to be worth replacing on a £2500 car. So the Mercedes breaker got a VERY good deal.

Ideally I need an estate but I could make a nice W140 work instead. Would be nice to have a car that just works though, once the SL and 928 have gone.

[BlueMR2]

What is that random piece of plastic over the left air intake tube though? Looks like something oily has been dripping on it too.

[idiotgap]

Max M4X WW said:

Can anyone recommend a specialist local to me? (Hindhead area) I'm struggling to even identify which compressor I need from the list on the Euro Car Parts Website at the moment! (they seem to be a lot cheaper on here with discount compared to what I was quoted by a local 'semi-specialist')

The obvious answer is to speak to Olly at PCS in Horndean, he has an amazing reputation on the mb club site. I have used him, but it's a way away from me. He's probably not the cheapest. If semi-local is OK. I use vehvac in Edenbridge for aircon specifically, they may be more pragmatic.

If you post your VIN (first six numbers might even suffice), the barge-beards could try and identify the compressor and an economical supplier. r129 has refined this into something of an artform.

[r129sl]

BlueMR2 said:

What is that random piece of plastic over the left air intake tube though? Looks like something oily has been dripping on it too.

It's the plastic cover for the offside headlamp: bottom left of the picture you can see it is missing.

[r129sl]

idiotgap said:

Max M4X WW said:

Can anyone recommend a specialist local to me? (Hindhead area) I'm struggling to even identify which compressor I need from the list on the Euro Car Parts Website at the moment! (they seem to be a lot cheaper on here with discount compared to what I was quoted by a local 'semi-specialist')

The obvious answer is to speak to Olly at PCS in Horndean, he has an amazing reputation on the mb club site. I have used him, but it's a way away from me. He's probably not the cheapest. If semi-local is OK. I use vehvac in Edenbridge for aircon specifically, they may be more pragmatic.

If you post your VIN (first six numbers might even suffice), the barge-beards could try and identify the compressor and an economical supplier. r129 has refined this into something of an artform.

I've been out too thread action for a while but happy to help. Are you sure it is the compressor? The usual cause of defective air con is a leak in the condenser. Anyway, I've found air con is not too expensive to fix and not quite the horror story many would have you believe—unless it is the evaporator!

[CharlesdeGaulle]

r129sl said:

idiotgap said:

Max M4X WW said:

Can anyone recommend a specialist local to me? (Hindhead area) I'm struggling to even identify which compressor I need from the list on the Euro Car Parts Website at the moment! (they seem to be a lot cheaper on here with discount compared to what I was quoted by a local 'semi-specialist')

The obvious answer is to speak to Olly at PCS in Horndean, he has an amazing reputation on the mb club site. I have used him, but it's a way away from me. He's probably not the cheapest. If semi-local is OK. I use vehvac in Edenbridge for aircon specifically, they may be more pragmatic.

If you post your VIN (first six numbers might even suffice), the barge-beards could try and identify the compressor and an economical supplier. r129 has refined this into something of an artform.

I've been out too thread action for a while but happy to help. Are you sure it is the compressor? The usual cause of defective air con is a leak in the condenser. Anyway, I've found air con is not too expensive to fix and not quite the horror story many would have you believe—unless it is the evaporator!

Loads of sensible advice already, but if you still wanted a specialist there's a very good chap in Gloucester that I have used. I realise it isn't desperatly local for you, but it's an easy journey and I could provide lifts to and from the station for collection/drop-off if you were interested.

[Geekman]

279 said:

I'm 99% sure that was the other 600 that was for sale when I bought mine. I remember being more interested in this one as I much prefer Black on black... Bullet dodged I think!

It made no more than £4,500 in December when it worked, so £3900 with it on its bump stops and at least a grand's bill looming seems strong.

My other concern would be that this is a relatively minor fault in the grand scheme of 600 Bi Turbo ownership - Selling after 5/6 months for one of the most common faults just seems fishy to me. I'm thinking the owner was either running it on an absolute shoe-string or there are even more faults beneath the surface to make the car not worth much more once repaired.

Edited by 279 on Monday 23 May 23:40

One thing I've noticed about these cars in particular is they seem hugely affected by supply. For instance, if there's say 3 or 4 on eBay with a fairly low starting bid, you can be pretty sure that even a fully working one in decent condition will only go for £5k, but if there's only a 1 or 2 available at sub £10k, people seem willing to pay strong money even for ones in poor condition with expensive faults.

[BlueMR2]

r129sl said:

BlueMR2 said:

What is that random piece of plastic over the left air intake tube though? Looks like something oily has been dripping on it too.

It's the plastic cover for the offside headlamp: bottom left of the picture you can see it is missing.

So it is.

I forgot they like to put a cover on everything, must be too long since I've been with something so prestigious.

Not sure what liquids been leaking onto it though, considering where its located.

[idiotgap]

forzaminardi said:

Bargistas, What's the gen on W211 (2002-2009) E classes?

Like Ben, I have a pre-facelift car. I pondered and searched for a while (years) before taking the plunge because of SBC fear and valeo radiator phobia (very early cars can leak glycol into the gearbox, killing it). When it came to it, I just couldn't reconcile the price of later cars with the magnitude of bork in the early ones. More simply put, the common faults on the early cars, scaring many off, make them something of a bargain in my opinion. I was quite ready to break thread budget by 1.5 to 2 x but when I started looking, the highly optioned early cars were much more appealing than the boggo newer ones at double the money.

We ideally wanted the Harman-Kardon stereo, light coloured, full leather, with memory and comand Sat nav.

I went 320 petrol because my mileage is small and the potential for issues seems reduced and haven't regretted it one bit. It is a super car to cruise in with airmatic suspension, the HK audio and a powerful motor. I have a war chest with the savings from not going newer.

If only some chump hadn't keyed it while parked up between 8pm and 1am on Saturday night on the Commercial Road. At least they only went at one panel and weren't successful in killing the bonnet star or wing mirror. Was toying with the idea of taking the R107 out and glad I didn't now.

Edited by idiotgap on Tuesday 24th May 09:30

[S3_Graham]

derin100 said:

Depending on the colour and pattern of cloth (I assume it's cloth?) you could get a passenger seat cover (which is likely to be less worn or unworn) and swap it out for your driver's seat cover. I'm pretty sure they're interchangeable. There are a few cloth interiors (and leather ones) on Ebay at the moment.

It is indeed cloth. Pretty ropey! Cant get over how nicely it drives though. Silky smooth and comfortable.


classic club at work today!

[Usget]

S3_Graham said:

classic club at work today!

Dead ringer for my late lamented E30 Touring. Does he want to sell it?