Its so tempting...

DiG

DiG

DiG

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Joined
16 Mar 2004
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2,257
When I see cars like this:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...radius/1500/page/1/postcode/en119ff?logcode=p

Not the best engine for the car, but I would love to own one!

Its the same with every car I look at, look at a sensible 5 series, then get distracted with 7'ers. Looking at a diesel E class, already worrying that reliability is not great, but noticing what amazing value the S-Classes are!

So, anyone given in to the temptation? Thinking the only possible way to do it would be to run it until it died, that way it can be taken to indys rather than paying to preserve a main dealer history.
 
It's a 7 year old, 120,000 mile VW and its £7000. Whilst its good value its not exactly deal of the decade really, it? Similar aged 7's etc are far from a huge amount more money. You can try taking it to indys but how many indys have worked on a Pheaton given VW sold about 12?
 
Indeed, and a 7 for this money is as (slightly less, the VW badge has big appeal for me here) appealing, is it possible to run any of these cars in a reasonable way? It seems to be a risk game, how much use can I get out of it before it breaks in a way I can't afford to fix, problem is it could last 3-4 years, which would be fine, or 3-4 months, which wouldn't!
 
Its largely a lottery imo.

Yes, they are good value for money, 7ers more so imo, but, you have to remember these are / were premium brand cars at the permium end of the market.

A £2k e38 (for example) 7 series will cost you as much to run properly as one worth 5 times that. If anything,considerably more.

As long as you don't kid yourself that it'll be a model of relability and more to the point, you can afford £500+ on a set of tyres, £70+ per week on fuel (and that can be just taking local trips) and above all else, have the funds to fix it if / when it breaks,and thats before we think of servicing - then they are a hell of a lot better than your run of the mill choice of cars that "normal" people opt for.


Personally, I would (and indeed have in the past) take a punt on a used premium motor as I am well aware of what I am getting myself into.

Paying out similar running costs for a VW though - good as a Phaeton supposedly is - is not my cup of tea though.

Eyes wide open before you take the plunge though!
 
Anything complicated and its back to the main dealer for that, also its been been LPG'd i dont know if that would have an adverse effect on it or not.
 
How can I answer that? I have no idea what you can afford to fix :p

Jez spends a good 2-3k a year fixing his s class, most of this stuff will be similar but not quite as bad without air suspension.
 
[TW]Fox;17479286 said:
It's a 7 year old, 120,000 mile VW and its £7000. Whilst its good value its not exactly deal of the decade really, it? Similar aged 7's etc are far from a huge amount more money. You can try taking it to indys but how many indys have worked on a Pheaton given VW sold about 12?
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The trouble is that the "7" is the worst car in this sector, it costing more only makes it a worse choice, the Phaeton is a superb car although the OP one has the worst engine of the range.
 
Interesting, its always a difficult decision because you never know just how high the bill could go. The way to decide I guess is to think about what would happen if the worst did happen, and I had to abandon the car. In which case I would have to buy something really cheap (1k mondeo) and run that for the remaining period of expected ownership. Ie if I expected the 7/s/phaeton to last 4 years, but it died after 1 I would have to spend 3 years in a mondeo, that doesn't sound too bad!
 
In that case i would take my chances on a 7 series at least anyone can work on them.
 
Ring Peace said:
The trouble is that the "7" is the worst car in this sector, it costing more only makes it a worse choice, the Phaeton is a superb car although the OP one has the worst engine of the range.
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The 7 isn't the worst car in this sector - it's different. It's a sporty alternative, which no one buying this size of car really wants new. Good news is second hand they are very good value for money, offer loads of toys and extras, have BMW's great engines and are actually a bit fun to drive compared with an A8 for example.

Terrible for Mr Celeb who wants to be driven around in pure comfort in something with a Merc badge on the front. Brilliant for someone looking for a second hand car.

I can't really think of anyway the Phaeton is better than the BMW, especially as so much of this class is built around brand.

You wouldn't find Tom Cruise being driven around a Fiat SuperLimo XXL or a Vauxhall MegaCruiserVXRR would you.
 
Janesy B said:
I can't see the temptation. The 7k to buy it is just a deposit. The real fun is getting any work done on it.
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A 5 year old 7 is the same price as a 5 year old 5. Expect you get a better engine, more toys, a bigger car and loads more for your money.

It's the same thing as a Mondeo for the same money as Fiesta. The Mondeo is gonna cost more compared with a Fiesta in running costs.

A 7 instead of a Mondeo....
 
Peerzy said:
A 5 year old 7 is the same price as a 5 year old 5. Expect you get a better engine, more toys, a bigger car and loads more for your money.

It's the same thing as a Mondeo for the same money as Fiesta. The Mondeo is gonna cost more compared with a Fiesta in running costs.

A 7 instead of a Mondeo....
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I can't see the temptation of the Phaeton.. It's a big VW that no one knows how to work on and reality the running costs are of that a £60k, if not more considering things need replacing with age...
 
Janesy B said:
I can't see the temptation of the Phaeton.. It's a big VW that no one knows how to work on and reality the running costs are of that a £60k, if not more considering things need replacing with age...
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The temptation for me is that it's a lot of car, read some reviews and you'll see it praised for being a great car with the wrong badge. Personally I don't like the Merc/BMW brand image, I don't want a luxury brand, I want a luxury car, I don't care what picture they put on the front
 
[TW]Fox;17480172 said:
You get the same engines actually? Other than the older 735.
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Forgot they did a 550i, I was thinking of the facelift 750i not being in the 5 but it is.

Point even better made, same engines, bigger car, more stuff loses some driver appeal but all for the same money second hand.
 
DiG said:
Interesting, its always a difficult decision because you never know just how high the bill could go. The way to decide I guess is to think about what would happen if the worst did happen, and I had to abandon the car. In which case I would have to buy something really cheap (1k mondeo) and run that for the remaining period of expected ownership. Ie if I expected the 7/s/phaeton to last 4 years, but it died after 1 I would have to spend 3 years in a mondeo, that doesn't sound too bad!
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I ditched my e38 728i and ironically wound up with a T reg Mondeo TD, your right, it was not too bad - after the e38 it was bleedin' torture!!! :D

Ok, I sold mine for different reasons, that said, I do know the subsequent owner spent a fortune on it.....
 
Ok, so further to this thread, I thought, why not pay a bit less for the car and use the saved money to buy a warranty.

So, for my ~£9k budget I could spend £6-7k on a used Mercedes S320, then £3466 for a 3 year warranty that includes wear and tear and dealer repairs. Is this a good way of fixing my running costs over the 3 year or a am I still going to run into issues?
 
DiG said:
Ok, so further to this thread, I thought, why not pay a bit less for the car and use the saved money to buy a warranty.

So, for my ~£9k budget I could spend £6-7k on a used Mercedes S320, then £3466 for a 3 year warranty that includes wear and tear and dealer repairs. Is this a good way of fixing my running costs over the 3 year or a am I still going to run into issues?
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The problem is when a car hits 100k you won't find a warranty that will cover the parts you really want it to.

Same as the car gets older.

If you want to keep it for 3 years doing say an average of 10k, that means you need to find a S320 for £7k with 70k on the clock - which is never going to be an easy task!

So say you go for This. You may be able to get that covered after the dealer 12 month warranty (which may not cover everything) runs out, but then you are driving a 17 year old car in 3 years time!

For the most part some of these types of cars are so cheap because no one can afford to run them, the people who can don't want a £10k S Class they simply go and pick up a 6 month old one.

This is a bit newer but same applies, you are still going to be driving a car a few generations old in 3 years time that will at some point start costing mega bucks worth sod all because no one wants a big petrol engine mega limo as everyone wants to save the trees and an extra 0.3p a mile with an eco Corsa.
 
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DiG said:
Ok, so further to this thread, I thought, why not pay a bit less for the car and use the saved money to buy a warranty.

So, for my ~£9k budget I could spend £6-7k on a used Mercedes S320, then £3466 for a 3 year warranty that includes wear and tear and dealer repairs. Is this a good way of fixing my running costs over the 3 year or a am I still going to run into issues?
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I cant see that plan ending well.

Buy the best car you can afford now and get the best warranty for a year if you want to go the warranty route.

Worry about years 2 and 3 in year 2 and 3.

Me i would duff the S class plan and buy a Jag, you will get a new lower miles car for your money.
 
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