C240 Elegance Estate - shd my wife buy it

TolleyM

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Hi

My first post on here due to the fact my wife is looking at getting an S reg (1998) Mercedes C240 Elegance Estate.

It’s a lovely looking car (Silver) with 12 months MOT and 120k on the clock.

She is looking at buying it privately at a price of £1000.

Like many Mercs this age there is some rust (bonnet and boot lip, wheel arches and a few small spots on door panels and bonnet) None of these are really major in themselves but obviously the concern is she wanted to know if this is something that will suddenly erupt everywhere

Other than that the car is clean, fab interior, good mechanically and drives really well (although the PAS does make sound when turning the wheel but I think this is the normal servo pumping sound)

Just after some advice please if possible. What do the member here thing of this model, the rust issue, the price etc.

All comments welcome as she is very keen to buy it

Thanks in advance

Mark
 

hawk20

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Why buy one with rust when there are plenty out there without it?
I'd look for better, if I were you.
 
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TolleyM

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hi

thanks for your response - rust not that bad and it was the price thats attractive - at £1000 it seemed good value
 

deejaybee

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These days you don't get a lot for £1000 and any car in reasonable condition with a years MOT can't be that bad?

At this sort of price i'm not sure how easy it would be to find a similar car with no rust, you could easily spend a lot of time and effort not getting anywhere.

With a car at this price the important thing is to check out all the consumable, wear and service items so that you can try and gauge what is likely to need doing in the next year or so of use - it would be very easy for your £1000 car to need another £1000 or more spent on it.

Check tyres, exhaust, suspension, all electrical items and when it was last serviced. If you are not sure about doing this yourself it might be worth asking if a forum member could look at the car with you, or pay for a vehicle inspection, it will be much better than buying a money pit!

As regards the rust, given it already has some it is important to also check all the doors underneath the sealing rubber all the way round - some have very bad corrosion here. The rust will almost certainly get worse over the next 1-2 years and ideally you should at least do some DIY to remove this, treat with rust remover, prime and spray over. To get this done professionally is probably not worth it, but you could always make a few enquiries. If you do nothing it will still probably go for another year or two but is likely to get a lot worse through the winter.

The bottom line is that if you buy it for a £1000 and run it cheaply for a year or two and then just sell it for scrap it will still be cheap motoring!

Good luck.

Dave
 

television

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Dave's post above is to the point,,if it drives well, then just run it into the ground, touch the rust spots up the best you can, and hopefully cheap motoring,,and they are nice to drive

Welcome to the forum
 
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TolleyM

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hi

Dave, thanks for the advice.

tyres, exhaust etc all sound. will find out date of last service but i think it has been pretty regular. I will aso check rust on doors as you suggest

The owner lives near us and is emigrating to new zealand at the beginning of november and needs the car till then - but then wants to know she has a buyer and can sell it at short notice - thats why price is £1000 not because of any other reason.

other than rust spots it really is a fab car and only really been used for school runs etc for last few years

Mark
 

stevesey

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Worth checking if the Crank Sensor has been replaced - 100K seems a common failure point. Likewise MAF and the air-con condensor. If not allow for the possibility of these coming up. Others seem to have covered everything else.
 

*Thumper

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"C240 Elegance Estate - should my wife buy it "

Of course she ****** well should .............. you keep a roof over her head and pay all the bills, and put up with the moaning when, something in the house breaks, and when are you gonna fix it. .......... you work overtime to get the kids through school and pay for the after school clubs............ you buy her diamonds and Pearls, and tell her bum don't look big in that new dress she put on your plastic, and cost the earth ....... and constantly tell her you still love her after all these years .......... even though it's all going south, and you can't mention it !

Tell her to buy her own ****** car !!
 
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Dosco

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"C240 Elegance Estate - should my wife buy it "

Of course she ****** well should .............. you keep a roof over her head and pay all the bills, and put up with the moaning when, something in the house breaks, and when are you gonna fix it. .......... you work overtime to get the kids through school and pay for the after school clubs............ you buy her diamonds and Pearls, and tell her bum don't look big in that new dress she put on your plastic, and cost the earth ....... and constantly tell her you still love her after all these years .......... even though it's all going south, and you can't mention it !

Tell her to buy her own ****** car !!

I am going to print this off and show it to the present Mrs A:roll::roll:
 

television

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I do not have those problems :D:D
 
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TolleyM

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Finally managed to get out from under all the chores, you know kids to bed, washing up, ironing etc and managed to find a few spare minutes to pick up on this thread before having to get my head down with more housework.

Then its out to clear the garage and then can you believe it, now she only wants to bring her two best mates over so the four of us can get it on together

The sacrifices we make for our wives.
 

television

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Finally managed to get out from under all the chores, you know kids to bed, washing up, ironing etc and managed to find a few spare minutes to pick up on this thread before having to get my head down with more housework.

Then its out to clear the garage and then can you believe it, now she only wants to bring her two best mates over so the four of us can get it on together

The sacrifices we make for our wives.



Still just think,,if you get the car, you can spend every minute in the garage pretending to put things straight,,and you could make that last a year or two:D:D
 

turbopete

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or since its an estate theres room for you all!;););)
 


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