My Mercedes is smoking badly

[d215yq]

Calum when I was 19 I dabbled in old Porsches with an inheritance. I realised then they were heart and wallet breakers. I determined to work hard, get a good job, and save a lot of money before dabbling in high end cars again. There came a time in my thirties when I was behind the wheel of a 911 again.

There is nothing much more expensive to run properly than an S class. You cannot run a super car on £10 grand a year income, with no mechanical knowledge.

You must study, work hard. Do not give up your dream. One day it will come true, if you work at it. Just be patient.

I am a miser and I run a '96 W124 estate because I believe it to be the most cost effective means of transporting people and things around in comfort (i also earn little more than £10k a year but i do have a considerable financial back up if things go wrong, not that I would be happy spending it on a car, and haven't had to so far).

This era of Mercedes has proven for me and a lot of people to be a very cost effective way of providing nice, reliable, characterful, transport, far cheaper than many more recent models (as is shown by another long running thread about a more recent W210s running costs costing something like 6k in 2 years!!)

Having said that cars go wrong and you need a back up...so if you have saved £1500 get something for £750 to £1,000...a good W124 saloon or possibly coupe like your old one could be got for this, an s class is pushing it. Then you have money in the bank so next time it goes wrong you can fix it immediately at a specialist and not waste time leaving it rotting away and cuasing more problems.

In summary if you love older mercs they are cheaper to run than newer ones and, unless doing a lot of mileage, cheaper than a new fiesta, golf/etc (DEPRECIATION and unreliability!). However they aren't infallible so check EVERYTHING with the new car and buy one with MOT and that drives well from the start, and have a back up of £500-£750 so if it does go wrong you can immediately ask for advice on here and then follow upon it immediately without the hassle/stress/wasting time and money/inconvenience of your last experience.

 

[SL63 Mark]

I understand what you are saying, and you make a good point that the right Merc can be economically sensible. But I think an S class is pushing it, and you must have mechanical knowledge. I do a lot of stuff on cars myself, because I enjoy it, and because it saves money.

It is not good enough to say "I know nothing about cars". You have to become expert if you are a true petrolhead. It is fun and interesting to do.

 

[d215yq]

I understand what you are saying, and you make a good point that the right Merc can be economically sensible. But I think an S class is pushing it, and you must have mechanical knowledge. I do a lot of stuff on cars myself, because I enjoy it, and because it saves money.

It is not good enough to say "I know nothing about cars". You have to become expert if you are a true petrolhead. It is fun and interesting to do.

I've no mechanical knowledge or tools at all, i just post on here and use the replies to talk to mechanics/try things myself. i have enough common sense to ask questions of mechanics/sellers and buy cars that are good to begin with. I live in spain, don't speak fluently but i ask about the basics and all options and try to drive a hard bargain...nothing's perfect, i just paid over the odds for tyres and service.

despite this my parents bought a brand new passat 11 years ago and a brand new yaris 10 years ago. the passat (now scrapped) cost over four times what my w124s cost per year and was worse in every way. The yaris still lives and does its job well, it's total costs/mile are roughly equal to my w124s but its way way way worse in every way and is about 40% as practical.

taking everything into account an old merc can be cost affective with zero mechanical knowledge...but it needs to be kept along time and budgets need to be made...and common sense needs to be applied too when buying.

 

[SL63 Mark]

taking everything into account an old merc can be cost affective with zero mechanical knowledge...but it needs to be kept along time and budgets need to be made...and common sense needs to be applied too when buying.

I take my hat off to you if you can pull it off, but, it is an approach I hadn't considered. I have a reasonable selection of tools and sufficient of dosh if things go pear shaped.

I suppose the cost of tools is one thing I hadn't considered, but once purchased, they are an investment for life. However mechanically able you are, you can't do much without the right tools, especially on a Merc ...

 

[Calumcco]

Just a thought

I now have £7000 saved up. Just a quick question, how much would it cost to restore my old Mercedes?

 

[Some guy on the internet]

£12,754.89

 

[Calumcco]

Haha! How did you work that out?

 

[Calumcco]

You are senior members so I was just wondering if you had any rough estimate of how much it could/would cost for restoration of a 1990 300CE-24 which has been off road since Aug 2011.

 

[rpe2]

Depends what needs doing.

You can buy an up together one for 7k and still have change... Or a cabriolet..

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Calumcco]

Well I would need to address the initial smoking that caused the breakdown and any other problems that have arisen as a result of the car lying dormant for 18 months!
I would like to look for another Merc but this one is so vintage and special that I am now considering a restoration process! Would you recommend it personally rpe?

 

[Some guy on the internet]

You are senior members so I was just wondering if you had any rough estimate of how much it could/would cost for restoration of a 1990 300CE-24 which has been off road since Aug 2011.

You're a senior member too. You figure it out.

 

[Calumcco]

But you are enthusiasts whereas I am not!

 

[Some guy on the internet]

When you became a senior member did you not receive the welcome email telling you, amongst other things, how to price restoration projects sight unseen?

 

[Calumcco]

No I didn't

 

[Some guy on the internet]

Put up an email address & Television will send it to you.

 

[toby1]

£7,000 would buy you a near mint W124 Coupé and that it what I would do.

 

[rpe2]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-...9392852?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3f212acd54

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPERB-LO...6020217?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item337fb6d379

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1996-MERC...2788127?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item1e76d6811f

Nuff said..

 

[Calumcco]

Hi Toby1. I was hoping to spend about £3,000-£4,000 on a second hand Mercedes and spend the rest of my savings on paying off a years insurance in full. They want £1,200 a year for insuring a 2.8 1998 S-Class Mercedes

 

[Calumcco]

I am going to view an S-Class on Thursday morning with a view to purchasing it! Do any enthusiasts on here have any good tips on things I can listen/look out for? Are there any specific questions I should ask?
Thank You very much

 

[toby1]

Start a new thread or have a search as this has been asked many, many times.