Best smoker barges 1-5 large [vol11]

[iSore]

JZZ30 said:

How about this CL500 - Suspiciously Cheap?

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/199170/merc-cl...

Not really cheap - CL's are getting on for being unsaleable because everyone knows what a money pit they are. They are, however, absolutely amazing things and easily the prettiest thing DB made for a long time. I remember when these came out - I was living in Germany and every silver haired millionaire and his trophy wife had one - your st didn't stink if you rolled in one of these and they were fit for comparison with anything Crewe built.

For 1400 quid, it's an occasional toy, playing warning light roulette and praying it doesn't st itself whilst in your ownership. In that respect it's a modern day V12 XJS.

[JZZ30]

Not really cheap?

I think it will reappear soon at over double the price!

[iSore]

One owner, 75'000 miles, £2500.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The maroon one above isn't a one owner 75'000 mile car - £1400 is what it's worth. Anyone who thinks it's worth 3 grand should buy it, stick it on Autotrader and see how far they get. CL's are at the stage where just one big repair equals what the actual car cost.

[JZZ30]

Fair enough. Looks like I'm well out on the value of these now!

[TheLordJohn]

iSore said:

One owner, 75'000 miles, £2500.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The maroon one above isn't a one owner 75'000 mile car - £1400 is what it's worth. Anyone who thinks it's worth 3 grand should buy it, stick it on Autotrader and see how far they get. CL's are at the stage where just one big repair equals what the actual car cost.

Is that a genuine 1 owner though? I'd wager not.
That advert is not the advert written by a man who bought that new and has run it for the past 17 years.

I think both are cheap, relative to C215 prices. If you could get the maroon car for a grand, it'd be the bargain of the year.

[r129sl]

JZZ30 said:

golfer19 said:

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897268



Very handsome car at £1850

They always have nice cars. That one looks like a reasonable price.

They certainly do. How about this mini-barge for the enthusiast. The spec (pale yellow leather, myrtle wood, pretty full compliment of options) looks mega to me.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897339



And another here. Yellow leather, again.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897375

[anonymous-user]

That E46 is lovely..

Both cars are in Scotland though, which could mean one thing.... rust

[Krikkit]

Very nicely photographed, but I wish sellers who want to advertise by covering plates would put them in the ad instead - it's a useful tool to judge on whether or not it's been cared for (and in the rust-prone cases whether it's been plated to hell and back every year).

Much love for that E39 tourer though, fabulous colours.

[phil_cardiff]

sleepera6 said:

SilverSixer said:

Desperately want this, but can't justify at the moment. Good job it's 400 miles away.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The only blot on its copybook is grey interior rather than beige/cream. But heated AND ventilated seats. Oh yarsssssss.

Sorry, that does nothing for me. It's a Vectra with some Swede bits on it. About £2,500 too expensive, dubious build quality, nowhere near as good as a Merc, even to drive

Dubious build quality? Post a list of common faults on an E39 and same era Merc and I'll post one for the 9-5. Your lists will be longer and more expensive to fix.

[Krikkit]

Now now, no need for handbags... In the parlance of this thread, one man's W124 is another's W163.

I must admit I've heard of iffy bits of trim etc in a Saab of that era, but on the flipside the mechanicals are very good and relatively trouble-free. Show me a practical barge that doesn't have some foibles!

[anonymous-user]

phil_cardiff said:

sleepera6 said:

SilverSixer said:

Desperately want this, but can't justify at the moment. Good job it's 400 miles away.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The only blot on its copybook is grey interior rather than beige/cream. But heated AND ventilated seats. Oh yarsssssss.

Sorry, that does nothing for me. It's a Vectra with some Swede bits on it. About £2,500 too expensive, dubious build quality, nowhere near as good as a Merc, even to drive

Dubious build quality? Post a list of common faults on an E39 and same era Merc and I'll post one for the 9-5. Your lists will be longer and more expensive to fix.

I've owned all 3. Well, a BMW E39, Merc W210, and a Saab 93. These are what happened to me

E39 - gearbox failure - scrapped. Nice powerful engine, lovely when it worked, lovely ride. In 540i M Sport trim it was the ultimate car. Sadly I was consigned to SE

E240 - inherited with 24,000 miles from my dad, no faults whatsoever, no rust anywhere. Passes MOT no advisories with little input from Mercedes. Still going strong. Although mind numbingly dull and somehow the buttons have got all sticky?


Saab 93 - wheelarches rusted through very quickly, boot filled with water ALL THE TIME due to st factory sealing, alarm went off randomly, the car got immobolised somehow with no warning, the squeakiest ride of any car I have ever owned, the trim rattled over a speed bump, LCD display in dashboard went, st brakes, the steering had no feel whatsoever. Leaked oil all over my drive when I got fed up with the bd thing. It was the cheapest pile of st I have ever owned in my life and it was only £300. I wonder what went through my head that day... I cancelled an appointment for an Audi A3 1.8 turbo. Which would have been a much smarter purchase even if the turbo went bang the next day.
So once it began leaking oil on my drive, I listed it on ebay, £99 minimum bid, detailing all the faults. Not one bid. Not a single one. So off to the scrappers it went.

I smiled as I sipped coffee seeing the scrapman start it. It wheezed and wheezed before it started, and then it promptly rolled down the driveway.. very quickly. The poor man nearly got run over. £50 richer, I was a happy man.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 1st August 20:56

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 1st August 20:57

[Krikkit]

Were the Merc and E39 similarly cheap and ruined by the time you got them? Sounds like you had a very bad one, hardly fit to tar them all with the same brush.

[egor110]

The car listed was a 9-5 which is a very different prospect to the 9-3.

My 9-5 was built far better than my current bmw 325 which has headlining falling off the front window pillars and rear roof and has chronic rust.

[ian316]

Well I've had a 9000 and 2 9-5s, 3 bmw's and 3 w124 all diesels the mercs the others were petrol
. The head gaskets went on all 3 bmw the mercs have all had rust which to be fair has been an easy fix (front wings), the only problem with the saabs has been one sticking rear caliper on a 9-5, and yet i'm back in a w124 what ever floats your boat

[sam303]

r129sl said:

They certainly do. How about this mini-barge for the enthusiast. The spec (pale yellow leather, myrtle wood, pretty full compliment of options) looks mega to me.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897339

And another here. Yellow leather, again.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897375

Why the blinking flip can't they be bothered to take pictures of the interior of the cars?? Really annoys me when dealers do that.

(Or is it because both interiors are yellow leather and they're trying not to put buyers off? )

[0a]

Looks like a reasonable 2.6 with leather. The blues don't massively appeal to me I must admit. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

[BrabusMog]

sam303 said:

r129sl said:

They certainly do. How about this mini-barge for the enthusiast. The spec (pale yellow leather, myrtle wood, pretty full compliment of options) looks mega to me.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897339

And another here. Yellow leather, again.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897375

Why the blinking flip can't they be bothered to take pictures of the interior of the cars?? Really annoys me when dealers do that.

(Or is it because both interiors are yellow leather and they're trying not to put buyers off? )

If you click on their logo on the C&C website, you go through to their actual sales website and you can get the interior photos from there. Absolute faff but, where there's a will, there's a way! That E39 has my favourite ever steering wheel, had one in my old E38 and I've never found something that has ever matched it ergonomically or aesthetically.

[sam303]

BrabusMog said:

sam303 said:

r129sl said:

They certainly do. How about this mini-barge for the enthusiast. The spec (pale yellow leather, myrtle wood, pretty full compliment of options) looks mega to me.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897339

And another here. Yellow leather, again.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C897375

Why the blinking flip can't they be bothered to take pictures of the interior of the cars?? Really annoys me when dealers do that.

(Or is it because both interiors are yellow leather and they're trying not to put buyers off? )

If you click on their logo on the C&C website, you go through to their actual sales website and you can get the interior photos from there. Absolute faff but, where there's a will, there's a way! That E39 has my favourite ever steering wheel, had one in my old E38 and I've never found something that has ever matched it ergonomically or aesthetically.

OK I've just done that and upon scrolling down through their stock have seen an absolutely lovely E39 530i in Aegean Blue with white leather that I predict will go down rather well in this thread

https://www.kar-automotive.co.uk/current-stock/

A bit out of budget though at just under £7k.

[bob-lad]

TheLordJohn said:

iSore said:

One owner, 75'000 miles, £2500.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

The maroon one above isn't a one owner 75'000 mile car - £1400 is what it's worth. Anyone who thinks it's worth 3 grand should buy it, stick it on Autotrader and see how far they get. CL's are at the stage where just one big repair equals what the actual car cost.

Is that a genuine 1 owner though? I'd wager not.
That advert is not the advert written by a man who bought that new and has run it for the past 17 years.

I think both are cheap, relative to C215 prices. If you could get the maroon car for a grand, it'd be the bargain of the year.

That silver one has had 3 registered keepers.

[phil_cardiff]

Krikkit said:

Now now, no need for handbags... In the parlance of this thread, one man's W124 is another's W163.

I must admit I've heard of iffy bits of trim etc in a Saab of that era, but on the flipside the mechanicals are very good and relatively trouble-free. Show me a practical barge that doesn't have some foibles!

I apologise for my robust response. But this thread requires the truth.

Now if we'd have been talking about the 9-5s overly light, vague steering, spongy brakes and terrible gear change feel I'd have been inclined to agree!

Decent enough cars though.