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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 12:24:51 GMT
You haven't got leather seats.
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Post by Hofmeister on Oct 10, 2016 12:28:25 GMT
You haven't got leather seats. Yet. Heated ones too I gather |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 12:39:51 GMT
These days, especially when in the UK, I usually buy cars that I can afford to throw away if I have to. So that means a purchase price of £2,000 - £3,000 including any immediate work that needs doing.
If not, I buy cars that are worth repairing, however nasty the bill is. Typically that means a purchase price minimum of £10,000.
(I no longer *ever* buy cars where depreciation is a factor ever since I worked out my S Class was depreciating at £1,200 per month).
In my opinion any car between £5,000 and £10,000 is a dodgy bet and dangerous territory. Not really valuable enough to live with a £2,000 bill but far too valuable to throw away.
Also, I generally feel that between £5,000 & £10,000 you either get a well polished £3,000 car or a rubbish £13,000 car with faults.
Horrible generalisations, I know. But it keeps me out of trouble.
And before you say anything, my wife bought the plastic Toyota POS.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 12:46:18 GMT
All well and splendid if you've got £10k all at once.
Good job my car was sub-£5k, it falls in to your criteria. I think this one is worth repairing as and when, and I knew it would throw the odd biggie, being what it is. But, I like it. And also being what it is it will always retain some resale value. I expect we'll have it about 5 years, in that time we'll spend a bit maintaining it but we will enjoy it, and it didn't break the bank to buy in the first place. Swings and roundabouts.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 12:47:11 GMT
You haven't got leather seats. Yet. Heated ones too I gather Glad to hear it. If ever you move on from them to a car with unheated leather, you'll notice it. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 12:51:30 GMT
I like sub £5k cars, my absolute favourite motoring. You get good stuff and don't have to care about it too much. Stuff you otherwise might not buy.
The most difficult decision ever, as you probably know, is when to stop spending on a car that you otherwise like. I have no worthwhile advice to give; I'm rubbish at that particular decision. I normally get told when to stop.
I think people forget that motoring costs money whatever you do. I also think people forget that your Merc if you take into account repairs, running costs and depreciation, compares very well to a new [pick your favourite boring sensible little car] if you consider the same factors.
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Post by Humph on Oct 10, 2016 13:33:41 GMT
Fairly well known factoid about Land Rovers ( as in Defender type Land Rovers ) is that some huge percentage of those ever made are still on the road. Mainly due to the ease of repairing them and their simplicity rather than their inherent reliability I'd suppose.
I still think there would a ready market for cars that an enthusiastic amateur could keep fettled in perpetuity. But I guess they wouldn't pass all manner of regulations.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 10, 2016 15:07:41 GMT
I was longing for the old SAAB heated seats for the first time this morning. You have six cylinders but no heated seats? I'd put - I did put - those priorities the other way up. Then, of course, one's other car has both. 😈 Cars get repaired if people feel they're worth the trouble and expense. A 1990 Vauxhall Nova isn't but if you've got a Mercedes S, or even a Volvo 240 of the same age, it may make you feel that nothing newer that you could afford would offer the same benefits. So you cough up one more time. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 16:13:09 GMT
> So you cough up one more time.
Unless its me. Then my tendency is to "cough up one more time" - Again.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 16:15:38 GMT
p.s. the Toyota plastic POS disgraced itself again this weekend. Puncture front left and back right, 300 miles apart, on the same journey. To be fair the back right was a duff valve. Then, while it was having its front wheel changed, one of the wheel studs broke. When it was being undone.
I hate that bloody car.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 17:25:55 GMT
Self levelling wonky? Gulp. Might not be cheap...😕 I think the E-class and S-class use the same air suspension/self-levelling unit as used by Jaguar, Audi, BMW and a few others. They're £900 a corner and, of course, dealers recommend that they are changed in pairs. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 10, 2016 18:41:47 GMT
Only the models with air suspension all round. Standard kit on the S211 like Vić's and mine is steel springs with hydraulic self-levellers at the rear only.
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Post by bromptonaut on Oct 10, 2016 19:52:43 GMT
you bloody wimp, it wasn't even properly cold this morning. Out in 'van in New Forest. Already down to 5 degrees under awning, frost by morning I think. No seat heat in the 'lingo but with cloth it's not needed. |
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Post by Hofmeister on Oct 10, 2016 21:30:59 GMT
you bloody wimp, it wasn't even properly cold this morning. Out in 'van in New Forest. Already down to 5 degrees under awning, frost by morning I think. No seat heat in the 'lingo but with cloth it's not needed. At least it will make the ticks drowsy. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2016 8:45:32 GMT
Only the models with air suspension all round. Standard kit on the S211 like Vić's and mine is steel springs with hydraulic self-levellers at the rear only. I think that's probably the bit which needs attention/replacement on mine. What is the official nomenclature for such part? Would be interested to look up rough cost of replacement before it goes into the indie for their opinion on Friday. Are there shock absorbers there as well as springs and 'self levellers'? Would that cause a 2 cm sag if a bit slack?
When my local indie first cast their eye over my car, they noticed that the suspension down the nearside had all been replaced fairly recently, indicating perhaps an off-road adventure which goosed the suspension. No other damage evident underneath, but on closer inspection there are a couple of marks on the sill paintwork consistent with such a thing, perhaps a trip on to a ditch. I imagine the offside suspension is just ageing gracefully and doesn't quite match the nearside anymore.
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