A V8 daily drive
Discussion
Hi everyone, after plodding along in my fiancee's old Corsa C Sri for nearly 2 years now it's well and truly time for a big change. I decided my next car is going to be either a saloon or estate car with an auto gearbox and originally wanted a 6 cylinder diesel engine. My choices boiled down to an e90 3 series or e60 5 series with one of the 25d/30d/35d engines or a c6 Audi A6 2.7tdi or 3.0tdi. However when I first started looking about 6 months back I was doing roughly 11k a year so sort of warranted a derv but now my work is only 1.5 miles away from home. On a dry day I always walk to work and have covered, wait for it . . . . . . . 1700 miles in 5 months!!! This made it stupid to start looking for a diesel with such a small amount of action and all the problems out there involving the usual DPF's and EGR's etc etc. So I've been thinking long and hard recently about a long term goal of mine, a V8!
So after looking on here and Autotrader for a bit and also reading numerous reviews I've narrowed my choice down to 4 potential cars. These are ;
e60 BMW 545i (or 550i but can't find any in budget)
W211 Mercedes E500
W219 Mercedes CLS500
And finally an Audi S4 in either b6 or b7 form
Out of these choices I have to say the BMW is my firm favourite, it's my favourite for looks and driving feel but the 500 engine in both Mercs is also a peach. The Audi's are probably the outsiders for me as they just don't get me excited as the others and I've also read that they can feel quite bland under normal driving conditions.
Now I have a max budget of £8,000 for the purchase which is not a problem and neither is there a problem with MPG costs as it will only be driven a max of about 4k a year, but what I do really want to know is how much is a decent service and crucial scheduled maintenance on these beasts? I'm going to be using Indy specialists rather than main dealers for work as I don't see the point in paying so much for parts for a 10+ year old car well out of original warranty.
I'm 27 and insurance for all of them is between £410 - £480 so this is no issue and also as an added bonus most of the cars in my budget fall short of the March 2006 tax change so only cost £305 to tax rather than the £530odd that it now is!!
Under the circumstances am I right in thinking that a v8 ownership won't be as bad as originally planned?
Now I understand that things can go wrong with cars and can cost a lot to fix and I've taken that into consideration aswell and will be buying an extended warranty with the garage.
This will be a massive step up from any car I've ever owned so any information from owners now and previous plus anyone with any knowledge of these cars will be a big help. The fastest car I've ever owned is a 2006 Astra VXR with a stage 1 map (278bhp) so they will have a little extra oomph compared to that, a totally different world??? Cheers everyone
So after looking on here and Autotrader for a bit and also reading numerous reviews I've narrowed my choice down to 4 potential cars. These are ;
e60 BMW 545i (or 550i but can't find any in budget)
W211 Mercedes E500
W219 Mercedes CLS500
And finally an Audi S4 in either b6 or b7 form
Out of these choices I have to say the BMW is my firm favourite, it's my favourite for looks and driving feel but the 500 engine in both Mercs is also a peach. The Audi's are probably the outsiders for me as they just don't get me excited as the others and I've also read that they can feel quite bland under normal driving conditions.
Now I have a max budget of £8,000 for the purchase which is not a problem and neither is there a problem with MPG costs as it will only be driven a max of about 4k a year, but what I do really want to know is how much is a decent service and crucial scheduled maintenance on these beasts? I'm going to be using Indy specialists rather than main dealers for work as I don't see the point in paying so much for parts for a 10+ year old car well out of original warranty.
I'm 27 and insurance for all of them is between £410 - £480 so this is no issue and also as an added bonus most of the cars in my budget fall short of the March 2006 tax change so only cost £305 to tax rather than the £530odd that it now is!!
Under the circumstances am I right in thinking that a v8 ownership won't be as bad as originally planned?
Now I understand that things can go wrong with cars and can cost a lot to fix and I've taken that into consideration aswell and will be buying an extended warranty with the garage.
This will be a massive step up from any car I've ever owned so any information from owners now and previous plus anyone with any knowledge of these cars will be a big help. The fastest car I've ever owned is a 2006 Astra VXR with a stage 1 map (278bhp) so they will have a little extra oomph compared to that, a totally different world??? Cheers everyone
Jag?
The trouble here is that V8's tend to be fitted into very complex and expensive to fix cars, where as when I was in the US in the mid '90's there were plenty of V8's in cars (and pickups) where the rest of the vehicle was quite straight forward and no more complex that the lower models.
The trouble here is that V8's tend to be fitted into very complex and expensive to fix cars, where as when I was in the US in the mid '90's there were plenty of V8's in cars (and pickups) where the rest of the vehicle was quite straight forward and no more complex that the lower models.
Willy Nilly said:
Jag?
The trouble here is that V8's tend to be fitted into very complex and expensive to fix cars, where as when I was in the US in the mid '90's there were plenty of V8's in cars (and pickups) where the rest of the vehicle was quite straight forward and no more complex that the lower models.
I used my Monaro as my only car for 5 years (now that my mileage has increased, it's become a second car).The trouble here is that V8's tend to be fitted into very complex and expensive to fix cars, where as when I was in the US in the mid '90's there were plenty of V8's in cars (and pickups) where the rest of the vehicle was quite straight forward and no more complex that the lower models.
It's a simple vehicle, and makes for a comfy muscle car/ GT with character. No complex electronics, so most issues can be resolved by yelling at it (not that much has gone wrong during my ownership).
Performance wise OP, most V8 cars accelerate in a very linear manner, so it might not feel fast if you're used to turbo power delivery. The speed is still there, it just doesn't give you that kick in the back. Benefit is that V8s sound great all the time, and will pull in any gear.
Codswallop said:
Willy Nilly said:
Jag?
The trouble here is that V8's tend to be fitted into very complex and expensive to fix cars, where as when I was in the US in the mid '90's there were plenty of V8's in cars (and pickups) where the rest of the vehicle was quite straight forward and no more complex that the lower models.
I used my Monaro as my only car for 5 years (now that my mileage has increased, it's become a second car).The trouble here is that V8's tend to be fitted into very complex and expensive to fix cars, where as when I was in the US in the mid '90's there were plenty of V8's in cars (and pickups) where the rest of the vehicle was quite straight forward and no more complex that the lower models.
It's a simple vehicle, and makes for a comfy muscle car/ GT with character. No complex electronics, so most issues can be resolved by yelling at it (not that much has gone wrong during my ownership).
Performance wise OP, most V8 cars accelerate in a very linear manner, so it might not feel fast if you're used to turbo power delivery. The speed is still there, it just doesn't give you that kick in the back. Benefit is that V8s sound great all the time, and will pull in any gear.
The Mercedes are a great choice much less bork potential with timing chains & gearboxes which is a problem that can affect the other two.
The hard thing will be finding them they're a bit rare but are out there.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-CLS-500-74k-mil...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Also the later cars with the 5.5 V8 are worth considering despite the extra tax.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CLS500-5-5...
You do realise you could land yourself a nice E55
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...
The hard thing will be finding them they're a bit rare but are out there.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-CLS-500-74k-mil...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
Also the later cars with the 5.5 V8 are worth considering despite the extra tax.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-CLS500-5-5...
You do realise you could land yourself a nice E55
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...
Tbh I never really considered an e55 mainly because I thought it was a bigger step up again performance wise from the e500(over 170bhp more?) In my mind I'm thinking that the maintenance on the e55 would be far more expensive and time consuming.
Yes the Audi's problems are one of the reasons why it's at the bottom of my list of these cars, but it's gotta be said that all these cars have their problems.
I understand the topic about the power delivery being linear, I've been lucky enough to have a drive some nice N/A cars over the years,
Dodge Viper SRT10
Chrysler 300c 5.7 hemi
e39 BMW 540i
Nissan 350z
Nissan 370z
Plus some others
I love the fact that you put your foot down and think your doing about 70 but you check and your doing 100! So smooth and effortless driving.
I love the look of the Jag XF 4.2 aswell but can't find any in my budget tbh. I really do also want to buy for a garage rather than a private sale as I have had a couple of nightmares in the past with dodgey sellers!!
Yes the Audi's problems are one of the reasons why it's at the bottom of my list of these cars, but it's gotta be said that all these cars have their problems.
I understand the topic about the power delivery being linear, I've been lucky enough to have a drive some nice N/A cars over the years,
Dodge Viper SRT10
Chrysler 300c 5.7 hemi
e39 BMW 540i
Nissan 350z
Nissan 370z
Plus some others
I love the fact that you put your foot down and think your doing about 70 but you check and your doing 100! So smooth and effortless driving.
I love the look of the Jag XF 4.2 aswell but can't find any in my budget tbh. I really do also want to buy for a garage rather than a private sale as I have had a couple of nightmares in the past with dodgey sellers!!
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