d215yq
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2008
- Messages
- 2,664
- Reaction score
- 702
- Age
- 40
- Location
- Valencia, Spain
- Your Mercedes
- 1987 W124 300D 280k miles
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.