Best Smoker Barges 1-5 large [Vol 7]

[sanguinary]

AdamGP said:

Did anyone view this in the end?

Is this a really bad idea at this price? Considering going to view Sunday.

These cars can take an age to sell, so a price like that is not uncommon. I LOVED my CL and will have another again before too long. Mine had a couple issues which needed dealing with - keyless go failed, drivers heated mirror failed. Aside from that I had no problems with the car whatsoever. It was a joy to be in.

Go in with your eyes open and ask the right questions. See Tigerkoi's post here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=119...

[AdamGP]

sanguinary said:

These cars can take an age to sell, so a price like that is not uncommon. I LOVED my CL and will have another again before too long. Mine had a couple issues which needed dealing with - keyless go failed, drivers heated mirror failed. Aside from that I had no problems with the car whatsoever. It was a joy to be in.

Go in with your eyes open and ask the right questions. See Tigerkoi's post here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=119...

Thanks Sanguinary, I appreciate they are not a quick seller. I have loved CLs for many years now and at that price there hard to ignore, I can live with the odd thing not working, but the ABC scares me tbh! I'm trying to avoid keyless go as it just seems like hassle, can anyone make out if that one above has this?

Cheers for Tigerkoi's link, I already have that bookmarked.

[sanguinary]

I can almost make out a start button on the top of the gear shift. If that's the case, then it has keyless go. Once I had mine fixed, it worked perfectly.

I'd like to think that if the ABC is still working, it'll be fine now anyway!

(Hopefully)

I kept a couple of thousand in a bank account for any arising issues but never needed it in the end.

[sanguinary]

^^ Having said that. If keyless go fails, just use the normal key anyway.

Keyless was almost pointless for me, as I always took the key out with me to be on the safe side!

[vit4]

|http://thumbsnap.com/oN5OIjov[/url]
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...[url]

I've got half an eye out for another ~1k estate and find myself strangely drawn to this - ad states air conditioning (although conveniently placed steering wheel means that you can't see the dashboard?) and it certainly doesn't look too bad for 302k miles! Out of idle curiousity if by 'Full Service History' it has been serviced to schedule every time, would it prove reliable? A couple of years ago I recall travelling in a taxi 250D with well over double those miles that still felt tight, have wanted one since

Edited by vit4 on Wednesday 22 October 12:07

[BigBen]

sanguinary said:

^^ Having said that. If keyless go fails, just use the normal key anyway.

Keyless was almost pointless for me, as I always took the key out with me to be on the safe side!

But pressing a button on the end of the gearstick, like the ejector seat in Goldfinger, is just cool.

Mind you the manual in my SL suggests always taking the key incase the keyless does not work

Ben

[CharlesdeGaulle]

vit4 said:

|http://thumbsnap.com/oN5OIjov[/url]
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...[url]

I've got half an eye out for another ~1k estate and find myself strangely drawn to this - ad states air conditioning (although conveniently placed steering wheel means that you can't see the dashboard?) and it certainly doesn't look too bad for 302k miles! Out of idle curiousity if by 'Full Service History' it has been serviced to schedule every time, would it prove reliable? A couple of years ago I recall travelling in a taxi 250D with well over double those miles that still felt tight, have wanted one since

Edited by vit4 on Wednesday 22 October 12:07

There are a few experts on these on here, notably r129sl, so he's probably the man you need.

Bodywork looks OK in the pics. Even if it has it, the air con may not work anyway, they often don't. Many of these are pretty high mileage at this age, and I personally am a fan of higher miles over lack of use, so you should have a reasonable expectation of reliability, subject to the usual caveats when buying old cars.

Let us know what you think if you view.

ETA - I'd want a full MOT on it myself - currently only to Jan.

Edited by CharlesdeGaulle on Wednesday 22 October 12:54

[Oak Green]

AdamGP said:

thelawnet said:

£3500

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

Did anyone view this in the end?

Is this a really bad idea at this price? Considering going to view Sunday.

I tried to call the numbers a few times but no one picked up the phone. Have you got through to the seller?

[sam303]

Hello bargeists,

Having driven a 745i for a year and having invested thousands of pounds into getting it running sweetly, I'm now looking sell it at a considerable loss and move onwards and upwards into something even less sensible.

Somewhat different budgets but looking at a CLS63 AMG, or an Audi A8 W12. Both around 2005, the CLS around £15k and the A8 around £10k. Usage will be occasional - around 3k miles per year - so not worried about MPG.

Any obvious things to look out for? - any experience of either machine appreciated.


Have created a thread here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... but reckon I might get some more sophisticated input from the barge crowd

Thanks

Sam

[phil_cardiff]

LincolnLovin said:

Engine light has lit up on the trusty old 9-5, will be disconnecting the battery to see if its an accidental/temporary thing (could be a sensor I guess).

If not, its new car time - I'm tempted to go for a 9-5 aero estate but my budget is up to £3k and I need space for the family....

Edited by LincolnLovin on Wednesday 22 October 10:20

Could be cheaper to fix than change the car?

If you're after space, then you won't get much more for £3k than a 9-5 estate. I owned an aero and I thought it a decent but not exciting car. The pace is very amusing, the lack of feel less so.

[AdamGP]

Oak Green said:

I tried to call the numbers a few times but no one picked up the phone. Have you got through to the seller?

Well that's not a great sign, I haven't called yet, waiting for the sale completion of my GP this weekend, then I was going to try and get hold of him.

[LincolnLovin]

phil_cardiff said:

Could be cheaper to fix than change the car?

If you're after space, then you won't get much more for £3k than a 9-5 estate. I owned an aero and I thought it a decent but not exciting car. The pace is very amusing, the lack of feel less so.

Sure, I'm going to check it out (I have a 9-5 aero atm, its a good bus)

[Krikkit]

sam303 said:

Hello bargeists,

Having driven a 745i for a year and having invested thousands of pounds into getting it running sweetly, I'm now looking sell it at a considerable loss and move onwards and upwards into something even less sensible.

Somewhat different budgets but looking at a CLS63 AMG, or an Audi A8 W12. Both around 2005, the CLS around £15k and the A8 around £10k. Usage will be occasional - around 3k miles per year - so not worried about MPG.

Any obvious things to look out for? - any experience of either machine appreciated.


Have created a thread here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... but reckon I might get some more sophisticated input from the barge crowd

Thanks

Sam

CLS would be the choice for me - not necessarily a barge thoroughbred engine, but one of the last great N/A V8's imo. Plus the CLS is utterly gorgeous to my eyes (I am braced for a sound chastising from fellow bargists in this thread who lament the modern Merc).

[hornetrider]

Did I read somewhere that the 55 engine is better than the 63?

[Adrian E]

Krikkit said:

sam303 said:

Hello bargeists,

Having driven a 745i for a year and having invested thousands of pounds into getting it running sweetly, I'm now looking sell it at a considerable loss and move onwards and upwards into something even less sensible.

Somewhat different budgets but looking at a CLS63 AMG, or an Audi A8 W12. Both around 2005, the CLS around £15k and the A8 around £10k. Usage will be occasional - around 3k miles per year - so not worried about MPG.

Any obvious things to look out for? - any experience of either machine appreciated.


Have created a thread here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... but reckon I might get some more sophisticated input from the barge crowd

Thanks

Sam

CLS would be the choice for me - not necessarily a barge thoroughbred engine, but one of the last great N/A V8's imo. Plus the CLS is utterly gorgeous to my eyes (I am braced for a sound chastising from fellow bargists in this thread who lament the modern Merc).

They are very different cars in terms of their intended use. The W12 is really all about wafting with acres of usable torque (unless you're one of the owners on the owners club forum, who tracks his W12!) - the W12 comes in 2 flavours of wheelbase. In LWB form the gearing is aimed at cruising, SWB has the same gearing as the S8 and feels more sprightly.

Obviously it's a given that both are ruinous to run - there's a couple of W12 jobs that seem fairly inocuous but can require engine out just to access (lamda sensors/cats and thermostat to name 2, although i think the latter can be done in situ in reality!)

Very few were sold but they are unfortunately now affordable by people who can't necessarily afford to maintain them properly - there was one for sale a week or 2 back that was a case in point. Extremely unusual spec with far more toys than most, individual interior, adaptive cruise, etc, but ditchfinder tyres and an interior that'd seen a fair bit of kiddy action judging by all the marks.

If you can find one locally give it a go, but as an S8 owner I'd be more tempted by the CLS option unless wafting was the main criteria. Visually it just seems more appealing

[Zwolf]

sam303 said:

Having driven a 745i for a year and having invested thousands of pounds into getting it running sweetly, I'm now looking sell it at a considerable loss and move onwards and upwards into something even less sensible.

Welcome, you'll fit right in like that!

[SpeckledJim]

Zwolf said:

sam303 said:

Having driven a 745i for a year and having invested thousands of pounds into getting it running sweetly, I'm now looking sell it at a considerable loss and move onwards and upwards into something even less sensible.

Welcome, you'll fit right in like that!

Come this way! We have many, many wonderful carpets to show you!

[E65Ross]

hornetrider said:

Did I read somewhere that the 55 engine is better than the 63?

Not sure where.....? the 55 is great, but the NA 6.2 is magnificent!

[S3_Graham]

hornetrider said:

Did I read somewhere that the 55 engine is better than the 63?

The 55 is a masterpiece. Best engine ever made.

Got one in my CLK, fancy buying it?

Did I say the engines are amazing and worth billions?

[sam303]

Zwolf said:

Welcome, you'll fit right in like that!

Thank you

Actually I've been a devotee of the barge thread for a few years now Only a very occasional poster, although I did win the internet briefly when I bought the 745i after it was featured in the thread! It was round about the time that E65Ross bought his.

My barge credentials include previous ownership of:
A P38 Range Rover (4.6L)
Subaru Legacy 3.0R Tourer
E34 540i
Volvo XC90 3.2L (petrol 6-cyl)
Alpina B10 3.2
...and those are just the barges, there's been plenty other lesser-sized gas guzzlers as well