grahamperrin
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2006
- Messages
- 30
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom
- Website
- perrin.redirectme.net
- Your Mercedes
- W211 (E 320 CDI)
300TE automatic, petrol, 1988.
Purchase
May 2008. I can't recall the exact cost, but it was well below £1,000. Let's say: £750.
Fuel and road tax
I never properly tracked the cost of fuel because at the time of purchase, I simply wanted something similar to my previous Merc (a 230TE). I knew from the outset that the 300TE would be a bit of a guzzler. For a long time I couldn't easily find a scientific explanation of why driving at 70 MPH is more costly than at (say) 55. Eventually I found an explanation, began keeping the speed down and sure enough, the difference was remarkable.
Today I made some rough calculations, it's likely that I never got much more than 20 MPG. The furthest I ever got on one tank was something like 320 miles, but I can't recall how much of that was fast driving. As far as I can tell, the tank capacity is 72 litres, 15.8 UK gallons.
I typically fill up not long after the warning light appears (the figure 60 comes to mind – I don't ever recall putting anything close to 72 in the tank) then get maybe 275 miles from those 60 litres.
Tax: £225 annually.
MOT tests, routine maintenance and repairs
At a glance: around £1,900 over the six years.
That includes £644 for an exhaust system (£318 parts, £230 labour, plus VAT), a new battery and one or two inexpensive secondhand alternators.
Exceptional costs
Attention to the rear axle, and custom replacement of the fluid pipe for the self-levelling suspension. Without having paperwork handy, I vaguely recall it being around £2,200 for parts and labour.
Issues that have not received enough attention
Air conditioning – not working when I purchased the car. I would have liked to get it working, but it's an old system that can not be simply recharged.
Electric sun roof – marginally leaky. After around five years' frequent use by me, the mechanism ceased to work.
Electric window, nearside front – not working when I purchased the car. This bothers me only when I wish for better ventilation, or when I pull to the kerb to ask someone for directions. It's more of a bother to passengers.
Electric window, driver's – just occasionally it will not go down. I'm familiar with a workaround: whilst pressing the switch with the left hand, thump the inside of the door with the right. Just once, for a while (a few days?) it would not go up. I didn't rush to pay for replacement of the motor, luckily it began working again – probably thanks to speciality thumping. More recently, during colder weather the motor sounded like it was struggling, so I have a hunch that it'll fail significantly within a year.
Central locking – key-based (not remote), didn't work well when I purchased the car. I could see that the pump, beneath the rear seat, had already received attention. I got a ballpark quote for cost of possible repairs, decided to not worry about it. I'm happy to lock each door manually, the only bother is that nowadays I usually have to lift the tailgate to manually unlock the petrol cap cover. It's bearable.
Parking brake – becomes slack far too soon after being made supposedly good. This has received special attention maybe three times so I'm not inclined to take it further. As long as it's safe, I'm happy.
Bodywork – not unusually rusty, but it's far from beautiful.
Summary
Without ever doing sums, I imagined that I had spent much more. Doing the sums today, I'm pleasantly surprised.
More than happy with less than £2,000 for routine maintenance and repairs over the six years.
The exceptional £2,200 (if that's what it was) for custom fluid pipe and axle work, not bad. I'd rather that, than rust trouble.
Purchase
May 2008. I can't recall the exact cost, but it was well below £1,000. Let's say: £750.
Fuel and road tax
I never properly tracked the cost of fuel because at the time of purchase, I simply wanted something similar to my previous Merc (a 230TE). I knew from the outset that the 300TE would be a bit of a guzzler. For a long time I couldn't easily find a scientific explanation of why driving at 70 MPH is more costly than at (say) 55. Eventually I found an explanation, began keeping the speed down and sure enough, the difference was remarkable.
Today I made some rough calculations, it's likely that I never got much more than 20 MPG. The furthest I ever got on one tank was something like 320 miles, but I can't recall how much of that was fast driving. As far as I can tell, the tank capacity is 72 litres, 15.8 UK gallons.
I typically fill up not long after the warning light appears (the figure 60 comes to mind – I don't ever recall putting anything close to 72 in the tank) then get maybe 275 miles from those 60 litres.
Tax: £225 annually.
MOT tests, routine maintenance and repairs
At a glance: around £1,900 over the six years.
That includes £644 for an exhaust system (£318 parts, £230 labour, plus VAT), a new battery and one or two inexpensive secondhand alternators.
Exceptional costs
Attention to the rear axle, and custom replacement of the fluid pipe for the self-levelling suspension. Without having paperwork handy, I vaguely recall it being around £2,200 for parts and labour.
Issues that have not received enough attention
Air conditioning – not working when I purchased the car. I would have liked to get it working, but it's an old system that can not be simply recharged.
Electric sun roof – marginally leaky. After around five years' frequent use by me, the mechanism ceased to work.
Electric window, nearside front – not working when I purchased the car. This bothers me only when I wish for better ventilation, or when I pull to the kerb to ask someone for directions. It's more of a bother to passengers.
Electric window, driver's – just occasionally it will not go down. I'm familiar with a workaround: whilst pressing the switch with the left hand, thump the inside of the door with the right. Just once, for a while (a few days?) it would not go up. I didn't rush to pay for replacement of the motor, luckily it began working again – probably thanks to speciality thumping. More recently, during colder weather the motor sounded like it was struggling, so I have a hunch that it'll fail significantly within a year.
Central locking – key-based (not remote), didn't work well when I purchased the car. I could see that the pump, beneath the rear seat, had already received attention. I got a ballpark quote for cost of possible repairs, decided to not worry about it. I'm happy to lock each door manually, the only bother is that nowadays I usually have to lift the tailgate to manually unlock the petrol cap cover. It's bearable.
Parking brake – becomes slack far too soon after being made supposedly good. This has received special attention maybe three times so I'm not inclined to take it further. As long as it's safe, I'm happy.
Bodywork – not unusually rusty, but it's far from beautiful.
Summary
Without ever doing sums, I imagined that I had spent much more. Doing the sums today, I'm pleasantly surprised.
More than happy with less than £2,000 for routine maintenance and repairs over the six years.
The exceptional £2,200 (if that's what it was) for custom fluid pipe and axle work, not bad. I'd rather that, than rust trouble.
