Blobcat's E320CDI 100,000 Miles

[Blobcat]

100,000 Miles in a W210 E320 CDI

My car has just gone over 100,000 miles in 38 months of business use. Below for the benefit of those thinking about running a Mercedes instead of a company car is a breakdown of all costs.

Servicing and Repairs

n.b. All servicing at MB Main Dealer

3 ‘A’ Services
3 ‘B’ Services (~4,000 miles to next ‘B’ Service)

4 Sets of Front Brake Pads
1 Set of Front Discs
1 Set of Rear Brake Pads
1 Set of Rear Discs (Changed in error by garage)
4 Glow Plugs
1 AC repair (under Warranty)
2 AC regas
1 Set Diff Oil Seals and Breather
1 Set Front Anti Roll Bar Bushes
1 Set Front Lower Ball joints
1 MAS
1 Touch up Pencil
1 ATF Replacement inc filter
1 Exhaust hanger reweld

Total Cost for Servicing and Repairs £4,127.24

£0.04 Per Mile for Servicing / Repairs

Tyres

4 Sets of Tyres (Last set fitted 2,000 miles ago)
£1,490.00

£0.02 per mile for tyres

Fuel Costs

12,466.77 litres of Diesel £10,347.91

£0.10 Per mile for Fuel

36.47 MPG

Vehicle Excise Duty

(Road Tax) £675

Insurance

Business use Insurance £2,624.29

£0.03 Per mile for Road Tax and Insurance


A total cost of £0.19672 per mile


Who says Mercedes are expensive to run and that they are unreliable? Not in my experience

 

[GSM1]

Excellent breakdown of expenditure Blobcat.
So are you now thinking of a replacement, what would you buy.
Gary

 

[television]

Yes that is a first class break down for a first class car by first class Blobcat.

Malcolm

 

[Merc pilot]

Absolutely first class!

 

[television]

I have the chance to do the same thing with the SL, the car has gone 4k miles a year sinse new, now at 17k, I will report back in just over 20 years.

Malcolm

 

[GSM1]

Hi Malcolm.
I just saw an SL V12 bi -Turbo in black, would that tempt you ?
What are the figures on one of those ?
Enjoy you tea with Hanz

Gary

 

[BrianM]

Brilliant posting!

 

[television]

Hi Malcolm.
I just saw an SL V12 bi -Turbo in black, would that tempt you ?
What are the figures on one of those ?
Enjoy you tea with Hanz

Gary

I don't think that I am in the 600 league
Fuel average = 12.8 urban 28
0 - 60 = 4.5 sec
Mind you I have 16 sparking plugs.

Re tea with Hanz, I had a phone call last night 7pm, Local garage lost all power to workshop, that took till 5am this morning, anyway Hanz had too much to drink last night.

Malcolm

 

[Hanz]

Re tea with Hanz, I had a phone call last night 7pm, Local garage lost all power to workshop, that took till 5am this morning, anyway Hanz had too much to drink last night.

Malcolm

You told me you'd contact me, so I waited

and yes, I did have rather too much to drink last night.... :-D

 

[BarryG]

Very interesting post my math is so bad I would have been lost working out the smallest detail.

 

[hawk20]

100,000 Miles in a W210 E320 CDI

My car has just gone over 100,000 miles in 38 months of business use.
A total cost of £0.19672 per mile


Who says Mercedes are expensive to run and that they are unreliable? Not in my experience

Let's hope Omni-Colgate-Toothpaste isn't looking!

First many congrats. You must be quite saddle-sore.

Second: interesting that your total costs for 100,000 miles total about £20,000 or about 20 pence per mile. Excellent. But excluding depreciation. I wouldn't mind betting that the depreciation, on that mileage, could be close to the sum of all your other costs put together. I always find this a sobering thought.

Lastly, how insignificant in the total order of things, are your costs of servicing with Mercedes dealers throughout.

 

[johnmc]

Great Breakdown, thanks Blobcat, very useful.

You've managed depreciation well too by buying used with low miles (if I'm reading your message right).

It's worth about 6 Grand now for trade in.

What tyres did you go for? Is it worth paying out for dearer rubber that lasts longer?

John

 

[Blobcat]

Excellent breakdown of expenditure Blobcat.
So are you now thinking of a replacement, what would you buy.
Gary

I'm not finished with this one yet, however the last of the W220 320CDI's look good value at the moment. A face lift W211 is to expensive at the moment and I'm not that sure of the V6 3ltr CDI as yet.

 

[Blobcat]

Let's hope Omni-Colgate-Toothpaste isn't looking!

First many congrats. You must be quite saddle-sore.

Not at all even with my 1,000 miles in one day no problems with the seat.

Second: interesting that your total costs for 100,000 miles total about £20,000 or about 20 pence per mile. Excellent. But excluding depreciation. I wouldn't mind betting that the depreciation, on that mileage, could be close to the sum of all your other costs put together. I always find this a sobering thought.

No depreciation at all as long as I keep it

 

[Blobcat]

Great Breakdown, thanks Blobcat, very useful.

You've managed depreciation well too by buying used with low miles (if I'm reading your message right).

I agree, I bought at 2 yrs old with 17K miles, it wasn't even run in.

What tyres did you go for? Is it worth paying out for dearer rubber that lasts longer?

John

First 3 sets were Conti Eco-Contact CP's, very quiet, good grip and ~25k miles. No longer available so I have switched to Vikings, slightly cheaper although I have them pumped up quite hard at the moment and they are noisier that the Continetals. I use a most excellent independant tyre specialist who has a 129 SL320 and a W124 200 he is also cheap, £80 per tyre ALL IN for the Vikings.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Great post Blobcat.

Out of interest what were the individual replacement costs for the non service items, as i will probably be looking at similar replacement parts in due course?

I'm quite pleased with my 320CDi at 50k miles, I can now start to feel the engine loosening up a bit.

Quite a dilemma knowing what to replace that inline six with I imagine.

 

[davidsl500]

Cant see a cost breakdown for the Magic Tree air fresheners - interesting figures nonetheless...

 

[hawk20]

No depreciation at all as long as I keep it

Humour me a second for those who would like to know the full picture. Because your figures tell us a lot.

Clever it was to buy at two year's old (and to get one with only 17k miles on it) because a big lump of depreciation had gone but most of the life was left. Every time I study the figures, this looks a very economic way to run a luxury car. Presumably you must have paid ,what, £25k for her at that age???? Or something close???

If Johnmc is right and the trade in today for a 2000 model with about 120k miles on her, would be £6k then someone buying when you did and trading in today would have about £19/£20k of depreciation.

Add that to your £19/£20k of running costs and in total you have done 100,000 miles for a 'mere' 40 pence per mile. That is a remarkably low figure for all costs including depreciation.

You clearly don't intend to sell now, so you won't be cashing in and getting the effect of the depreciation that has occurred, but it is interesting for others to see the full costs.

 

[Blobcat]

Cant see a cost breakdown for the Magic Tree air fresheners - interesting figures nonetheless...

I can confirm that the costs associated with air fresheners is £0.00

 

[Blobcat]

Humour me a second for those who would like to know the full picture. Because your figures tell us a lot.

Clever it was to buy at two year's old (and to get one with only 17k miles on it) because a big lump of depreciation had gone but most of the life was left. Every time I study the figures, this looks a very economic way to run a luxury car. Presumably you must have paid ,what, £25k for her at that age???? Or something close???

If Johnmc is right and the trade in today for a 2000 model with about 120k miles on her, would be £6k then someone buying when you did and trading in today would have about £19/£20k of depreciation.

Add that to your £19/£20k of running costs and in total you have done 100,000 miles for a 'mere' 40 pence per mile. That is a remarkably low figure for all costs including depreciation.

You clearly don't intend to sell now, so you won't be cashing in and getting the effect of the depreciation that has occurred, but it is interesting for others to see the full costs.

I didn't pay that much, £22K from a MB specialist, it was up for £23.5K. So if I was to P/Ex it now for £6K that would be £16K in depreciation. They are advertised at anything from £6K to £11K with similar miles.