Educate me please, Motors....

andyp

andyp

andyp

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.... seen this today, and it made me look again. I've not really been looking for a new car but this really caught my eye.

So, educate me please. All I know is it's silver, and it's huge.

Currently driving a 2001 2.5 V6 Mk3 Mondeo.

Thank ye in advance, collective fountain of automotive knowledge.

*oh yeah, the car.

This one --> http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/uv...ers/10921/10921&id=201037367942402&distance=0
 
The catch is that when anything on this car goes wrong, there is a 4 figure bill involved in putting it right. It's also very complicated with loads to go wrong, including air suspension. People who can afford to drop a grand on repairs every so often generally can afford to spend more than £6k on a 9 year old car, so these tend to be unwanted and thus depreciate to tempting pricepoints.

Jez owns one and though its a great car, routinely spends eyewatering amounts of money on keeping it going.
 
all i will say about mercedes is, my old man is on his second now and has never had to change a light bulb in over 250k+ worth of combined motoring

i can imagine that if something did go wrong it could be costly though
 
Tbh Stay away from any Merc from 2000 to about 2004/2005.

The amount of faults our W203 has had and bills we've paid is just annoying. If I had known Merc were going through a crises when they made these I would have advised my dad to buy an Audi.
 
The upkeep of that would make your Mondeo appear to have the running costs of a Bic pen.
 
Evening chaps.

Well, I posted this thread a while back then promptly forgot all about it. I'd kind of figured out that the big Mercedes wasn't really the kind of machine that would fit into my budgetary requirements, but I was curious anyway.

So, a few months have passed and I've decided to keep hold of the Mondeo for at least another year... until I spotted something earlier in the week that really caught my eye, and may be much more suitable.

A BMW 528i.

Went and had a quick 5 minute look at it this afternoon just as the garage was shutting down for the weekend and the car seemed immaculate. Bearing in mind it was getting dark, misty, drizzly and very grey, both the exterior and interior seemed to be nigh on perfect (bearing in mind it's on an 'R' plate), and the wheels looked in very good nick too. The bloke who was shutting up shop fired it up, popped the bonnet and the engine bay was clean as a whistle too.

Got the number for the guy who owns the place and gave him a quick ring this evening to arrange a proper look at it and a test drive tomorrow afternoon, and asked a few more questions about the car. It's got 106k on the clock and has a folder bursting at the seams with history, which I will get a look at tomorrow. It's been owned for the last 5 years by an elderly gent who is allegedly a BMW fanatic and (garage owners words, verbatim) 'has cherished and loved it to the point of obsession'.

It's not on Autotrader or Pistonheads so I can't provide pictures of it but it looks remarkably similar (same alloys too) to this one, albeit a few years older.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1083868.htm

So... (and Fox, I suppose I'm looking in your direction here...) what do I need to be looking for, anything in particular that should be making me walk away from it, and any pointers that are good signs it's as mint as everything suggests it is.

Thing about it is, I've been thinking recently about what would be a a natural progression from my Mondeo as a next car, and something like this seems like a good bet. Yes, I appreciate it's a few years older, but if I can get a good one, as this could well be, I think I'd enjoy it an awful lot more than the Ford.

However, if I'm being a bit daft considering a BMW of this age, I know you'll tell me that too.

Either way, thanks in advance :)
 
Be honest, and you'll get some better responses. How much is it, what are you looking to spend etc.

There will of course be the normal barrage of 'take care - you can't afford the running costs of this' replies.

I will say however that looking at a car on a forecourt in twilight is not a good way to make a buying decision. The problem can be that your opinion is formed in those moments where you can't see the faults, and then when you can, you just look for reasons why they aren't a problem.

It will be an old car - just be ready for what that means / costs. Oh, and of course be ready for an interior spec 10 years out of date with what is available today.
 
It's a 10 year old prefacelift 528i with 160k on it.

Put it this way, if I was to sell mine, which is a better car than that in every possible way, better condition and almost 2 years newer, I doubt I'd get that. For a 528i? No way. I suspect he's got a rather nice car he has spent approaching 5 figures running for 5 years and finds it difficult to advertise it for anything less than that. I can sympathise but it's going to take a proper fanboy to pay £4k for that car.

Aside from the price, the car itself will be two things:

a) Absolutely brilliant
b) A complete money pit

I think they are strictly enthusiast cars now as there is no rational and logical reason why you'd spend the sort of money you'd need to keep it nice on a car of that age and value.

Moving onto the R plate 528i, again, something I'd be very cautious of for similar reasons. It's going to need money spending on it to get a 12 year old car up to scratch. The SE models don't handle like the Sport models and it isnt a Sport on an R plate. You'll get all the same bills, possibly more given its even older.

I wouldnt buy anything other than an E39 unless I had more than £10k to spend on a car but I'd do this knowing I am being an irrational, blind fanboy who is prepared to pay the disproportionate cost of running one. I suspect you just want a nice car.
 
The_Abyss said:
. Oh, and of course be ready for an interior spec 10 years out of date with what is available today.
Click to expand...

To be fair the standard specification on an R plate 528i will include dual zone climate control, cruise control, auto recirc, ASC, etc etc. I can't think of much you'd find on the sort of cars he was looking at previously (£5-6k Mondeos) that you wouldnt find on an R plate 528i.
 
The_Abyss said:
Indeed. Just the manner in which it is presented.
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Don't forget that, between 2000 and 2003 if you bought a brand new Mondeo or a brand new 5 Series, the 5 Series being in some cases twice the money, you'd get an E39 or a Mk3 Mondeo. They are not quite as far apart as you'd beleive - the E39 interior was certainly good enough to not be shamed by a Mk3 Mondeo back in the early 2000's or they'd never have sold them new for £27-£55k!

It is only against cars which are a full generation clear that it shows its age - ie Mk4 Mondeo perhaps. It's still a great place to be.

Here is mine, the interior was one of the reasons I picked it over an ST220..

newinterior.jpg
 
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I think we're thinking about different things. I'm talking about the manner in which the interior controls, technology and features are presented. Car makers don't move as fast as the makers of mobile phones, but they do still move.

The crucial things that make the difference, like the smoother switch gear, the better LCD screen, be it sat nav or temperature, better plastics / leather. Whatever the other redeeming features, this is an old car in a time when development is accelerating. It doesn't age well, but if it is of a standard that the OP is willing to accept and then live with, then fine.
 
But he is driving a Mk3 Mondeo - cars released 10 years ago. The LCD trip computer display in a Mk3 Mondeo's instrument binnacle uses the same tech as a calculator screen!

Compared to stuff on the market today I absolutely agree with you. But he wasn't looking at those as his budget wasn't high enough. I absolutely get what you mean but in order to get a car sufficiently better than an E39 as my next car my budget is having to be suprisingly high!
 
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It's up at £1695, which is a similar price I paid for my V6 Mondeo 18 months ago.

I will be having a proper good look at it tomorrow afternoon, the garage owner is coming to open up so I can take my time looking things over, he's bringing the paperwork, history and keys for a drive out in it too.

Another consideration is that it will be hardly doing any miles. For some perspective, I'll be struggling to get 2,000 miles on the Mondeo this year. I live five minutes from work so walk it there and back every day. If I go into town I'll catch the bus, it's ten minutes away, free for me and I'd rather use someone else's fuel sat idling in traffic than mine. I take the girlfriend to work a few times a week, a few shopping trips and that's all I do for 'necessary' miles. Every other mile I do except for those are miles for driving's sake. Be it a blast over the pennines or out up through the dales, they are the miles I own a car for. I won't be relying on it for anything but to put a smile on my face when I take it out for a drive. Most of the time it'll be sat on the drive, getting cleaned once or twice a week.

I realise it has the potential to, and will, throw up some big bills. If the one I've seen turns out to be as good as it could be, will the experience of owning and driving it offset the occasional dent in the wallet?
 
I can't cope with that BMW interior without a proper separate nav / computer display.

But I do agree with you. It is however an interesting debate on an owner's priorities. I'm sure that we all, if we can, want a car that looks great on the outside. Even if we can't see if when we're driving, we still want it.

Then of course (and this isn't an order of preference) we demand good performance, and handling. And a great interior, together with a dealer network that won't rip you off but still gives great coffee and free wifi when you get it looked at.

Take cost out of the equation (for most anyway) and all the above are subjective. Throw in a little bit of brand desire, and you've got a typical irrational purchase like 95% of most.
 
For me the experience of owning and driving it outweighs the wallet denting it provides me. But then mine is a facelift Sport - I might feel differently if I had a prefacelift SE.

It will almost certainly be long overdue a suspension refresh at this age anyway so if you are going to budget for that I'd go for fresh springs and dampers all round if it's on SE suspension.

You can quite easily retrofit the facelift front and rear lights to the prefacelift cars and whilst these look awkward on a car with prefacelift bumpers, they look great if you retrofit the Sport bodykit and it'll look nothing like a 1600 quid car. Trouble is wont then be a 1600 quid car as that would set you back near £2k to do I'd imagine.
 
The_Abyss said:
agree with you. It is however an interesting debate on an owner's priorities. I'm sure that we all, if we can, want a car that looks great on the outside. Even if we can't see if when we're driving, we still want it.

Then of course (and this isn't an order of preference) we demand good performance, and handling. And a great interior, together with a dealer network that won't rip you off but still gives great coffee and free wifi when you get it looked at.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I wanted in 2006. And exactly why I bought a facelift E39 Sport which, at the time (and arguably still does) deliver exactly that. It's why replacing it is such a ballache. Everyone here knows how fussy I am with interiors and I love the interior of the E39. Sure bits of it are showing its age - come on guys it was first introduced in 1996 - but it's so beautifully crafted, well put together, the controls are great to use and the minor changes from the later years (steering wheels etc) freshen it up. Everything is great to use, the controls are perfectly weighted, the steering spot on. Fair enough I have freshened mine up by replacing bits of trim with brand new bits but they remain the same bits of trim you'd have had before.. The level of quality is brilliant and shames most newer cars. Which is especially irritating as you insantly notice 'cheap plastics' most others wouldnt as a result.
 
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