New car

Six6siX

Six6siX

Six6siX

Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
4,788
Location
Hertfordshire
After a fair while thinking about it, I decided to change cars. I had a LOT of work done to my E46 and it was pretty much just as I wanted it - but...I got the itch to change. Stupid decision financially? Yes. But I needed to change. So the E46 is for sale and will hopefully go to someone who will appreciate it - whoever buys it will be getting a very unique car, but I think it'll be a tough sell (if anyone's interested, let me know :p)

Anyway, fast forward a month or two searching and viewing several very rough cars, I found the replacement...I moved over to the dark side and picked up a rather nice CLS55 AMG :)

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Really a world apart from the E46. Very smooth to drive and when it kicks down the acceleration is just relentless. All the usual toys. Oh, and that V8 sound...
 
Nice car but that e46 is going to be a massive pain to sell. How much did all the mods set you back? how come you did not start with a M3?
 
The AMG = Awesome. I am starting to like Mercs more and more lately.

The BMW = Again awesome.....But £11k for what is essentially a 11 years old 330i. I would just rather spend £11k on a well looked after M3. Bet you would be better off breaking if you have the time or just taking a hit and lowering the price.
 
Rybo89 said:
The AMG = Awesome. I am starting to like Mercs more and more lately.

The BMW = Again awesome.....But £11k for what is essentially a 11 years old 330i. I would just rather spend £11k on a well looked after M3. Bet you would be better off breaking if you have the time or just taking a hit and lowering the price.
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Yeah, I never really considered Mercs as a viable option but the more I looked into them, the more they grew on me and it had to be done!

The 11k is a figure I just pulled out of my backside :p

I know it'd not go for much near that but like I say, any reasonable offer is worth a shot as it does need to go.
 
Dr House said:
Nice car but that e46 is going to be a massive pain to sell. How much did all the mods set you back? how come you did not start with a M3?
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The mods on the E46, I daren't add up. Probably the wrong side of £15k

I get asked the why not an M3 question all the time. Well, I already owned the 330, knew it was a good car - not an unknown, so decided to build on it and make something a bit different.
 
Six6siX said:
Yeah, I never really considered Mercs as a viable option but the more I looked into them, the more they grew on me and it had to be done!

The 11k is a figure I just pulled out of my backside :p

I know it'd not go for much near that but like I say, any reasonable offer is worth a shot as it does need to go.
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The 330ci is a work of art with the work that has gone into, but like people here are saying 11k is very very clean M3 money and when you can get pretty clean M3's now for around 7k I think you will struggle to sell it unfortunately for anything above 8k. :(

The Merc looks awesome, the power like you say must be relentless and for the size of the things they seem to grip pretty well to the road.

I'd advice you get it detailed though, being a black car it will benefit and look even better with swirl free paint. :)
 
Gibbo said:
The 330ci is a work of art with the work that has gone into, but like people here are saying 11k is very very clean M3 money and when you can get pretty clean M3's now for around 7k I think you will struggle to sell it unfortunately for anything above 8k. :(

The Merc looks awesome, the power like you say must be relentless and for the size of the things they seem to grip pretty well to the road.

I'd advice you get it detailed though, being a black car it will benefit and look even better with swirl free paint. :)
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Having had a few comments in a similar vein, I do agree - I think ~8-9k (at a push) is probably more realistic, and that is an absolute steal for what it is. I never intended to sell it really hence the huge amount of time and money that was poured into it but the heart wants what the heart wants!

A proper detail is on the cards for the Merc as there are a few swirl marks here and there. Can get some proper pictures done too then.

It grips really well given the size - everyone that has seen it so far always has the same first comment: "its really long" (giggidy)

It is a big, heavy beast though - you can definitely tell compared to the 330. It does hide its speed concerningly well though - you can feel the acceleration all the way through the rev range and it's a real disappointment that you have to let off the throttle to stop going into silly speeds because the V8 noise stops :(
 
Less about e46 more about AMG.

Got any interior pics. What are the running and servicing costs like?
 
Howard said:
That's lovely. How much was it?
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Picked it up for not far off £13k

DAIR said:
Less about e46 more about AMG.

Got any interior pics. What are the running and servicing costs like?
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I didn't take any interior pics but its black leather with AMG trim and piano black dash with suede headliner (none of this woodgrain or walnut business!). Attention to detail is nice too - padded leather dash, carpet everywhere and lots and lots of buttons.

It drinks fuel but you can get 28mpg on a run if you drive like a saint, more realistic driving will see teen figures mpg if you go by the book.

In general servicing terms, it'll be a bit higher than the E46 but I don't expect anything too extreme. It takes a lot of oil (8.5L?) and obviously there's the extra cylinders to account for when things like plugs etc come due. The biggest expense in terms of running costs is going to unexpected failures of unusual things like the air susp, brake pump and electronics (there's a lot of electronic control!) etc. A warranty may be worth a look in here. Only 60k on the clock so should be fairly reasonable. It was quite an expensive car new so the running costs will reflect this to an extent!
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
Lovely Merc, but i'd love to have a go in that E46, bet the sound is monumental.

May I ask how much the CLS set you back?
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I did a couple of vids of the E46 running the spec it is now (not as good as hearing it in person but you get the general idea of the supercharger whine and exhaust rasp!). Apologies for the knocking sound in the road video, my phone kept knocking against its mount!


 
The 330 may be M3 money, but it has 460bhp and power everywhere, it'd eat an m3 providing the suspension is set up correctly (and not 140k miles old)
 
acemastr said:
The 330 may be M3 money, but it has 460bhp and power everywhere, it'd eat an m3 providing the suspension is set up correctly (and not 140k miles old)
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Bilstein B12 adjustables, powerflex bushes, H&R kit and new top mounts all fitted about 6 months ago with 4 wheel alignment :). Probably done about 6k miles at a rough guess!
 
acemastr said:
The 330 may be M3 money, but it has 460bhp and power everywhere, it'd eat an m3 providing the suspension is set up correctly (and not 140k miles old)
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I'd still want an M3.
There are a lot more differences between a cooking 3 series than an M3 than you might think.

One of them is the S54, 8000rpm straight six. :D


P.S. Good suspension setup though on that though, OP you should advertise it in the track section on PH too, some could view that as potentially a good track car project.
 
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OP - new car = win.

some fairly nasty swirls above that wing badge. you planning on a paint correction?
 
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