CL500 AMG
Author
Discussion

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Tuesday 29th November 2011
quotequote all
Guys,

I have been looking at a CL500 on a 53 plate which is up for sale at £7k. Black, full leather, full options, full service history as far as i have been able to find out so far & 109k miles on the clock.

Head says buy it - however i have not bought such a car before hence i am little wary. Is the price right for this sort of car & what are the likely pitfalls of future ownership?

Unsure about servicing costs or costs of spares when/if required. Dealer needs an answer today or early tomorrow so any advice greatfully accepted.

Thank you.

tigerkoi

2,927 posts

227 months

Tuesday 29th November 2011
quotequote all
fatboy69 said:
Guys,

I have been looking at a CL500 on a 53 plate which is up for sale at £7k. Black, full leather, full options, full service history as far as i have been able to find out so far & 109k miles on the clock.

Head says buy it - however i have not bought such a car before hence i am little wary. Is the price right for this sort of car & what are the likely pitfalls of future ownership?

Unsure about servicing costs or costs of spares when/if required. Dealer needs an answer today or early tomorrow so any advice greatfully accepted.

Thank you.
To be pedantic, I'm not sure what a CL500 'AMG' is. Standard 500, sure, and x5 AMG of course. Different models. If this car has some 'extra' badging, I'd be a bit put off, as it's unneccesary and would lead me guessing as to what type of owner it previously had.

Regarding the dealer, I certainly wouldn't be pressured into having to give him an answer as there should be others on the market. By and large, 'black' is the most popular colour; I'm not sure anything but leather was much of an option, and being the flagship, then of course will be stuffed with options. At this model bracket, you are only talking about whether or not you have massaging seats or something not absolutely necessary.

7k will be real entry point stuff, so, you should really do some thorough checks on ABC, engine mounts (vibration at high speed), balanced wheels etc etc...

Also, slight correction - it's your HEART that's saying you buy it, no? For something that at new retailed for what you could spend on a starter home in Tewkesbury, then it's a pure luxury!

SLacKer

2,622 posts

236 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Looking at the spread of prices on Auto Trader that is in the more expensive zone. This is a silver car from a franchise dealer (Tier 1 Warranty should come with it and allows you to sleep at night) here for £7981 with a deal maybe closer to £7k with circa 70k miles.

My advise is if bought through Mercedes get one from your local dealer as if it needs work you get a better service from them. I bought one of mine from a franchise 125 miles away WHAT A MISTAKE if you want to be treated like st give em a call wink

As for AMG well some describe them as so if they have AMG alloys on them.

If you get a good one you won't regret it.

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
I have not yet been able to ascertain exactly what AMG kit is on the car apart from an AMG badge -on the boot lid.

The car does not have any bodywork alterations as far as i can see - by that i mean it looks like a standard 'as it left the Mercedes factory' body - & the engine does not appear to have any obvious modifications although i only had a cursory look in the rain yesterday afternoon.

The interior also looks to be pretty much standard (quality) with no obvious AMG type steering wheel or gear-knob (whatever those might look like) additions anywhere.

I also dont know too much about what AMG might have done to this car or whether whatever has been done has been added at a late date or what was spent on the modifications.

For those reasons - & because i have never considered buying such a car this before - i have decided to walk away & do some more research before i go any further.

I dont want shell out circa £7k to then find that i have bought a money pit or something that isnt what it says on the tin.

I have asked the dealer to supply me with a detailed list of what AMG parts are on the car & when he has done that i will have another look at the car.

Thank you for your replies & i will keep you posted as to what, if anything, i do regarding the car in the near future.


I have just had a look at the car shown in an earlier posting - the car i looked at is exactly the same - wheels, interior, etc - as the car featured in the advert so i wonder whether a previous owner has simply added the AMG badge for show.

I will wait for an update from the dealer & will update when i know what he knows.

Edited by fatboy69 on Wednesday 30th November 09:36

Derestrictor

18,764 posts

290 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
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http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C224218

Nice thingy pole but a proper one...

tigerkoi

2,927 posts

227 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Derestrictor said:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C224218

Nice thingy pole but a proper one...
But that's a C140? We're babbling about W215's!

Rock-solid build undoubtedly, but a DAF compared to the the svelte lines of it's descendent.

Around the AMG comments, it's either an AMG or it isn't. Alloys do not make it an AMG. Plonking on a badge accrues a false advertising claim in my eyes. Like sticking an 'M' on a 330ci.

Fatboy - would be good to hear your progress in finding one.

Lord West

44 posts

259 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
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Hi. I'm pretty sure (99%)they did not do an AMG version of this car. My dad was looking at one over the summer at a local garage. It had an AMG badge and alloys, but we could not find any suggestion of a genuine AMG model being prodeuced.
My advise - make sure everything works. These were expensive to buy and run when new. They are cheap to buy and enxpensive to run now.
Enjoy !


MHT223

198 posts

237 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
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There was a CL55 and and CL65 made. Facelifted in 2003 with an updated interior an much improved sat nav. My assumption would be its a CL500 with AMG bodykit, some seem to have the AMG badges on if they have the kit.


r129sl

9,518 posts

232 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
quotequote all
SLacKer said:
Looking at the spread of prices on Auto Trader that is in the more expensive zone. This is a silver car from a franchise dealer (Tier 1 Warranty should come with it and allows you to sleep at night) here for £7981 with a deal maybe closer to £7k with circa 70k miles.

My advise is if bought through Mercedes get one from your local dealer as if it needs work you get a better service from them. I bought one of mine from a franchise 125 miles away WHAT A MISTAKE if you want to be treated like st give em a call wink

As for AMG well some describe them as so if they have AMG alloys on them.

If you get a good one you won't regret it.
That is also a facelift car, which makes it an extremely attractive prospect. So damned tempting but really unnecessary in my life!

chris333

1,034 posts

268 months

Thursday 1st December 2011
quotequote all
I like the current model CL and this one's done a fair amount of depreciating in 4 years:

http://www.stratstone.com/vehiclesearch/used/merce...

but how much more still to go?

r129sl

9,518 posts

232 months

Friday 2nd December 2011
quotequote all
chris333 said:
I like the current model CL and this one's done a fair amount of depreciating in 4 years:

http://www.stratstone.com/vehiclesearch/used/merce...

but how much more still to go?
I'd say just less than 27 grand.

Given that you can get 215s for 5k, it is a fair bet that in five years time you'll be able to get 216s for 5k as well.

To my eye, the 216 is less beautiful than the lovely 215. It's rather like Merc do one pretty coupe (126 SEC), one ugly (140 CL), one pretty car (w215 CL), one ugly (w216). Presumably the next CL will be a stunner.

chris333

1,034 posts

268 months

Friday 2nd December 2011
quotequote all
r129sl said:
I'd say just less than 27 grand.

Given that you can get 215s for 5k, it is a fair bet that in five years time you'll be able to get 216s for 5k as well.

To my eye, the 216 is less beautiful than the lovely 215. It's rather like Merc do one pretty coupe (126 SEC), one ugly (140 CL), one pretty car (w215 CL), one ugly (w216). Presumably the next CL will be a stunner.
I agree with you on the 140 (although I still like them!), but I do think the W216 has a lot of presence. I'm counting down the days till they are £5k!

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
quotequote all
Update - dealer says he is not aware of any AMG tuning work being done on the car & the engine certainly appears to be bog standard as does the bodywork.

Says he doesnt know when the AMG badge on the car. In his defence he didnt market the car as an AMG although with an AMG badge on the car i had assumed, at first sight, that it was an AMG.

Decided against buying it simply because i dont know much about the car - i liked the look of it & thought it might be worth a punt however as i'm not sure i have decided to walk away from it.

Thanks for the replies to my initial posting.

chris333

1,034 posts

268 months

Saturday 3rd December 2011
quotequote all
fatboy69 said:
Update - dealer says he is not aware of any AMG tuning work being done on the car & the engine certainly appears to be bog standard as does the bodywork.

Says he doesnt know when the AMG badge on the car. In his defence he didnt market the car as an AMG although with an AMG badge on the car i had assumed, at first sight, that it was an AMG.

Decided against buying it simply because i dont know much about the car - i liked the look of it & thought it might be worth a punt however as i'm not sure i have decided to walk away from it.

Thanks for the replies to my initial posting.
The right decision...better to spend some time looking for the best one you can find...good luck!