RE: Shed of the Week: Mercedes S320
Discussion
devnull said:
I wouldn't own any Mercedes without a "proper" STAR system and the ability to use it. I bought one for my CLK, which has one of the chinese cloned multiplexers and a dell laptop, and it enables you to get into every nook and cranny of the car, compared to a £20 ebay reader. You really need one for an sclass, you simply can't interrogate the modules properly without one.
Horrendously expensive to buy genuine, if at all for the lay DIYer - even the indies use the chinese clones.
Exactly this. My knock off STAR has paid for itself may times over.Horrendously expensive to buy genuine, if at all for the lay DIYer - even the indies use the chinese clones.
To counter the other unlucky posters I have owned an R230SL which cost me very little to run over two or three years. The previous owner had spent a lot on it which was to my advantage but on the other hand he clearly didn't know one end of a spanner from the other so in my view 60% of the spend could have been avoided.
My current car is a W220 S600 TT which is a totally awesome car, not least for feeling quicker than my R230 did (the R230 was the 55 AMG) but also for being amazingly comfortable and luxurious.
For £1500 and being a facelift car the SOTW looks a bit of a bargain to me.....
Ben
Well I think this generation of S-Class looks great, and this one looks like a real bargain!
I know it has the potential to throw a huge bill at you, but at the end of the day wafting around in an S-Class until it does has a certain appeal!
Not really my sort of car at all, but so much car for so little money.
I know it has the potential to throw a huge bill at you, but at the end of the day wafting around in an S-Class until it does has a certain appeal!
Not really my sort of car at all, but so much car for so little money.
Our family has owned one from new and we were bid in the b
ks on it approx twelve years ago when we were thinking of selling it as px on Range Rover sport. We decided to keep it as the " family/ works spare car" we still have it today and use it when our dailies are in for service. Currently at just 27.000 miles granted it's had a charmed life and It's been almost fault free. It puts my brand new G30 BMW to the wall in terms of ride and shear quality and nog. (it's is known as the magic carpet) It lives in a heated car bubble and is a rare designio special build fully loaded with every extra if I recall and with the odd twist of being painted in BMW artic silver. Shed of the week it may be but our Merc has just set itself up on the classic car ladder thanks to this editorial and you can opinionate all that you want but the chaps at P.H know a great car and we share their sentiments.
ks on it approx twelve years ago when we were thinking of selling it as px on Range Rover sport. We decided to keep it as the " family/ works spare car" we still have it today and use it when our dailies are in for service. Currently at just 27.000 miles granted it's had a charmed life and It's been almost fault free. It puts my brand new G30 BMW to the wall in terms of ride and shear quality and nog. (it's is known as the magic carpet) It lives in a heated car bubble and is a rare designio special build fully loaded with every extra if I recall and with the odd twist of being painted in BMW artic silver. Shed of the week it may be but our Merc has just set itself up on the classic car ladder thanks to this editorial and you can opinionate all that you want but the chaps at P.H know a great car and we share their sentiments. A lot of hate and deeply polarised opinions. The S Class was, and is, a great car. If the metal is good, then it’s worth buying and keeping. The most horrendous second hand horror is the same thing that made it a brilliant car when new, the astonishingly smooth suspension system. But, if it goes completely to hell, you can convert it to coil over, although it takes away from the smoothness of the ride.
Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
kellyt said:
A lot of hate and deeply polarised opinions. The S Class was, and is, a great car. If the metal is good, then it’s worth buying and keeping. The most horrendous second hand horror is the same thing that made it a brilliant car when new, the astonishingly smooth suspension system. But, if it goes completely to hell, you can convert it to coil over, although it takes away from the smoothness of the ride.
Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
Disregarding the rust for a moment the interior of ours was an odd mix of some great bits and some really cheap feeling plastics. However overall it was a cracking car and for the 1k ours cost what can you expect. For our charity run shed it was a no brainer. All four of us would happily have another, says something in my eyes as we’re all petrolheads. Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
wistec said:
Our family has owned one from new and we were bid in the bks on it approx twelve years ago when we were thinking of selling it as px on Range Rover sport. We decided to keep it as the " family/ works spare car" we still have it today and use it when our dailies are in for service. Currently at just 27.000 miles granted it's had a charmed life and It's been almost fault free. It puts my brand new G30 BMW to the wall in terms of ride and shear quality and nog. (it's is known as the magic carpet) It lives in a heated car bubble and is a rare designio special build fully loaded with every extra if I recall and with the odd twist of being painted in BMW artic silver. Shed of the week it may be but our Merc has just set itself up on the classic car ladder thanks to this editorial and you can opinionate all that you want but the chaps at P.H know a great car and we share their sentiments.
I love that, someone paid a huge amount to paint a Merc, that typically, in that era came in silver, and most for sale, including this one are painted silver, in a slightly different shade of silver from a different manufacturer ks on it approx twelve years ago when we were thinking of selling it as px on Range Rover sport. We decided to keep it as the " family/ works spare car" we still have it today and use it when our dailies are in for service. Currently at just 27.000 miles granted it's had a charmed life and It's been almost fault free. It puts my brand new G30 BMW to the wall in terms of ride and shear quality and nog. (it's is known as the magic carpet) It lives in a heated car bubble and is a rare designio special build fully loaded with every extra if I recall and with the odd twist of being painted in BMW artic silver. Shed of the week it may be but our Merc has just set itself up on the classic car ladder thanks to this editorial and you can opinionate all that you want but the chaps at P.H know a great car and we share their sentiments. 
On the drain - I'd not worry about that too much, my money would be on either
a - aftermarket accessories 'long forgotten' like bluetooth/phone kits, alarms or even a tracker (all common on cars like this)
b - a failing rear SAM (under rear seat usually) - this is where trackers etc. are often wired-in too so it's well worth checking
c - those boot struts MIGHT just be stopping the boot closing properly - so the light sometimes stays on and/or if it has auto-close that may get uppity
Finding drains is DIY friendly stuff but requires a methodical approach - get an ammeter in-circuit, pull fuses/disconnect stuff until drain disappears...
Note: if it's a "the battery dies overnight" it will be easily found - if it's more "battery dies in 2 weeks" you might just want to ignore it as it will be harder to find and - frankly - who cares?
a - aftermarket accessories 'long forgotten' like bluetooth/phone kits, alarms or even a tracker (all common on cars like this)
b - a failing rear SAM (under rear seat usually) - this is where trackers etc. are often wired-in too so it's well worth checking
c - those boot struts MIGHT just be stopping the boot closing properly - so the light sometimes stays on and/or if it has auto-close that may get uppity
Finding drains is DIY friendly stuff but requires a methodical approach - get an ammeter in-circuit, pull fuses/disconnect stuff until drain disappears...
Note: if it's a "the battery dies overnight" it will be easily found - if it's more "battery dies in 2 weeks" you might just want to ignore it as it will be harder to find and - frankly - who cares?
kellyt said:
A lot of hate and deeply polarised opinions. The S Class was, and is, a great car. If the metal is good, then it’s worth buying and keeping. The most horrendous second hand horror is the same thing that made it a brilliant car when new, the astonishingly smooth suspension system. But, if it goes completely to hell, you can convert it to coil over, although it takes away from the smoothness of the ride.
Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
I like the way the thread drifts away from the actual car in question and we hear all about what goes wrong with SL's and C classes, ABC systems etc. Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
swiveleyedgit said:
kellyt said:
A lot of hate and deeply polarised opinions. The S Class was, and is, a great car. If the metal is good, then it’s worth buying and keeping. The most horrendous second hand horror is the same thing that made it a brilliant car when new, the astonishingly smooth suspension system. But, if it goes completely to hell, you can convert it to coil over, although it takes away from the smoothness of the ride.
Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
I like the way the thread drifts away from the actual car in question and we hear all about what goes wrong with SL's and C classes, ABC systems etc. Anyone that berates the entire quality of the car just hasn’t been in one, or is so biased they can’t tell the difference between good and bad quality.
I genuinely don't know if E Classes of that era are supposed to be comparable to S Classes in terms of reliability but I've had two E500's absolutely stuffed with kit and they've been good as gold.
loose cannon said:
Got to be the most overrated unreliable poorly made heap of ste ever to grace a road and still be thought of as the best car in the world 
Oh and they look like a mondeo
I really don't understand where these sweeping generalisations are coming from.te ever to grace a road and still be thought of as the best car in the world Oh and they look like a mondeo
One of my neigbours worked for a limo firm who drive Saudi royals around London. The cars are all black S Classes and have been for many years. They had loads of 220's and my neighbour loved them at the time.
There's used be to loads in the City but obviously they were all so bad the drivers swapped them for...errr....newer versions.
The guy that owns the company I work for has well over $1bn and what sits outside his office? A BMW? Bentley? Lexus? Tesla? Audi?
Nope, a brand new (S Class-based) Maybach 500.
If they are so bad, how come they have been the limo-drivers car of choice for decades?
It's amazing they even get to turn a wheel what with all the breakdowns.
loose cannon said:
Got to be the most overrated unreliable poorly made heap of ste ever to grace a road and still be thought of as the best car in the world
Oh and they look like a mondeo
There's some garbage posted on here these days. It looks nothing like a Mondeo. And. It's fifteen. hundred. quid. Seriously, what is the worst that could happen? My mate spend more than that on three months rent on an Evoque. Christ.te ever to grace a road and still be thought of as the best car in the world Oh and they look like a mondeo
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