Luxury Car

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Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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I am thinking of getting myself a luxury motor. Going to try and get test drives on the below for this weekend

2002 Lexus LS430
2000/1 Lexus LS400
2000+ BMW 740i (e38)

Is there anything else worth considering?. S Class and newer 7 series are doable money wise but both seem a little more problematic than the above and the BMW is soo ugly its not worth the extra money.

The LS400 and the 740i should be doable for around £5k but the LS430 would be around £7500 :(
 
Wouldnt these potentially be heavy on the costs to run? if you are skimping to purchase a luxury car then its best remembered that these were once very expensive and will have retained that expensive to run tag.
 
Just looked on autotrader you can pick up Jag XJRs from as little as £2500 my choice would be go with one of these. Really nice, luxurious and fast. Your not going to loose much money on them when they are that cheap and it leaves you a few quid if something does need doing.
 
the thing that comes to mind is clarkson buying that merc 600 and although he got it at a snip (£25k) the last service was £15,000, i'm sure that was a very big one and the several previous ones didnt come to that combined, but still worth bearing in mind.
 
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aproctor said:
the thing that comes to mind is clarkson buying that merc 600 and although he got it at a snip (£25k) the last service was £15,000, i'm sure that was a very big one and the several previous ones didnt come to that combined, but still worth bearing in mind.
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yes because a car that is over 30 years older than the car's in the op will have bills that high at such an early time relatively speaking in their life. Think Rilot/Jez will provide your best bets for advice on these cars, think Rilots got a Lexus and has had an A8 and obviously Jez has his S Class.
 
Morba said:
Wouldnt these potentially be heavy on the costs to run? if you are skimping to purchase a luxury car then its best remembered that these were once very expensive and will have retained that expensive to run tag.
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This is what is pushing me towards the LS400, cheaper to buying meaning plenty in the bank if it goes wrong and with it being an end of line model it should have less niggles than the LS430.
 
Ive never preferred the Audi equivalents to BMW. Find the less comfortable and don't think i would choose Audi ownership over BMW. Cant say i have actually ever been in a XJ but that would be a very nice car but it has a lot of electronics and its an old British car.....
 
sorry no XJs, nice cars if i was 6in smaller they would be up there but they just aren't that comfortable for the larger gentleman
 
For this price I would look away and look at a slightly smaller saloon, i.e. 5 Series etc. I would just be too worried something will go. I.E. apparantly on an Audi A8 to change fluids, the gearbox has to be brought forward and all kinds of stuff....think of the labour cost.

Of course there are people who are lucky and grab a machine which has no problems at all for years. I personally wouldnt really spend this money on a car with such potential to cost much much more than I bargained for.
 
I would say that the lexus are particularly more expensive on the servicing side so audi/bmw would be better in the event of a problem. Spoken to a fair few taxi drivers who have these and that is what they recommended.
 
Kappa said:
For this price I would look away and look at a slightly smaller saloon, i.e. 5 Series etc. I would just be too worried something will go. I.E. apparantly on an Audi A8 to change fluids, the gearbox has to be brought forward and all kinds of stuff....think of the labour cost.
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Currently got a Volvo S80 which is very slightly bigger than an e39 bmw.

I like big cars though, i am tempted to go older @ £3000 so it justify writing it off if a big enough bill comes along
 
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aproctor said:
the last service was £15,000
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No merc costs £15K to service. That must have had a whole lot wrong with it.

However the principle is sound. Any of these big motors are going to cost a lot if something goes wrong, quite apart from the servicing, fuel and tax costs. For example, my 2000 CL500 (S class coupe equivalent) recently sold for £7K with a low 70K miles on the clock and was generably reliable. However when the cats went in the exhaust at 60K miles (pretty common) it was a £1000 job, major services were about £700 from memory and I think Jez will give you some eye watering prices for the suspension parts when he sees this.

So if you're going to do it I would advise getting a pre-April 2001 car to avoid the tax increases, do thorough research on what things go when on the model you look at and make sure the service history shows this stuff has been done. Oh and set up a savings account and start funnelling some money into it. If you can afford the running costs then you'll have a great motor whatever you choose if luxo-barges are your thing. I'm sure V8 Lexi an BMWs must be a similar story with running costs.
 
Morba said:
Wouldnt these potentially be heavy on the costs to run? if you are skimping to purchase a luxury car then its best remembered that these were once very expensive and will have retained that expensive to run tag.
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True. My e38 would rob me of £500 for half decent tyres, same again for an inspection 2 service from an Indy, things like exhausts are very pricey.

You do get one hell of a lot of car for the money though but, you'll lose it just as quick.

I paid £5k plus my old car for my e38, just over 2 years later, I struggled to get £2300 for it!

I'd try the 728i also mate, sure the 740i is quicker, but the 728i is considerably better on fuel.

That said, after owning an e38 728i for just over 2 years, my biggest regret (I think!) was that I did not go for the 740i !!!

However don't get me wrong, the 728i's performance for a car of its size was surprisingly good and its near frugal compared with the V8!

Thought you loved your Ovlov?
 
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R124/LA420 said:
Thought you loved your Ovlov?
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I do love the volvo :p And in 1 year of ownership nothing has gone wrong with it.

Probably take me a year to find a nice one (spent 12months looking at volvos) after i have chosen the next steed. If prices drop heavily when £400 tax comes up i want to be in a position to snap one up!
 
Sone said:
I do love the volvo :p And in 1 year of ownership nothing has gone wrong with it.
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ok :)

Sone said:
Probably take me a year to find a nice one (spent 12months looking at volvos) after i have chosen the next steed. If prices drop heavily when £400 tax comes up i want to be in a position to snap one up!
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Pretty much what I'm doing at the moment....... :)

a lot of e38 owners did not like the later 7's looks and simply kept them longer than they would otherwise whilst still keeping them within the dealer network for servicing etc, meaning BMW dealers have a few e38's that are too old for them to retail despite being in superb nick.

Knights had an 01 plate 740i a few weeks ago that went trade for sub £4k from what a salesman there told me! - I missed it - I'd start mailing local BMW dealers with your requirement on the understanding it would be a trade sale, I'd imaging you could well drop on a nice one for a very nice price, again, what I'm doing. :)

BTW, the Mondeo's still going strong!
 
S Class deffo, you can pick the S500 up with a big V8 for around £15k now in very good condition, they come fully loaded too. If you can afford to run the bugger then I dont think you'll find a BMW of the same spec even close in terms of value of money.
 
If you want nearly everything electric and automatic, and a nice big reliable engine look at Cadillac STS ticks all your boxes and you can get a low miles one for around 3-4k and they are cheap to service with parts from gm, easy to work on. only thing that costs lots is suspension but there are after market kits for if it goes wrong.

My air suspensions on 175k and still going strong though, there fast to boot.
 
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