S class S500 2005. Or??

It's more likely that alloy wheels have a reputation for cracking.

Do you mean alloy or should that be aluminium?


Steve.

Hurrah. Someone else who can join my exclusive club of people who realise that alloy and aluminium are not the same thing. For example - steel is an alloy - so you can legitimately tick the box on ebay / autotrader saying alloy wheels even if you have steelies and hubcaps, but be prepared to give a chemistry lession to the knuckledragger / pedant who complains. (no offence directed at the good folk of TP)
 
I looked at Lexus but I don't like the styling of them. Discounted jags even though they're cheap as chips.

Now wondering whether an SLK280 on a 2006 or later plate would be a better idea. Then I'm out of the crapper build quality era of Merc. Interior really isn't as nice looking as on the SL. It looks cheap. But it is a lot less of a behemoth and still has the folding roof thing. I think it also has Air scarf or sommat which the SL doesn't.

That's a good idea, SLK 350 is nice, air scarf is handy, and there's room in the boot for your hairdressing equipment :) :)
 
Miles - either recorded or real - aren't a problem on any S-class Mercedes, even the worst W220, but any hint of leaf-blocked drains and water ingress makes for big anxiety! In that respect, the car's a sort of bigger and more expensive multiplex-wired Renault Scenic!

FWIW my own choice in that realm would be an aluminium bodied X350 Jaguar XJ. A much nicer car to drive, and comparable on reliability and running costs.
 
If I wanted a luxury car, which could do big miles at a high speed, then I would go for a BMW 8 series.
I know that this is always subjective, but I love their looks and admire the engineering, and I think that you could buy the very best example for under £10K.
 
I think the 8 series is a bit long in the tooth now. Based on the underpinnings of something from the 80s. As good as it was in its days I wouldn't touch it unless collecting a mint v12 version.

Likewise the early 6 series looks super dated to me. Again a nice drive, but I would want a much more recent one.

The advantage of the S class compared to many others (including S8) is choice. There are so many about that it should be easy to pick one exactly how you would like it, with all the toys you want on it and drive a hard bargain on it as well. Especially when you are interested in a petrol version.

If I was in your shoes I would focus on that and you should be able to get a superb luxury bargain. Make a little list of what your must have, should, could have options are and hunt for a great one.

The intelligent light system is absolutely bloody brilliant, definitely recommend that. As would be active suspension, although it could get expensive if it requires repairs, but to experience it is physics defying and it makes that think corner like a hot hatch. There is so much possible and available with these, so take your pick.
 
I discounted bmw 8 series as fugly :) Reminds me of the older style Quattroporte.

E class would be ok as well. Bit smaller. Local specialist has a one owner minty looking E class. Shame it was a clanking diesel or I'd have had it!
 
An e500 or e55 AMG would be nice :)
 
Just buy the 911, it's a proper sports car!:D (and I'll be quite jealous :p, even though I decided against an older 993 for the same sort of money when I bought the Boxster)

Perhaps not the thing if you want luxury though.
 
Never owned a Porsche, nearly did but the turbo blew on the test drive.

I know you have said you don't like the styling, but of all the luxury cars I have owned, Merc, Jag, BMW & Audi by far the best was a lexus LS for serious comfort and performance. For the money I think they are hard to beat, go to your local dealer and try a one. Also with the Hybrid system they are not to bad on fuel costs for the type of car.

An example, probably £100k new > http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201411289301872/sort/default/make/lexus/onesearchad/used,nearlynew,new/quicksearch/true/price-from/20000/model/ls_600h/page/1/usedcars/radius/1500/postcode/sa66su?logcode=p
 
Wow 51k miles barely run in thats a beauty wonder about a gas conversion?
 
Lexus is still fugly :)

It's down to either a Porsche 911 996 2002 facelift one with the 3.6 engine or a 2005 E55 AMG. Possibly.
 
Porsche without a doubt out of those 2. AMG parts are hideously expensive, from memory the front discs are about £1k*




*i just made that up
 
Your're not far wrong. Anything AMG specific is expensive - I ran a C43 AMG for several years. Brake discs were due replacement but the gearbox failed before I bought the, - car was sold to an MB specialist instead. At the time, they were £ 400 per side.

Now they're £ 60 a side from MB which means that they're either clearing warehouse space, or the discs are now being used on something a lot more common.
 
Ill be checking with respective specialists :) . Big brakes are often used on truck lines so you quote for that and pay a fraction for the same thing. A dirty trick Nissan used to do with the gtr unless you knew which truck :sneaky:
 
Averaged over 10 years / 70,000 miles of ownership, my 986S has cost me circa £1,200/year for maintenance, excluding tyres which I don't keep track of - fronts last at least 40,000 miles, rears about 17-18,000. I will say that I never bothered to fix the aircon when it failed as I can just open the roof, so there's a potential bill for several hundred pounds not included in that (the radiators at the front had rusted through and no longer hold the refrigerant). That's the water cooled flat six, 3.2L rather than the 3.4L or 3.6L in 996. I have had no major failures, typically just wearing items like the clutch. The previous owner asserted that neither the RMS or IMS had failed or been replaced.

I use an independent specialist and not an OPC, so labour rates are cheaper, but I don't get a bod in a suit come to tell me all the stuff the mechanic just told him about my car, or a leather sofa to sit on with a big flatscreen telly to watch while I wait for someone to talk to me.

Certainly not going to doubt your figures but those would be absolute best case scenario and as you stated, you've made compromises with selective maintenance, something I'd personally never advise on a Porsche. The Boxter, which even in S form, is somewhat cheaper to maintain than a 911. I think you've done very well out of that car though and obviously had no major failures. You must drive very very sensibly to get 40k miles out of a set of front tyres and 17k from rears...! I think the last rear set I went through lasted me just over 8k miles and I drive like an old man mostly. Spirited driving in the 911, more like 5k or less from a set of rears. I've seen people talking about 3k miles from a set of P Zero's on a 911 C4, at around £1,500 a set.... A good set of rears will cost in the region of £700+ so for average mileage, you might be looking at up to £2,000 a year in tyres alone if you drive a (non turbo) 911 C2 (double it for the C4!) with gusto.....

As an alternative comparison, a friend of mine has a 993 C2 Cab, which are known to be very reliable. Indeed, the air cooled 911 are fantastic. Despite this, his ownership costs for maintaining the car in proper condition are in the region of £6,000 a year, via a specialist. Granted it is a soft top and had a new roof, but even without that, it has not been cheap overall. He is now seeing a significant increase in the cars value though, as air cooled continue to become more and more desirable.

The main difference between a 911 and a Boxter in my opinion is that in general, when buying a 911, over any other Porsche model, either OPC or specific specialists (autofarm, portiacraft etc. ) are the only acceptable maintenance providers if you wish to retain resale values. Also, its important to make sure the car is as close to pristine as possible for the same reason. I like the Boxter, but it is not yet considered an icon like the 911 and buyers of 911's tend to be far more picky unless they are on a budget and I think people on a budget live to regret the purchase in most cases, as many a tale on pistonheads will tell.

I stick by what i said originally in that £5k a year is a decent estimate to run a 911, if you want to make sure it's fully functional and in good shape going forward, assuming no major disasters. If you come in under, its great, but to not budget for this would be folly.

For what it's worth, I would not own a Porsche (or any other serious performance/supercar) outside of warranty, under any circumstances. Best advice, go and luck at the price of parts, because whether sourced from OPC or independently, they will be roughly the same price and it would be utterly foolish to fit bargain basement after market parts to a 911, that is if you ever hope to sell it for anywhere near its potential value.

The reason I feel the above is relevant to the OP, aside from the fact he mentioned Porsche, is that an AMG Merc, RS Audi or M series BMW is likely to be the same in terms of maintenance cost, if not more.

I will go as far as to say that anyone who suggests you can or should run this type of car on a budget is living in cloud cuckoo land. Caveat emptor!

PS. Corrected typo and added some info.
 
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I guess it depends on your annual mileage. Until recently my wife ran a 987 Boxster. Circa 15 to 20k miles for rear tyres - the fronts considerably more (Michelin Pilot Sports). Servicing is on a 2yr 20k miles basis. I always did an interim engine oil and filter change myself with the main service at an OPC. The RMS was changed under warranty but if we had not had the warranty I would not have bothered - it was the tiniest of oil weeps. Had a bizarre problem with the headlights that needed them changing (under warranty) but that was it over 7 years of fabulous motoring.

I own a G series air cooled 911 and undertake all of the maintenance myself. I realised some years ago that so-called specialists were doing very poor work on the car (and this was a very long established and highly regarded outfit) and not to the standard I expected. The car is averaging 3k miles a year and I probably only spend £500/year on parts at worst. Clearly this is not many miles/year.

The good thing is it has doubled in value in my ownership.

To bring this back to the Op's questions I regularly walk past an S500 and it is remarkably crusty - rust scabs around the wheel arches and sills. In other respects it has struck me as well looked after - always clean. I can't remember the reg off-hand.
 
You must drive very very sensibly to get 40k miles out of a set of front tyres and 17k from rears...!
Nope, I drive in an enthusiastic fashion when outside of urban areas, but am more mindful of the speed limit than many owners of hatchbacks (queues form behind me in 30mph limits in rural areas as I do an actual 30mph, not the 40mph+ that many others do) and I keep them correctly inflated. There is no weight over the front wheels and no drive to them, so all they are being asked to do is steer, consequently they last a very long time - see also rear tyres on a FWD car, which similarly last forever in my experience.

All parts fitted to my car are genuine. Sometimes the independent I use ask me if I'd prefer a cheaper alternative and I always decline. That said, I wouldn't rule it out and given that I have owned it getting towards 11 years, you may infer that I have no intention of ever selling it while it still works, so resale value was never a consideration, not at the time of purchase and not now. And let's face it, after that length of ownership it owes me nothing, so if I was faced with a bill for a new engine I'd probably sell it to a breaker.
 
The rust on Mercs is a concern.

Leaning further toward porsche as the Hartech regular maintenance plan would take some of the sting out of a disaster as usually labour is the biggest costs in fixing stuff when it has gone bang...
 
If I didn't live about four hours drive from Bolton I'd definitely consider Hartech's maintenance plan, but it's a bit of a long way to go to get my car serviced or repaired.
 
I looked at Lexus but I don't like the styling of them. Discounted jags even though they're cheap as chips.

Now wondering whether an SLK280 on a 2006 or later plate would be a better idea. Then I'm out of the crapper build quality era of Merc. Interior really isn't as nice looking as on the SL. It looks cheap. But it is a lot less of a behemoth and still has the folding roof thing. I think it also has Air scarf or sommat which the SL doesn't.
Plus their autobox is £11k for a new one
That put me off.
 
Plus their autobox is £11k for a new one
That put me off.

Cripes. No one would buy from merc themselves. Bet a decent auto box specialist could fix most problems for a couple of grand!
 
I've had many high mileage luxury cars, never had to replace an autobox on it. Check it has had its oil changes. On my bmw v12 the gearbox was lumpy, basic computer reset, realign the dual throttle bodies and smooth like a babies bottom :)
 
What about an older rolls royce :-)
 
What about an older rolls royce :)

Don't think it would fit on the drive... If it did I'd get a Bentley turbo R instead :) proper hooligan drawing room on wheels kind of car. Shame they were mentioned on the classic car show this week as that has probably just bumped the prices up!
 
No, June, boyo...
 
Don't think it would fit on the drive... If it did I'd get a Bentley turbo R instead :) proper hooligan drawing room on wheels kind of car. Shame they were mentioned on the classic car show this week as that has probably just bumped the prices up!


I saw that as well, and it reminded me of this programme which I watched last year.

 
Still dithering...can't decide between a 4wd 3.6 911 2002 vintage or the rwd 3.6 targa of the same age. Both tiptronic and both the same colour. Both same price. Arrgghh. I don't think you can get the 3.6 with the 4wd and the targa option.
 
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