CLK55 wisdom required....

[rlw]

OK - 2 cars to choose from.

Car 1 has 70K miles, patchy early service history and non MB later history and needs a B service. It is in good nick with no damaged paint and pristine wheels and the interior is neat and tidy and well cared for. Cost is £7250. And the owner is definitely a PH kind of bloke.

Car 2 has 48K miles and a full MB history from new. It seems to be a facelift car too (as far as I can see) with pretty much the same spec as Car 1. It has new fron disks and pads too. But, it has stty wheels (with new tyres) that need a refurb, a small crack in the PU just behind the front number plate and a chip right at the top of the circumference of one rear wheel arch which is very prominent. The boot shutline is not 100% perfect. The interior is not cared for with badly scuffed seats everywhere. And the keyless go on the drivers door doesn't work (apparently a £200 fix...) Cost is £10500. Oh, and only about 1500 miles in two years.

Given that there is a little wriggle room on price in each (probably), which way would you lean. My requirements are for a cheap to own (but not fuel....) car for a little bit of fun on an irregular basis. I don't mind paying for proper servicing as and when, but I want to minimise my exposure to risk of the mechanical kind. I will probably do about 5K miles per year and will get rid in about 5 years.

[SLacKer]

From the description given I would lean towards the first one. The car is in much better condition and doesn't require a £200 fix (if it is £200 then get it done and add it to the price).

As for early history you might be able to obtain this from the Mercedes dealer who supplied the car or a friendly local dealer.

[rlw]

SLacKer said:

From the description given I would lean towards the first one. The car is in much better condition and doesn't require a £200 fix (if it is £200 then get it done and add it to the price).

As for early history you might be able to obtain this from the Mercedes dealer who supplied the car or a friendly local dealer.

The vendor has actually got the history from MB but they cannot provide the very early history as there is an interesting twist - the car being bought in St Lucia although never leaving this country...........

I am certainly leaning this way, I must admit, plus the vendor is a nice guy, straight and a car nut.

[Mosdef]

I had the same problem with the door handle on the driver's side of my CLK63. Apparently the sensors are prone to failure, particularly if they've been exposed to a jet wash. I can't remember the total cost breakdown but it was something like £250 to get the whole thing done at a main dealer in London - the part was around £150 and it took circa 1 hour to fit but this was done under warranty.

I'd probably be led by condition and the previous owner on a car like this. I'd go for the first car and enjoy the saving.

[rlw]

Now bought a lovely mid-blue one with everything working and will post a couple of pices next week.