Expensive new - Now cheap

[Alex_225]

I was wondering about people's experiences of cars that they bought for a relatively cheap price but were once very expensive. When I look around on AutoTrader as I tend to, you'll see Merc CLs and other big engined cars, that at one point were very expensive to buy. Obviously they seem like a bargain but there is that potential for a huge bill which has to be factored in.

But I'm sure there's some positive tails out there? I'm sure part the reason they become cheaper is the engine sizes too, who necessarily wants to spend sub-£10k yet get 15mpg and a high yearly tax.

Up until the last couple of years I'd always owned relatively new/modern cars but since buying my CLS which I considered a bargain, I've been intrigued by these kinds of cars.

So, what do you have? Good/bad experiences.

[Pothole]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[deeen]

Do an Autotrader search for a Mercedes S-type, cheapest first... quite an education!

[Mercky]

Alex_225 said:

I was wondering about people's experiences of cars that they bought for a relatively cheap price but were once very expensive. When I look around on AutoTrader as I tend to, you'll see Merc CLs and other big engined cars, that at one point were very expensive to buy. Obviously they seem like a bargain but there is that potential for a huge bill which has to be factored in.

But I'm sure there's some positive tails out there? I'm sure part the reason they become cheaper is the engine sizes too, who necessarily wants to spend sub-£10k yet get 15mpg and a high yearly tax.

Up until the last couple of years I'd always owned relatively new/modern cars but since buying my CLS which I considered a bargain, I've been intrigued by these kinds of cars.

So, what do you have? Good/bad experiences.

I have a couple of early 90s Mercs that cost the price of a 3 bed semi each when they were new, for which i paid less than £2500 each for.

I do all the maintenance and repair work on them as I wouldn't let anyone else apart from the MOT man near them.

These cars are superbly engineered and dont cost a lot in parts to maintain but you do have to know what your doing unless you're prepared to spend a fortune for a 'specialist ' to do the work for you.

[Alex_225]

deeen said:

Do an Autotrader search for a Mercedes S-type, cheapest first... quite an education!

Funnily enough that's exactly the car that got me thinking. I drive an 03 E Class day to day and it's superb. I'd go so far as to say one of the best overall cars I've owned and yet it's 14 years old and has 110k on the clock.

Now that was only a £4k car which I believe was somewhere in the region of £36-40k when it was new. Even spending £10-12 on an S Class bags you a well under average mileage car (70-80k) and I can't help thinking it would be awesome. Albeit potentially ruinous! haha

Mercky said:

I have a couple of early 90s Mercs that cost the price of a 3 bed semi each when they were new, for which i paid less than £2500 each for.

I do all the maintenance and repair work on them as I wouldn't let anyone else apart from the MOT man near them.

These cars are superbly engineered and dont cost a lot in parts to maintain but you do have to know what your doing unless you're prepared to spend a fortune for a 'specialist ' to do the work for you.

Sounds like a steal when you think about it and as you say, amazingly well engineered and should last if well cared for.

I have a 2007 CLS63 which I do take to a specialist for servicing but for any faults I'd do my homework where I could. What are your cars by the way?

[Spudler]

Done a deal with a customer who was thinking of selling their 92 BMW 850 in the early-mid 2000s.
Iirc it came to about £5k.

Invoice in '92 was just over £76k.

Still got the car.

[deeen]

Bentley Turbo in the sub-5k thread?