The Tank - CL500

[Andy665]

After selling the Jag S Type R and having a bad experience in trying to buy my first choice car - an Audi TT V6 - I went back to the drawing board.

I'm in Germany for 3 1/2 days a week - did I need a second car - no, did I want one - yes.

What does the M135i provide me with - its quick, agile, brand new and practical enough

Identifying this gave me a wish list for a second car - economy not an issue, age - irrelevant, usage - 3/4k per year, too old for something totally impractical so preference for a wafter - a high days and holidays cruiser

Always admired the Mercedes W215 series - a truly beautiful car in my opinion, yes it has its weak spots, electrolytic corrosion at certain points, ABC pump replacement costs (but a lot lower than they were) - the fear factor was diminishing. I briefly considered a CLK500 but it just did not look or feel special enough, I'd always be thinking that I should have gone for the real Mercedes coupe rather than the mass market model.

A lot of CL's were silver and / or with grey leather - neither of them were particularly appealing, I wasn't concerned about mileage, condition / provenance was more important

On searching the various sites I came across a very nice looking CL500 being sold by a Mercedes specialist in Reading, good history, 6 months full warranty, 16 stamps in the service book - what appealed was the fact it was being sold by a Mercedes specialist - that was giving me some reassurance.

An email was sent a week last Sunday, I got a call from the owner of the specialists about half an hour later, a long chat ensued and we agreed a deal - i wanted a couple of minor points rectified, a service, transmission fluid change etc. He refused to accept a deposit until I had spoken to a couple of customers which I did.

Within 10 minutes of paying the deposit the car had been removed from their website and Autotrader, the following morning I got the invoice stating that deposit was fully refundable in event of car not being as described and that all my travels costs would be reimbursed - very positive.

Yesterday was collection day - car was totally as described, business is rarely as pleasurable and straightforward as this was

Without further ado - here he is:











Its stuffed full of toys - double glazing, electric rear sunblind, fully refurbished 19" AMG alloys, fridge behind rear armrest, air-conditioned centre storage, rear parking sensors that has a dashboard display and a repeater display in headlining for when you are looking over the shoulder when reversing, rear headrests that raise electrically and automatically when it senses a rear seat passenger.

Every switch, dial, control has a hewn from solid feel that is unlike anything I have ever experienced, the 120+ mile drive home revealed absolutely no squeaks or rattles.

Plans - assessment tomorrow, new tyres in the next few weeks and a thorough deep clean I'm pretty sure will reveal a car that I'm really going to enjoy

[Andy665]

bmthnick1981 said:

Just lovely. I enjoyed my previous shape 600. I would like one of these with the 600 TT engine or the CL55K. 500 still a very, very nice car indeed and yours looks like an excellent example.

I did consider setting my sights higher at a 55 but to be honest the S Type R never had its performance exploited, I have the M135i if I want the speed, the 500 engine is pretty bulletproof and does a decent job for a GT car

[Andy665]

Thankyou4calling said:

That engine bay will come up really well.

Great looking car, what did you pay for it?

Started on the engine bay this morning, nice to see no sign of oil weepage anywhere, just grimy through age - Bilt Hamber Surfex will make light work of it

Paid a little short of 5k for it - I know there are cheaper ones out there but this was the right colour combo, good service history, specialist checked and a warranty made it a much safer buy

R6VED said:

Lovely looking car, I had a CLS 500 with £12k of options taking it to £72k new - I loved it and regret selling it.

According to the council thread, Irish numberplates are not the done thing ;-) get those off straight away :-)

I'm keeping the plate :-), if it was BAZ or GAZ then it would be straight off but I quite like the XKZ

Edited by Andy665 on Thursday 25th August 12:34

[Andy665]

Mikeeb said:

Get the ABC oil and filter changed. You'll be amazed how horribly black the (green) oil will have become, degraded oil is the biggest killer of ABC system components.

I had a 55 for a year, beautifully built car and an absolute delight on a motorway journey.

It was done as part of the deal, also had a transmission fluid change done

[Andy665]

Thankyou4calling said:

I think you've done well there. £5k is enough to make you think twice but still leaves something to upgrade areas.

Lovely looking car in my opinion and i'm sure it's great to drive.

I agree, its not perfect but bodily only a couple of minor scratches that I think will machine polish out and some light front end stone chipping, interior wise there are a few fixings / fasteners missing (soon to be remedied), just needs a little TLC - most people would probably say its absolutely fine but I'm OCD

[Andy665]

toby-w8jtf said:

I had a rather bad experience with one around 6 months ago, stupidly traded my immaculate e36 328i sport + £500 for a ice blue CL500 which again was sporting a Irish plate, I drove 300 miles to view the car and should have listened to my head and walked away as I purchased it from a group of unsavoury characters on some run down council estate in Staines. The sound of the V8 persuaded me!
To cut a long story short I sold the thing for £500 two months later after discovering the rear suspension was on its way out and was quoted 2k to replace a rear shock absorber.

Oh ye forgot to mention over that two months I spend close to 2k on fuel!

I moved on to a 335d after that

You get both rear shock absorbers and a brand new ABC pump fitted for less than that - I was only tempted by this as it was for sale by a reputable Mercedes specialist - gives me some peace of mind

freenote said:

Who was the dealer?
It's so difficult to find a decent one.

Calcot Cars of Reading - small place, not far from the town centre Tesco, both Ian and James appear to be 100% genuine people - very good buying experience from them

[Andy665]

DSLiverpool said:

Facelift model as well - great deal you got there, well below market price.

Values seem to be all over the place for them, quite a few around the 3-4k mark but I believe I paid a fair price for the car

[Andy665]

Erudite geezer said:

Have always loved these. Look so elegant on the road.

Just the potential running costs put me off.

Tell me please, it costs pennies to run

The (potential) running costs put me off too - nearly two years with a Jaguar S Type R that cost me pennies to run gave me the confidence to plump for one - for me it had to be a car from a Mercedes specialist.

Main areas for concern are the ABC pump which can now be bought new for £600-700, less if you buy a reconditioned unit. Engines / gearboxes are fairly bulletproof if well maintained, more so with the earlier 5 speed box which I actively looked for.

Insurance for me was £240, fully comp, £50 excess, agreed value, business use and 7k per year.

Economy is not great but averaged 28 on the run home from collection

[Andy665]

Not really had much chance to do any work on the car since collection with being on holiday and then straight back to Germany for work.

As I'm attending my first Mercedes Club event next weekend I took the chance to spend the day on it today- full interior clean with leather conditioned, engine bay clean and a full paint correction.

No sealant or wax on it - yet to decide on what to finish it with.

Only when machine polishing do you actually realise how big the thing is but very happy with how the flake form the Obsidian Black has started to pop

[Andy665]

Attended my first Mercedes Club event at RAF Cosford this morning and as the car was clean I decided to pop down into Ironbridge and grab a few shots

[Andy665]

Already I'm starting to debate whether to go for a later W216 after the BMW goes back at the end of the lease. Really love the W215 but do like the W216 as well, what it loses in elegance it gains in aggression

[Andy665]

After finally clocking 1000 miles in the CL since buying it last August I thought I'd finally get on top of the paintwork.

It looked superficially good but swirls were really irritating me and being typically tough German paint it required some heavy duty materials, namely a Hexlogic yellow pad and Megs 105, followed by Auto Finesse Rejuvinate and treated to a coat of my new favourite wax - Angelwax Enigma - not cheap at £45 for 30ml but already applied 2 coats to the BMW and after applying it to the Merc I probably still have 20ml left

Pretty pleased with the end result - 14 year old original paintwork can still look decent

[Andy665]

Rosewood Red said:

Love the W215. Have always lusted after one. In my eyes, one of the last classy Mercedes, before they started to get a bit too blingy and ostentatious.

Do you mind divulging the dealer you bought the car from in Reading? Sound like one of the better ones.

I agree, this is very restrained and subtle - well, as subtle as any 17ft two door coupe ever could be

The dealer is Calcot Cars - a real pleasure to deal with - http://www.calcotcars.co.uk/

Edited by Andy665 on Monday 10th April 08:41

[Andy665]

Croutons said:

Please let me know when you want to sell!

It is actually now up for sale - having recently bought a Westfield this is surplus to requirements - only done 1,000 miles since buying in August - will be very sad to see it go as it was by the far best I found after much searching

Edited by Andy665 on Friday 14th April 09:29

[Andy665]

Sailed through its MOT this morning - zero advisories and a comment from the tester that it was the cleanest cars he had ever tested - makes me wonder why its up for sale