What could i replace my car with?

[Jez]

Throwing around idea's as i have had this car for a while now and would like to sell it before the mileage starts to make it undesirable and worthless, its about to get a new MOT and tax and therefore its a good time to sell it. If working with a budget of approximately say £20k, what would you get to replace a Mercedes S430.

I do high mileage so comfort is of concern. As it stands i cannot think of anything else other than another S-class, maybe a BMW 7-series or perhaps a CL-class. The controversial wildcard is a Range Rover, time and time again i am drawn to them as a nice sofa on wheels with nice upright driving position which i find great for my back.

Throw in some nice cars which i havnt thought of

 

[Jez]

Given that you do high mileage, swapping an £8k car for a £20k car in order to minimise losses in depreciation makes little financial sense.

To be honest its more that i just want a fancy new toy to play with

Dangerous Dave - what powerplant was that with? 17mpg motorway is *too* low really, i can get around 26mpg on a run in the S-class currently. I guess the model i'd be looking at would be the 4.4 V8 petrol.

6-series would be amazing, but they are a touch too expensive really still being realistic.

A8 i love, Rilot's stories has put me off them somewhat however, i guess his could have simply been a lemon but i cant afford to have the car off the road as the only alternative i'd have is something like a corsa or whatever other car(s) i have at the time - none of which are suitable for commuting.

 

[Jez]

Those Maseratis are such a bargain. I wonder if you can home service them?

You don't think whoever pays for your fuel card will think you are taking the **** if you buy a Range Rover V8?

Assuming that the posters above's figure of 17mpg is accurate, then yeah, thats far too low and i would not go there. I guess with the aerodynamics its unavoidable and therefore not an option.

 

[Jez]

Given that iirc, fuel is not an issue for you Jez, then I say get an e39 M5 and REALLY upset Fox.

Thought about it mate, but insurance is insane on them and they are only available with a manual gearbox

 

[Jez]

730D or an A8 would probably be my choice, though I could not motivate myself to buy either last year when I was looking for a B car, hence the RS4. But for 20K you should be able to get a nice car that has already had a big chunk of its value lost and if you find a good one it should last you FOR EVER!

Out of interest, what put you off them?

 

[Jez]

No good having a B car if you always drive the A car.

Very true. Perhaps i am missing out by looking at these cars.

I really dont know what i want really to be honest, i just know that i want a new toy and am not 100% happy with anything on the market.

 

[Jez]

Keep the S and run it until it's utterly dead. Then replace it. In the meantime, perhaps spend the cash on a toy.

This goes back to Hosemasters A/B car thing, i dont really want or need two cars, i'd end up only driving one of them yet having the hassle of running and maintaining 2, having 2 lots of insurance, etc etc.

Keeping the S makes sense as there isnt a lot out which is better, but :/

 

[Jez]

Explain again whats wrong with the Masserati?

The prospect of relying on it day in day out and expecting it to do 1000+ miles per week without so much as me even ever looking under the bonnet is scary. I'd imagine its parts costs are even more extreme than the S-class too, which is hardly a cheap car to run in itself.

Lovely car but not really suitable. I want a car where i never see the engine, i think ive seen the S's engine about 3 times over 15k miles so far, thats how it has to be.

 

[Jez]

Out of intrest Jez, what is it you do do that requires such high mileage?

Field Based IT Tech

 

[Jez]

'99 S430 pulls up

"Hi I'm here to wire up your printer"

"..."

I do actually get some jobs which turn out to be things like that

 

[Jez]

Oh I dunno...you might like them? Jez opened a thread saying "suggest me a car" so therefore it was suggested.

I knew the chances of him considering one, was exceedingly slim, but the suggestion was there nonetheless!

I dont dislike saab's, but do they even make a large one? They all seem quite small and unsuited to high mileage when compared with motorway cruisers like S-class'/A8/7-series' etc.

 

[Jez]

Not massively large like the S'class but the 9-3 saloon and 9-5 saloon are both good sized cars. All depends on what you have to carry and how much, do you often fill up your car?

If anything the Saab's are built for Motorway munching, quiet, VERY comfortable, I'm not to up to speed on the latest models but the engines in general have good torque through-out the entire rev-range so you get good pull at most speeds. They will quite happily sit at 70-80 all day long on the motorway. Thing is, second hand - you get a lot of car for your money.

I very nearly sold mine for an updated 53' reg 9-3 Saloon for £4-5k as it only had 30k on the clock but it had been in a flood so worried about internal electrics.

The audio systems in them are good quality and you don't need to be a brainiac to work in the inbuilt computers either.

My arguement in these situations is you do get an awful lot of car for your money, the newer ones are much better on fuel than mine is (that's understandable due to technology blah blah blah) and just because you have £20k doesn't mean you have to spend it.

Take one for a test drive, you may like it!

With respect they make nothing which would be even close to something in the exec class from what i can see, its the wheelbase and suspension technology that dictates how well a car cruises, and without test driving one i know that a little saab will be miles under par really. Thanks for the suggestion all the same though, all are welcome

The £20k thing was just an artificial limit which seems fairly sensible and not too excessive, if a car was £25k instead that would be fine, if it were what i wanted.

Really Fox is correct in that i might as well keep it, and consider something silly to go next to it. But then i go back to Hosuemasters valid point about the A/B car thing, if i had something silly i'd probably end up using that all the time.

 

[Jez]

The convertible would be awesome, no i dont need any space, the only reason i have a 4-door at the moment is due to them being cheaper than the CL/SL.

Liking that very much scuzi, and something i hadnt thought of

 

[Jez]

There are a few problems with the 996, as much as i'd love one:

- I'd only want a C4, after test drives i would kill myself in a RWD model, after being in a fair few crashes and splitting my last fast car in half i think i can judge fairly well what cars i would be stupid to buy.

- I'd want one with the GT3/Aero kit (whatever its called). After looking at them semi seriously ive decided that you need between £25k and £30k for a half decent 996, and while thats fine, and its what id spend, i dont really want to have that much money in a car which will be getting miles piled onto it all day.

- They are crap on the motorway, which is where i spend my life, which makes them a "B" car only.

 

[Jez]

The only car ive said wont be economical enough is a V8 Range Rover, if the quoted figures were accurate.

 

[Jez]

Have to agree with him.

An alternative would be a 7 Series - £20k would buy a nice 730d well, pretty much any 7 !

It would be a daft thing to do though, given what you already have.

I think a Jag would disappoint after an S-Class imo.

Big advantage of the 7-series over the S from a maintenance POV is the fact that you can buy them with sprung suspension. The only part of my car which is giving me real issues is lack of pressure in the airmatic system (air leaks from the struts which are nearing 100k miles) and im losing my patience with it fast! The struts are £750 each part only too from GSF, so thats a £2000 job to get the rear pair replaced, and thats before i think about doing the fronts.

 

[Jez]

And the big disadvantage is that electronics wise, the E65 makes the S Class look like an Abacus.

I like toys though, i cant imagine what the E65 has which is actually of any real use, but i want it all anyway Maybe i should get a sprung E65

 

[Jez]

I'm sure you havent even owned that car 6 months yet?

I obviously missed the memo about being allowed only 2 cars per year

 

[Jez]

OP - why is auto so important if you are spending so much time cruising on the motorway? with a decent engine under the bonnet these cars will still pull well enough in top gear.

E39 M5 - you dont really need 1st gear, 2nd gear, even 3rd, is adequate for pulling away in. once you are on the motorway leave it in 5th or 6th.

just a thought.

I just dont really like manuals as much, i spend a lot of time mooching around city centres visiting clients, a lot of time in traffic, and even day to day i just prefer automation - much like i prefer electric windows to manual ones.

I would make an exception for an M5, but the insurance is *insane* on the M-series cars for me (22, 1NCB, High mileage, business use)