My new car :)

Sagalout

Sagalout

Sagalout

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Joined
13 Nov 2003
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Harrogate
Could have sworn I posted this yesterday but cant find it :/

Anyway, my new car, purchased saturday for cash.

Its a Mercedes C200 Elegance and its taken me ages to find a really good one. I'm really pleased with it though - days of trawling round so called mint examples to find that they are nothing but sheds finally paid off. This little (big!) beauty has been so well looked after it shows in every little nook and cranny of the car. It has a full MB service history and the previous owner has kept every scrap of paper to do with the car, right down to receipts for replacement bulbs. I know some people will say that these mercs onwards dont have the same build quality as the pre 90's ones, but even so the quality is still superb compared to most cars. My parents have an incredibly well looked after toyota of the same age and less mileage but you can just see the difference in the paintwork and interior materials. I've just ordered the original MB brochure from ebay and a set of original MB car mats. I aim to keep it as close to factory spec as possible.

The car is a real joy to drive - just makes me smile every time I look down the bonnet at the classiest parking aide money can buy ;) Cant wait to take it on a long motorway journey.

I cant believe how much cheap 2nd hand cars are these days - anyone want to take a guess at what I paid for it? Its a 97 P reg.

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You did post it. In the Show Us Your Motors thread. That's probably why you can't find it.

Nice buy that. I'm not going to guess the price but I'm guessing it was uber cheap.
 
penski said:
I guess you paid a lot more than my mate did for his fully-loaded 500 SEC...

*n
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I hope he got a bargain otherwise, meh, I'd rather have your mates 500SEC.

The C Class was the first cheapo Merc, and judging by the rather poor equipment list on the 'Elegence' model not exactly a bargain :(
 
Rilot said:
You did post it. In the Show Us Your Motors thread. That's probably why you can't find it.

Nice buy that. I'm not going to guess the price but I'm guessing it was uber cheap.
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Doh! I was sure I'd started a new topic!

Yeah, it was dead cheap (compared to book anyway) - £1900. Lot of car for the money .Not as much car as a 500SEL obviously but I needed something that was wife friendly! I actually quite fancied either a 190 or the old E Class but the mrs said they looked too dated *sigh*.
 
A good illustration of why cheap prestige cars are not a good buy.

You spend £2k and get something nearly 10 years old that can't pull the skin off a rice pudding and has a pretty spartan equipment list (cloth, steel wheels, doesnt look like it has cruise etc) becuase you have a 'posh badge' on the bonnet.

Seems the same is true for Mercedes as it is for BMW - you either buy a classic, or you get enough money for a reasonably recent one or a high spec one.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I hope he got a bargain otherwise, meh, I'd rather have your mates 500SEC.

The C Class was the first cheapo Merc, and judging by the rather poor equipment list on the 'Elegence' model not exactly a bargain :(
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Bit harsh. Parkers give it a 5* rating for reliability provided proper maintenance is carried out.
parkers said:
Reliability is extremely impressive with very few problems reported. As cars get older, continued faultless performance will depend upon correct servicing being maintained.
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Also, the elegance spec is fine - Airconditioning, electric windows and mirrors, fully adjustable seats. Only thing possibly missing is alloy wheels. What more do you need in a car for comfortable driving?
 
Sagalout said:
Bit harsh. Parkers give it a 5* rating for reliability provided proper maintenance is carried out.


Also, the elegance spec is fine - Airconditioning, electric windows and mirrors, fully adjustable seats. Only thing possibly missing is alloy wheels. What more do you need in a car for comfortable driving?
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Cruise control is a rather obvious one - even the most basic of cars are fitted with it these days, and for something which is allegedly high spec Elegence model, leather seats wouldn't really go amiss.

The spec of that Merc 'Elegence' is roughly equivilent to the standard specification of a Vauxhall Vectra LS - infact these days aircon'electric windows/electric mirrors is the starting spec for a city car.
 
[TW]Fox said:
A good illustration of why cheap prestige cars are not a good buy.

You spend £2k and get something nearly 10 years old that can't pull the skin off a rice pudding and has a pretty spartan equipment list (cloth, steel wheels, doesnt look like it has cruise etc) becuase you have a 'posh badge' on the bonnet.

Seems the same is true for Mercedes as it is for BMW - you either buy a classic, or you get enough money for a reasonably recent one or a high spec one.
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I've been there and done that with fast cars (and motorbikes). Theres something special about driving a merc, be it a classic or modern one, that isnt defined by how many buttons it has or what its 0-60 time is. I guess you either 'get' that or you dont. I'm not saying its everyones cup of tea but for £2k I cant think of any other car I'd rather have, and looked afetr properly will become a classic in itself.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Cruise control is a rather obvious one - even the most basic of cars are fitted with it these days, and for something which is allegedly high spec Elegence model, leather seats wouldn't really go amiss.

The spec of that Merc 'Elegence' is roughly equivilent to the standard specification of a Vauxhall Vectra LS - infact these days aircon'electric windows/electric mirrors is the starting spec for a city car.
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It has cruise control. Leather would indeed be nice, but mercedes do make rather nice cloth that seems indestructible! The elegance wasnt the top spec though - it was a mid range spec at the time.
 
Oh I know there is something special about driving a Merc - infact, I'm a huge fan of Mercedes, but special Mercs = E Class, S Class, SLK Class, CL, SL, the 500SEC's, the older S's, etc etc.

Not 10 year old C200 Auto's with cloth seats that take 11 seconds to hit 60mph.

It just strikes me that you've paid £1900 so you can 'Have a Mercedes'. A bit like buying a BMW 316, really.

Still, as long as you personally like it, thats all that matters.

Get saving and upgrade it to a nice E320, then you can experience the 'special'ness of driving a Merc ;)
 
I need one that the mrs can drive though, which meant either a C class or an A class!

And considering that I've been driving a Rover 420 for the past 7 years this feels like a ****** Rolls Royce!
 
Nice car dude, my uncle owned the C230 Kompressor... really nice car! Only thing was i thought the interior was a little dated, comfy, but dated.

Dont know what the tech specs are off the top of my head either, but it was bl**dy quicker than i expected it to be... :)
 
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