Impulse buy

Matt82 said:
so with car choices, how much of a deciding factor is 'will this impress other people' to you?
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0%.

But for others, it can can form an important part of their purchase choice. Why do so many people buy the new plate when it comes out?
 
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[TW]Fox;10067609 said:
0%.

But for others, it can can form an important part of their purchase choice. Why do so many people buy the new plate when it comes out?
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Because it'll look younger when they sell it :p
 
[TW]Fox;10067378 said:
I wish I was brave enough to try something like this, it looks awesome and is bargaintastic. And 90% of the people who see it won't know it cost what it did.
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Very true. As an anecdote there are six of us in my company, four directors and two staff. The four directors drive:

Brand new Audi A8 (3.2l I think)
Two year old top of the line Volvo estate
Year old TT
Three year old R32

All the cars are worth more than mine (Mr A8 must be worth 4 times) but with the private plate disguising the age of mine everyone always asks us how come the guy on the staff payroll drives the best car out of the lot.

I'm not all that fussed what others think, but it is only human nature to crack a smile when people say that to us. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to run these big things, and I think I'll always stick to second hand prestige marques which depreciate massively from new.
 
thepharcyde said:
Bugger to park?
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Parking sensors front and rear by the looks of the bumpers.

Jez, I don't know how you find them, but I've never got on with the sensors on the Merc when compared to say BMW's. They don't seem good at dealing with obstacles that aren't completely solid, like railings.
 
Hi there

Well I don't know if its a good buy or not but it certainly looks like a lot of car for the money and for the kind of engine its running 80,000 miles should be nothing to it as long as its service intervals are upto date.

Put it this way it looks far higher value to average joe public than you paid for it. So if your trying to impress the older women, your gonna be in there. ;)
 
BigT said:
Lovely car. Funnily enough I bought my CL500 in exactly the same colour on an impulse purchase a couple of years ago.

To give you an idea of the running costs, if the 4.3 is like the 5 then you'll be looking at the cats in the exhausts going at around this mileage - mine did and I hear it is very common. Costs about £2.5K to get it done from a Merc main dealer but under a grand if you know a friendly independant. Servicing from an indy is about £400 for a minor service and double that for a major one. Brakes and pads all round for me was about £500 I *think* (don't have the invoices in front of me) Keys are about £80 - £150 depending on whether you want a keyless go or a proper one and I can't think of anything else I've spent on except normal consumables. Hopefully you'll see better than my 18mpg, although probably not by much!

I think they're pretty well put together considering it was Merc's worst period for build quality. Hope you have a good time with it - you'll have great fun leaving hot hatches in your wake at traffic light GP if that's your sort of thing. They never expect people in luxobarges to pull away smartly at the lights.
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Luckily the entire exhaust system including cats is virtually brand new, as are all of the bushes and tons of the suspension and steering stuff. Its come with a few recent large bills. Only outstanding mechanical thing is the front pads, but i will do them myself. Its come with three keys so hopefully they wont be an issue.

MPG wise its currently reading 23 average. Thats 90% motorway though! Its certainly not economical.

Build quality seems very good, i cant see how it could really be improved upon, certainly no complaints from me.

For those that havnt seen the advert its a standard 1999 S430 (4.3 V8) which has been facelifted and fitted with 19" amg wheels and all the amg internal goodies, 82k on the clock, FSH. Price included 2 spare AMG alloys, the original 4 mercedes alloys, and all of the original lights and accessories.

Sadly it is missing the rear fridge (fitted with a ski rack instead, might retrofit the fridge :() and doesnt have double glazing which i would assume would have been an option.
 
Gibbo said:
Put it this way it looks far higher value to average joe public than you paid for it. So if your trying to impress the older women, your gonna be in there. ;)
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Ha :D I will keep this in mind if things go titsup with the new mrs.
 
Jez said:
.....lots of work done..... Only outstanding mechanical thing is the front pads, but i will do them myself.
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I'm no expert on this, but when I had mine done I was told the pads weren't the expensive things, it was the discs due to something to do with the handbrake mechanism being integrated into the discs. Considering the work done you've got an absoloute bargain there IMO.
 
Incredible car! Yes running costs will be high but I'm sure the OP knows this as he's been eyeing up luxo barges for a couple of years now? I would love something like this as my daily driver however, I couldn't live with the running costs. I could just about afford to buy the car with a loan but couldn't afford to run it. I just goes to show what a stunning car you can buy for Vauxhall Astra money. Then again, that's why it's cheap isn't it? If you could run it on a Vauxhall/Ford maintenance budget then everyone would want one.:)
 
Hard to photograph but i took a couple of the interior....
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All seems well on it, took it for a bit of a throw around today, handles pretty well for a 2 tonne beast if you throw the hydractive system into sports mode, BigT i wont be changing the discs, plenty of life left in them yet. Just the pads and sensors to get rid of the annoying "1 malfunction - brake lining wear" which comes up every time you power the car up. :)
 
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