Topless motoring

[qska]

loafer123 said:

This thread has singularly failed to deliver on the promise of it's title.

Gotcha! You clicked, didn't you?

[qska]

Result!

She'll be put through a service and a fresh MOT and she's mine on Saturday.

Pictured next to her, ahem, younger sister.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Congratulations - there's nothing like a topless model!

[ZX10R NIN]

What model did you get in the end OP?

[anonymous-user]

poo at Paul's said:

For your budget I'd aim for an A4 1.8T 2WD manual and hope the roof module is good. Generally bullet proof engine wise and lower miles normally compared to same price diesel. Go ok too.

As I own an A4 1.8T 2wd Auto I would beg to differ.... Mine has 96K on the clock and has had the following issues in the last few months :

1)Thirst for oil, not sure if it burns it, leaks or a combination of the two.
2)Low oil pressure due to sludging, had to drop the sump and replace the oil pickup
3)Failed 02 sensor (not really an issue to be honest)
4)CEL is on with a boost leak failure.

Apparently the Multitronic gearbox is made of chocolate but mine has been fine so far. The engine on the other hand has been nothing but trouble.

I also had an A6 with the same engine and that died when it dumped all it's coolant on the motorway at 117K miles

I personally think the 1.8T engine is terrible and I would not buy any VAG car with this engine.

It is very windy sitting in the back, so expect children to moan about being cold pretty much instantly.

[qska]

ZX10R NIN said:

What model did you get in the end OP?

CLK240 petrol automatic V6.

Bit slow though, 10 seconds to 62.

But that's fine...

[ZX10R NIN]

A 240 will be a bit slow carrying the weight if you can't see a receipt for it being done recently then get the gearbox fluid & filter changed it'll make the car more responsive, from a good Indy it should cost around £150 inc genuine Mercedes parts & fluids etc.

[anonymous-user]

Willy Nilly said:

2 points. Firstly, it's very easy to get quite badly burnt without realising it when there is a strong wind keeping you cool. Secondly, with the top down, there will be much more road and traffic noise that can damage young ears, once you have buggered up hearing, that's it.

In the history of the universe, how many children have had hearing damaged due to being in a convertible ? Sounds a bit far fetched to me.

[qska]

ZX10R NIN said:

A 240 will be a bit slow carrying the weight if you can't see a receipt for it being done recently then get the gearbox fluid & filter changed it'll make the car more responsive, from a good Indy it should cost around £150 inc genuine Mercedes parts & fluids etc.

It is - now I have to make a decision on what to do, and what not to do with it.

I like my cars "spot on", but things like alloy reconditioning, wheel caps - service you mention - all add to the cost, which I'll never get back.

For a weekend toy.

Also, the previous owners serviced it mileage-wise, not annually (so skipped some services), naughty people.

I'll have a think

Alex_225 - your email address didn't work, not sure if you got my reply??!

[Tuvra]

Small back seats granted:-

[lostkiwi]

Tuvra said:

Small back seats granted:-

Having my one of these parked the other side of the window I'm sitting at I can say the rear seats are unusable for anything other than a the family dog unless you (as a driver) have very short legs and can move the seat forward to create some (note some not more!) legroom for the rear seat passenger.

That said they are a lovely drive and fantastic for pootling about in when the suns out and even usuable top down on the motorway if you have the rear wind deflector. I can see mine being pressed into commuting duties and taken into the office tomorrow...

OP - Great purchase. I occasionally think I should have bought a CLK cabrio instead of my SL. From time to time 430s come up at sensible prices and they are lovely. I have no doubt you will use it for the daily commute in the summer. Once you have the roof down in warm weather you really do start to appreciate what the attraction is.

[qska]

lostkiwi said:

OP - Great purchase. I occasionally think I should have bought a CLK cabrio instead of my SL. From time to time 430s come up at sensible prices and they are lovely. I have no doubt you will use it for the daily commute in the summer. Once you have the roof down in warm weather you really do start to appreciate what the attraction is.

Oh yes.

Although last 30-40 minutes of my commute is the M4 / A316 corridor hell on earth.

Shame I can't fold/unfold the roof when stuck in very slow (but moving) traffic - the car needs to be in "P".

[lostkiwi]

qska said:

Oh yes.

Although last 30-40 minutes of my commute is the M4 / A316 corridor hell on earth.

Shame I can't fold/unfold the roof when stuck in very slow (but moving) traffic - the car needs to be in "P".

You may find one of these makes higher speed sections liveable with the roof down:


My other half and I sat for 3 hours at 80+ mph in France with the top down and the deflector made it quite pleasant. She even managed to sleep for about 90 mins of it!

[qska]

lostkiwi said:

You may find one of these makes higher speed sections liveable with the roof down:


My other half and I sat for 3 hours at 80+ mph in France with the top down and the deflector made it quite pleasant. She even managed to sleep for about 90 mins of it!

Yeah, I'll probably get that too.

:-)

[C70R]

The CLK is a wobbly old beast, but pretty readily available and usable. The back seats are OK for kids up to ~5ft in comfort, but I've had two adult passengers for one long journey without too much issue.

The wind in back is surprisingly not too bad up to 40-50mph, particularly with all 4 windows up. The roof is reasonably slick, and I haven't noticed too much by way of excessive noise/cold with it up. It drives much more like the E-class that it's based on (slow steering, soft suspension, slushy autobox), which probably makes it a better prospect for town driving than something more sporty.

Mechanically they are pretty tough and tend to wear their age reasonably well, but rust is the enemy. Look literally EVERYWHERE - arches, front light panel, bootlid, sills. Interiors do also tend to show their age, where the quality of the plastics/leather coverings it's fantastic. If you can find one with history and without rust at ~£2-2.5k then it's a decent 'shed' level car for the money.

My CLK430 Avantgarde (4.3 V8) is likely to be up for sale shortly at just north of that figure, to be replaced by a classic.[/ShamelessPlug]

[qska]

C70R said:

The CLK is a wobbly old beast, but pretty readily available and usable. The back seats are OK for kids up to ~5ft in comfort, but I've had two adult passengers for one long journey without too much issue.

The wind in back is surprisingly not too bad up to 40-50mph, particularly with all 4 windows up. The roof is reasonably slick, and I haven't noticed too much by way of excessive noise/cold with it up. It drives much more like the E-class that it's based on (slow steering, soft suspension, slushy autobox), which probably makes it a better prospect for town driving than something more sporty.

Mechanically they are pretty tough and tend to wear their age reasonably well, but rust is the enemy. Look literally EVERYWHERE - arches, front light panel, bootlid, sills. Interiors do also tend to show their age, where the quality of the plastics/leather coverings it's fantastic. If you can find one with history and without rust at ~£2-2.5k then it's a decent 'shed' level car for the money.

My CLK430 Avantgarde (4.3 V8) is likely to be up for sale shortly at just north of that figure, to be replaced by a classic.[/ShamelessPlug]

Interesting - this one has very stiff suspension, bumps around quite a bit. It's meant to be the Avantgarde, so I was expecting a more comfy ride.

Rust wise, it was fine in the usual spots, but all the screws under the bonnet were brown... But other than that nothing to report.

I was surprised by the "slowness", of the 2.6 V6 engine, but it isn't meant to be for racing in - the sound makes up for it :-)

I might know a buyer for your CLK....

[qska]

st.

The car had just had its MOT done.

I wonder how this will play out with the seller... I only paid the deposit so far.

Reason(s) for failure
nearside rear Parking (secondary) brake grabbing severely (3.7.D.3b)
offside rear Parking (secondary) brake grabbing severely (3.7.D.3b)
offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)
nearside rear Anti-roll bar rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
offside Steering rack gaiter split (2.2.D.2d)

Advisory notice item(s)

nearside front Front wheel bearing has slight play (2.5.A.3c)

[deckster]

qska said:

st.

The car had just had its MOT done.

I wonder how this will play out with the seller... I only paid the deposit so far.

Reason(s) for failure
nearside rear Parking (secondary) brake grabbing severely (3.7.D.3b)
offside rear Parking (secondary) brake grabbing severely (3.7.D.3b)
offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.A.1b)
nearside rear Anti-roll bar rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
offside Steering rack gaiter split (2.2.D.2d)

Advisory notice item(s)

nearside front Front wheel bearing has slight play (2.5.A.3c)

Well obviously, as a very minimum he has to get all the work done to pass the MOT.

However I'd be concerned at the lack of routine maintenance this little lot would imply. It's hardly a rare car - it this one particularly cheap?

[qska]

deckster said:

Well obviously, as a very minimum he has to get all the work done to pass the MOT.

However I'd be concerned at the lack of routine maintenance this little lot would imply. It's hardly a rare car - it this one particularly cheap?

Yeah, I'd think.

The previous MOT went through just fine, but yeah, they liked to skip services (due to very low mileage done), they didn't service it annually.

The price is in between - it's a new model year, so the cheapest of its kind on AT (in line with AT "recommended private sale price" or £3600)

I saw one at a dealer, for £800 more, but it's manual.... And slightly lower mileage.

[qska]

The faults I noticed was the handbrake, didn't want to spring "back" (come off), other than that it's mainly the rubber bits below which gave way - hardly an issue.

Plus under the bonnet, rusty screws/bolts, which I plan to tidy up.

Scratched corner, some scuffs on the alloys... For a 13 year car it seems fine (for me).