RE: Shed Of The Week: Mercedes-Benz CLK
Discussion
Few weeks ago was driving my mates CLK320 cab round southern Spain of the same vintage - no rust issues out there...... and to me it was the perfect car! He has little sympathy for cars so drives it hard and it just keeps coming back for more. Felt very planted and enjoyed wafting around it. V6 made a nice growl to. After a trip to the valeters it also looked good. Great sheds!
mfid said:
Think I might just have one of the lowest mileage models of these around. CLK 230K, S reg, 18,000 miles. Lived most its life in my dad's garage.
Don't intend to keep it forever, but how the hell do you value something like that!?
It's worth maybe a BIT more than the same car that's done 8-10k miles a year - not much and that's assuming both cars are properly maintained (does yours have a proper service history or is it like a lot of lower-mileage cars with YEARS between services??)Don't intend to keep it forever, but how the hell do you value something like that!?
Cars are meant to be used - cars which are used generally suffer fewer issues than cars which aren't. Cars aren't designed to stand-around so things seize, corrosion gets deeper, things take-up-residence (once you have mice/rats/gophers/birds/snakes in there, the trouble is endless) - it's all bad news, basically.
Note: if the car was rare/collectable, lower mileage might be a boon - but that isn't so it's not - simple as.
PoopahScoopah said:
Dubmaster77 said:
Set of rims and a private plate and the neighbours will think you have had a lotto win.
What, like 4 numbers worth?Badge (Mercedes = Good)
Plate (Private = best - then it's a numbers game)
Then it's a ticklist of Flashy Paint/Rims/Spoilers/Droptops/Leather Seats etc.
Obviously you discount damage/rust/dirt/Pokeballs on the aerial etc. etc. ;0
About .1% of the population has knowledge beyond that...
Great shed and great value too. A mate had one of these new, think he spent the same amount per month in lease payments as half the value of this car.
Fond memories of being nominated to drive his down to a stag do in Nottingham as he'd been on the pop since lunchtime. Instant ban levels of speed down the M1 with top down and seat heaters on, another mate sat in the back trying to work his way through 20 Marlboro and a case of Stella whilst getting buffeted around and ending up looking like a grown-up version of one of the Cubs at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Jim'll Fix It (pre Yewtree, obv).
Fond memories of being nominated to drive his down to a stag do in Nottingham as he'd been on the pop since lunchtime. Instant ban levels of speed down the M1 with top down and seat heaters on, another mate sat in the back trying to work his way through 20 Marlboro and a case of Stella whilst getting buffeted around and ending up looking like a grown-up version of one of the Cubs at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Jim'll Fix It (pre Yewtree, obv).
I think it looks a bit frumpy at the back and the wheels let it down a bit almost looking lost in the arches. My dad has a CLK55 AMG from the same era. Gearbox and engine are pretty solid but the body surrounding these components seems to be ageing at a must faster rate than the rest of it. This one may look rust free but it's a no from me.
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Register1 said:
kellyt said:
It's a nice little car and I do like it. But beware, it comes from the absolute trough of the MB build quality curve. It has the capacity to rust in places that you never thought cars could actually rust in. And yes, I know it's cheap, I just know some frightful rust traps have current tickets.
Exactly this.They are one of the lowest of the low when it comes to MB cars.
Not many folk don't know about the rust, but in these early water based painted cars, the rust is just off the scale.
kellyt said:
It's a nice little car and I do like it. But beware, it comes from the absolute trough of the MB build quality curve. It has the capacity to rust in places that you never thought cars could actually rust in. And yes, I know it's cheap, I just know some frightful rust traps have current tickets.
Defo - the problem is that it wasn't cheap initially. The 55AMG I had - the original owner paid about £70k for it with everything specced.I just sold my CLK430 and therefore think this is a great shed. They are lovely cars to waft around in and fairly handy on a winding A/B Road...I was quite surprised at how quickly it could corner. The engines are fairly bombproof and the only weaknesses are rust, obviously and the camshaft position sensor, which tends to go on all of these and will leave you stranded by the roadside as it did me.
A lot of people seemingly didn't notice the "430" badge on mine and assumed it was just an old banger. It was laughingly easy to drop the usual 320d/A4 TDI merchants.
This is the best shed for a few weeks IMHO.
A lot of people seemingly didn't notice the "430" badge on mine and assumed it was just an old banger. It was laughingly easy to drop the usual 320d/A4 TDI merchants.
This is the best shed for a few weeks IMHO.
I run a similar CLK although mines a fair bit tattier than this example (same colours), work colleagues and school mums seem to like it, They wouldn't expect you to pick one up for a grand.
Front and rear arches are prone to rust and the heater fan is where the water that should exit the bulk head drains ends up pooling, mine had 3 inches of water sat in it when I bought it!
Front and rear arches are prone to rust and the heater fan is where the water that should exit the bulk head drains ends up pooling, mine had 3 inches of water sat in it when I bought it!
If I could justify the shipping and RHD, many cars on PH are sold for 20% or less of cash value here in the states. I always read the Aston Martin ads and salivate on the late 90's i6 models for less than $20k. Just goes to show how local the business really is when talking cash money.
LayZ said:
Dubmaster77 said:
Set of rims and a private plate and the neighbours will think you have had a lotto win.
Yep, cheap plate, proper going over with some detailing products and some copy monoblocs. Just add huge fly-eye sunglasses to look the part rolling down home counties high street.Here's mine just before the trip to Le mans this year....
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