The sub £1k Merc S500

The sub £1k Merc S500

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Discussion

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
Through a combination of luck and good timing I happened across this 2001 W220 S500 on a local Facebook page. With the lease for my daily driver SLK coming to an end and me struggling to find another lease that I really like, along with leaving a bit late for delivery dates, I was quickly realising I needed a stop gap car. Sensible thing to do would be to get a wee £500 micra or just use the Audi or even my girlfriends cars or any one of a number of friends cars I could borrow but where is the fun in that?!

Just at that moment of thinking an E430 fairly near to me popped up on the barge thread on eBay that I figured would work for a few months and decided to have a bid on that. Before I could do so and while waiting for the auction to get nearer the end what should pop up on a local Facebook page (that normally attracts all sorts of scrap and odd people to be fair) but a 2001 S500 as seen here -


A cheeky message asking if he still had it and would he be interested in offers was sent to which I had a positive reply. Sent a message back asking would he take £900 and straight away got a 'yes' back. Damn, should've said £700! Anyway, happy with that I said I would take it, the pictures looked OK and as long as it started and drove ok it seemed a very good price. With that in mind, jumped in the car and went and got it straight away, in the pitch black, hoping for the best.

Here is the car, previous owners pictures for now -










R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
So having had a chance to have a good look over the car there's a few negatives, as I suppose was to be expected!

The interior looks bogging in the sunlight, the boot doesn't release automatically, the passenger window is sticky and the brake pads are showing as low on the onboard computer.




Task for today is to give it a quick clean and tidy for now and check the brakes.

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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I guess ideally you should think of it like a lease car so if you can get 3-4mths out of it and then throw it away you'll be laughing.

The MOT (I assume the MOT year is a typo?) could be a sit of a show-stopper. Do you know a friendly place that won't be too harsh? I've got a 2004 C Class and last one indicated around £2000 of work, on car that's worth £3K tops.

LittleEnus

3,218 posts

173 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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Shocking amount of car for money!!!

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
Brakes checked, the pads were all new! probably a simple fix this one and after a quick run to the auto parts shop I have these to fit -


The boot looks a bit, umm, lived in so that's next to tackle -

After a steam clean and Hoover things look a little more presentable -


Opened the centre console and found a jumble of bits and wires -



Seeing no reason why it was like this I rewired it and reinstalled it -


That's all for now, will update more as I do it.

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
I guess ideally you should think of it like a lease car so if you can get 3-4mths out of it and then throw it away you'll be laughing.

The MOT (I assume the MOT year is a typo?) could be a sit of a show-stopper. Do you know a friendly place that won't be too harsh? I've got a 2004 C Class and last one indicated around £2000 of work, on car that's worth £3K tops.
The mot was a typo, it's got a year on it now as the guy mot'd it yesterday, it had 5 months on it anyway til July 2016 prior to that.

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
All complete in here if a little dirty -

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
Had another half hour spare so pulled the boot mechanism to bits, cleaned it all and reinstalled. Result, the remote boot open now works perfectly!

gforceg

3,524 posts

178 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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If the seller finds out about all these easy fixes, he'll want it back off you.

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
R8Steve said:
Brakes checked, the pads were all new!
Are you Mike Brewer? smile

Great news on the MOT!

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
Are you Mike Brewer? smile

Great news on the MOT!
Thankfully not! laugh

The plan is basically as you said, keep it a few months until my new car comes then pass it onto the next bargist for hopefully the same money as I paid for it.

I said I was going to leave it exactly as I got it but unfortunately as you can see my slightly ocd'ish nature has taken over!

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
Here's the decode of the vin I managed to find thanks to google, clearly no expense spared by someone!
Market: AG,Europe
Production order: N
Paint code 1:
744U - BRILLIANT SILVER METALLIC
026 - SERIENVERSUCH SBC 3
220 - PARKTRONIC SYSTEM (PTS)
249 - INSIDE AND OUTSIDE MIRROR AUTOMATIC DIMMING
275 - MEMORY PACKAGE (DRIVER SEAT, STRG. COL., MIRROR)
284 - SELECTOR LEVER, WOOD
289 - WOOD/LEATHER STEERING-WHEEL
352 - COMAND
354 - ANTENNA FOR TELEPHONE D/E-NET
390 - LINGUATRONIC-ENGLICH(BRITISH)
401 - DELUXE FRONT SEATS WITH VENTILATION AND HEATING CO
414 - ELECTRIC TILT/SLIDE SUNROOF IN GLASS VERSION
461 - INSTRUMENT WITH MILES IND. AND ENGLISH LEGEND
551 - ANTI-THEFT/ANTI-BREAK-IN WARNING SYSTEM
596 - HEAT INSULATING+IR REFLECTG.SAFETY GLASS ALL-ROUND
600 - HEADLAMPS - CLEANING EQUIPMENT
617 - XENON HEADLAMPS, LEFT-HAND TRAFFIC
646 - LIGHT ALLOY 5-HOLE SPOKED WHEEL 8X18
668 - PACKAGING FOR SHIPPING VEHICLES W/ TIE-DOWN HOOKS
673 - HIGH-CAPACITY BATTERY
731 - WOOD TRIM BURRED WALNUT ROOT
801 - AEJ 00/1 R 170 AEJ 99/2
819 - CD CHANGER
833 - INVALID/GREAT BRITAIN,ADDITIONAL PARTS
854 - TELEPHONE "CELL PHONE", NOKIA 6210/6310I
860 - TV-TUNER ANALOG
875 - HEATED SCREEN WASH SYSTEM
882 - INTERIOR SAFEGUARD
883 - POWER CLOSING SYSTEM
889 - KEYLESS - GO
984 - COC DOC., DELETION OF VEHICLE REGISTRATION DOC.
989 - IDENTIFICATION LABEL UNDER WINDSHIELD
200A - LEATHER
744U - BRILLIANT SILVER METALLIC
268A - LEATHER GREY
M113 - V8-GASOLINE ENGINE M113

R8Steve

Original Poster:

4,150 posts

174 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
quotequote all
On having a look through the history I can see it's had issues with the front window before and it's been fixed in 2012 so hoping for an easy fix.

How much?!!

sinbaddio

2,357 posts

175 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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That's a great piece of kit - top work!

E36Ross

501 posts

111 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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Have a real soft spot for these, My Dad had a '04 S320 for about 9 years..... Sadly written off now.

Loveable car, Much much prefer these to the newer model.


Following with interest. smile

n3il123

2,602 posts

212 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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Allowing for depreciation i'll offer £700..

CABC

5,533 posts

100 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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you should get Mr Manlove Forensics (Top Gear) to reveal more of its past!

OP, do keep the thread alive. many are watching i'm sure, and even if it blows an occasional coil pack that's still a lot of car.
thumbup

CharlesdeGaulle

26,091 posts

179 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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I saw this on the 1-5 thread and am really impressed. Great buy, and nice work improving it.

carinaman

21,224 posts

171 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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Good work!

TotalControl

8,016 posts

197 months

Wednesday 24th February 2016
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Excellent bit of kit and for an astonishing price.