Should I buy an old slk 230

[mbzoo]

We wanted to spend cheap and buy a nice sports car for a bit of fun this year. Weve seen 1999 230 auto with 75k miles. Extensive history and over £3k work done over last two years so according to the owner nothing mechanically needs doing but..

..bodywork has a few rust bits over one of the arches and near the bumper. A friend of mine who is a bodywork guy told me they can be really bad.especially near the bumper

He said it could cost around £400 to repair it and it's more.than likely it would start coming back in 18months

The other but (in a positive way) is that he is asking £1500 and he has a number plate with SLK as the last three digits ie A01 SLK ( not the actual reg ). He says that is worth £800 alone

Thoughts please before we splash the cash

 

[Blobcat]

Great cars, bodywork is their Achilles heel and the rust will kill it
Numberplate isn’t worth anything - nice to have but £0 added value.
£1,500 is cheap motoring for a year or two though. So if it drives well it’s not a huge outlay

 

[mbzoo]

Thanks. Would it be worth anything as spares in a year or two of the bodywork go too bad ?

 

[Blobcat]

Thanks. Would it be worth anything as spares in a year or two of the bodywork go too bad ?

Possibly, although it will sit around for months in pieces and all anyone wants is some random piece of trim. They then don’t turn up to buy said piece of trim. Management then gets upset about the scrap cars lying all over the drive…

 

[mbzoo]

This is the advert https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1612890

 

[00slk]

Agree with @Blobcat, plate is worth nothing. Bargain point actually, tell the seller to keep the plate and reduce the price £800

 

[Trev1964]

R171 can be had cheap now. Much better car and doesn't suffer the same with rust.
I owned a SLK 350 2006 model. Hell of a car.

 

[Blobcat]

R171 can be had cheap now. Much better car and doesn't suffer the same with rust.
I owned a SLK 350 2006 model. Hell of a car.

Unless the subframe falls apart… or the balance shafts melt, or the cam gears wear away…
Apart from that, they’re amazing and I love my 280

 

[alexanderfoti]

I do love an r170.

That one seems nice and for £1600, that's a cheap car nowadays!

If it seems straight and clean rust wise then you will certainly get a few years trouble free motoring.

 

[as400]

Save up and buy something a bit better.

 

[Trev1964]

Unless the subframe falls apart… or the balance shafts melt, or the cam gears wear away…
Apart from that, they’re amazing and I love my 280

Don't think he's looking at the V6, so only really the subframe to watch out for.
I'd have another SLK in a heartbeat. Looked at R172's a lot in the last year or so..

 

[Blobcat]

Don't think he's looking at the V6, so only really the subframe to watch out for.
I'd have another SLK in a heartbeat. Looked at R172's a lot in the last year or so..

Cam gears and chain is the 4 banger main issue
I'd always go for the V6 or V8 in a R171 or R172 - 4 banger 230K in a R170 is very nice though

 

[Trev1964]

Learn something every day.

 

[ajlsl600]

It's cheap motoring and if u can do the DIY cud be a decent buy. Less complex than the newer modern crzp. Which is good.

 

[00slk]

Don't think he's looking at the V6, so only really the subframe to watch out for.
I'd have another SLK in a heartbeat. Looked at R172's a lot in the last year or so..

We have a r172 we'd sell

 

[Chris9369]

That does not look bad at all. The rust does not look too bad and for that price and age of car you can't expect it to be like new. I had a Y reg. 320 SLK for four years and loved it. As has been mentioned above, if you are OK at DIY with the spanners, you will find it to be quite cheap motoring. Lots of Youtube videos for that model if things do go wrong and they are reasonably easy to work on.

 

[ian lunn]

This is the advert https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1612890

the car in the advert could do with pair of new headlights as they are starting to go yellow, So best price a pair up and knock price down to offset cost.