SLK 230 WANT TO BUY ANY HINTS
Discussion
The Missus bought one a few months back.
There are two generations (the first has the indicators on the wing, the latter has them in the mirrors - there are also the trim and options that are different).
The only issues we've had are:
Rear lights blew bulbs. Common fault reading about. Took out the clusters and cleaned up the contact points, been fine since.
Roof refused to go up once. I wiggled, poked and probed it, and it then went up. No idea.
There are two small plates where the roof meets the glass in the gutter/hinge. Quite rusty, and I've yet to replace these.
Do the usual checks (Engine smokes? Rust in arches? Straight chassis?) and make sure the roof is good (two motors). Apart from that it seems pretty sound, the car is quite a bargain.
There are two generations (the first has the indicators on the wing, the latter has them in the mirrors - there are also the trim and options that are different).
The only issues we've had are:
Rear lights blew bulbs. Common fault reading about. Took out the clusters and cleaned up the contact points, been fine since.
Roof refused to go up once. I wiggled, poked and probed it, and it then went up. No idea.
There are two small plates where the roof meets the glass in the gutter/hinge. Quite rusty, and I've yet to replace these.
Do the usual checks (Engine smokes? Rust in arches? Straight chassis?) and make sure the roof is good (two motors). Apart from that it seems pretty sound, the car is quite a bargain.
Edited by Bibbs on Monday 22 June 11:26
FWIW, I just recently purhased a 1999 230SLK Auto with 84K miles for 5.5k. Silver and black lthr.
I was going to go 320 but tbh this is for the other half (of course) so I don't think it was worth the extra (for her).
Mine needed a service though so my mechanics are doing that as we speak.
I did miss out on a 55k miler, 1999 silver with black and red lairy insets and dash - and that went for £5K although not upset as I was not 100% happy with the garish colour scheme.
£6K for manual with higher miles (and worst of all a 200K)? Well, if you really want a manual for yourself it may be worth paying £4 - 4.5K for but expect to lose at selling time. I would recommend an auto, because tbh these are not sports cars anyway - more GT - and the auto suits it imho.
I was going to go 320 but tbh this is for the other half (of course) so I don't think it was worth the extra (for her).
Mine needed a service though so my mechanics are doing that as we speak.
I did miss out on a 55k miler, 1999 silver with black and red lairy insets and dash - and that went for £5K although not upset as I was not 100% happy with the garish colour scheme.
£6K for manual with higher miles (and worst of all a 200K)? Well, if you really want a manual for yourself it may be worth paying £4 - 4.5K for but expect to lose at selling time. I would recommend an auto, because tbh these are not sports cars anyway - more GT - and the auto suits it imho.
Edited by christer on Wednesday 1st July 12:01
Just an update - for what its worth - I had my mechincs carry out a full Service B and give the car a good inspection from top to bottom, back to front. It was a slightly hurried buy, so I wanted to make sure all was fine especially bearing in mind a 1000 mile trip to deliver the car to my other half
On top of the full B service, they found a hint of old watermarks under the radiator but when they pressure-tested the system they found that it was in fact a clip with a weep. In addition, a pipe from the auto gearbox to somewhere was leaking so they replaced and checked the autobox levels. They spent around 6 hours on the car and fitted/balanced 2x new Falken FK452's to the rear I had delivered to them.
So it would seem that the car was pretty sound and is now in good fettle for the summer!
On top of the full B service, they found a hint of old watermarks under the radiator but when they pressure-tested the system they found that it was in fact a clip with a weep. In addition, a pipe from the auto gearbox to somewhere was leaking so they replaced and checked the autobox levels. They spent around 6 hours on the car and fitted/balanced 2x new Falken FK452's to the rear I had delivered to them.
So it would seem that the car was pretty sound and is now in good fettle for the summer!
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