What would you get for £20k?

I completely 100% agree Dolph.

3-4 years ago I'd have been on about 911's, M5's, etc etc. Now it's looking like i might actually buy something, suddenly it's.... a BMW 3 Series. Which to most people sounds utterly utterly dull and a complete cop out but when reality sets in you realise quite what a tall order something like a Porsche 911 really is. The more you spend the less your tolerance for fiddling around getting niggles fixed, shelling out £1k here and there on repairs, etc etc. I don't mind the fact I had to spend yesterday under my car fixing the windscreen washers. I would be seething if I was doing the same on a £20k car...
 
I thought this was a what would you blow £20k on if someone gave it to you? Admittedly I didn't read the OP, was this a budgeting and considering thread?
 
Sukh said:
I thought this was a what would you blow £20k on if someone gave it to you? Admittedly I didn't read the OP, was this a budgeting and considering thread?
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It's the first, but the thing is, even when you're given money to blow, this sort of thing still comes in. Indeed it's entirely possible that if someone gave you £20k, you might not want to blow it all on a car at all...
 
If it is a serious budgeting thread, the answer would be, keep the current station car, maybe repair the CAT, and put the rest with the deposit fund.

I still think it is a someone gave you 20k to spend on a car:
e.g. a rich person offers to thank you for doing something by buying you a car up to 20k, what is your choice.

I could buy the cls and afford to run it I reckon.
 
I said I could afford to, not that it was a sensible idea. I would budget say 3-4k? or get a warranty?

To be honest, no I have no idea how much it would take to run, but I can imagine it would be monumental.

edit: Just to say im obviously not going to get one, I am far too sensible to recognise the costs of running it, and for me it wouldn't be practical as I take the train to work.
 
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OR get a warranty? Lol that won't get you a service or a nset of tyres! If you can easily afford to run that car then you would have more cash to spend anyway, this is the problem with these, if you can easily afford to keep it you can afford a better one not from the bottom of the market.
 
Yeh fair play, although I still think that warranties negate the scary part of the costs involved, all those small motors and electronics are the cause of eye watering bills.

You have to service/maintain any car you buy, and an AMG will have AMG servicing costs regardless of purchase price.
 
Id go for a Corvette Z06 that Lashout posted the other day, 18k I think it was?

I'd also like to think, if I could afford 18k on a car I could afford to run the damn thing :p
 
To echo Fox's comments, High-end MB's, especially AMG's can be a fortune to run, however after owning my S500 for 6 months, I would not say that the costs have been radically higher than 3, 5 series and C-class I have owned before, with the exception of consumables related to size/engine capacity of the car such as larger tyres/16 spark plugs etc. Although, when you begin to spend high teens - 20k on the car, the more essential main dealer servicing becomes, and this is where small seemingly incidental service procedures and consumables can run into the thousands (especially at Mercedes dealers!)

CLS AMG is a lovely machine. After going out in a CLS63 AMG at an MB World AMG Experience last weekend, GF and I are planning to purchase an early CLS55 next year, mainly as I do such few miles I can justify a toy, however I can see how doing big miles in one of these cars can become crushingly expensive.
 
117 said:
To echo Fox's comments, High-end MB's, especially AMG's can be a fortune to run, however after owning my S500 for 6 months, I would not say that the costs have been radically higher than 3, 5 series and C-class I have owned before,
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You've only had it 6 months. There are 6 month periods for my 530i whereby the only costs to me have been fuel - infact, some months it costs me barely £50 to run it.

Then there are others where I spend 4 figures.

Once you've owned it 24 months, we'll see how the costs stack up ;)
 
Im well aware that these cars can produce 4 figure bills for fun, but in my experience there is not a vast gulf between the W220 and the BMW's that I have owned previously, all cars have various weak points, i.e for BMW cooling system and MB's Airmatic/ABC problems. In my case, I have already done the following -

Airmatic pump/bracket/etc

Alternator/Battery

Service B inc all filters and plugs

Discs/Pads all round

4x New Pirelli P-zero tyres

Oh and a 2 panels resprayed to cure the inherent MB rust problem...

Well over 2.5k already but then again I want to treat the car properly and keep it as fresh as possible.
 
Yes you are correct fox, however the signs are usually fairly obvious e.g cracks around strut tops, grinding/vibration from pump etc. The main failure point seems to be the pump which is £280 fitted at most indis! From what I have read ABC is a lot worse for failure rates and cost of parts, not to mention requiring far more interaction with STAR to configure/diagnose the system meaning you are pretty much limited to MB main dealers, at least with Airmatic any problems are more obvious due to ride height failing to rise etc.

BTW are you considering any type of Mercedes for your next car? E55 AMG tempting you at all?
 
I would absolutely love an E55 AMG. They are one of my favourite cars - I am a big fan of large saloons and the E55 is one of the ultimates.

However I feel the risk of enormous bills and massive running costs would spoil my enjoyment of the car - if I can't easily asorb car bills without having to whack stuff on credit cards etc etc then I just don't think its worth it.
 
[TW]Fox;17090437 said:
I would absolutely love an E55 AMG. They are one of my favourite cars - I am a big fan of large saloons and the E55 is one of the ultimates.

However I feel the risk of enormous bills and massive running costs would spoil my enjoyment of the car - if I can't easily asorb car bills without having to whack stuff on credit cards etc etc then I just don't think its worth it.
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Your personal finances are quite frankly none of my business, but as this is OcUK and transparency is the norm, how will you finance the purchase?

Will you be digging into your savings, or taking out a loan?

Either way, you know you want an E55 instead of a poxy 3 Series ;)
 
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