She bought one finally, a 1999 Mercedes Benz CL600. She put her budget up to £25,000 ($45k) and got one for £22,900 ($40k). Its Black, with cream leather, 38,000 miles, not bad for a six year old car.

I havent seen it yet but apparently its in very good condition. It also has that wonderful 6.0 litre V12

She also looked at a Mercedes CLK430 but it wasnt what she expected, and a 1998 Honda Accord Coupe which was only £2000 ($3k)!!

I dont think my sister got a raw deal, £23k($40k) for a car that cost £110k ($195k) new, thats damn good to me.

good deal. The year doesnt matter as long as it has low miles.

welli would consider 38k as low as can be expected. If you average 12,000 a year, times it by nearly 7 years is how old the car is, that leaves the average milage for taht car would be 84,000 miles, thats less than half the average for that age.

Sweet deal. Nice low mileage, a big engine, excellent condition. A hell of a deal is what she got. :thumbsup:

Yeah thats what i thought, she could of had a 199 Mercedes Benz CLK430 for £10k less, but it wasnt what shed expected, poor quality interior, my wife had a 1999 CLK320 and i have to agree with my sister, not as good as older Benzes.

I cant wait to drive it, i really love the S/Cl class From 1992-1999, they were real smart cars. My brother in law has an 600SEL, and i had a 320SEL, they were build like tanks, it is the most well built car i and he and probably my sister now too have ever owned

Nice looking car if it looks like this;

http://a137.g.akamai.net/n/137/3538/20050827201039/www.cars.com/photo300-ad/DMI/88547/2841.jpg

http://motortrend.com/roadtests/coupe/112_9904_mbz03_z.jpg

http://motortrend.com/roadtests/coupe/112_9904_mbz04_z.jpg

Here is a Motortrend review on it;

http://motortrend.com/roadtests/coupe/112_9904_mbz/

I love these gigantic CL coupes!

high maintenace costs keep me from jumping in though

Thats the one Kevo, theyre very very nice cars, if its anything like the SEL class i had way back in 94 its a winner, i really want a 98 or 99 S600, maybe instead of a RWD fleetwood... theyre only about £10k, or $19k USD......

I love these gigantic CL coupes!

high maintenace costs keep me from jumping in though

I love the whole CL SEL class cars, theyre all great, my sister doesnt need to worry about maintainence, good job, and has no children, so she can afford a litle luxury

From the looks of that engine compartment It doesn't look too service friendly. To own one, one must be prepared financially to pay someone lots of money for upkeep.

A previous employer of mine had an early 90s 500sel sedan. His maintenance cost were substantial.

From the looks of that engine compartment It doesn't look too service friendly. To own one, one must be prepared financially to pay someone lots of money for upkeep.

A previous employer of mine had an early 90s 500sel sedan. His maintenance cost were substantial.

Yeah they are pricey things, but at such a low purchase price who can say no?

I had the 320, it was above average to maintain, i wouldnt say it was a loan everytime it needed a service. My brother has a 96 600SEL, and that is expensive, but he can also afford it, my sister now has this CL600 and she can afford it, im seriously considering jumping back into the MB camp, and gettin a S500 or an S600 from before 1999. I had an S500 in 2000 (current style) and it couldnt compete with the old 320SEL, t wasnt as well built, or as luxurious.

I drove the car of choice for the russian mafia

Someone here's got one too.....forgot who. I think it was a CL600 too.

My buddy had one (maybe a 500) but he sold after blowing tons of cash on 'minor' stuff like power window motors (the double paned windows are feakin heavy) and major stuff like a new tranny.

I still think they are one of the coolest things on the road.....I wish I could afford on with nav and all wood trim (steering wheel especially).

My fantasy/attainable dreamcar has been a Jag XK8 or XKR convertible though.....same issues with high maintenance so rational me keeps lookin at Accords and such.

Someone here's got one too.....forgot who. I think it was a CL600 too.

My buddy had one (maybe a 500) but he sold after blowing tons of cash on 'minor' stuff like power window motors (the double paned windows are feakin heavy) and major stuff like a new tranny.

I still think they are one of the coolest things on the road.....I wish I could afford on with nav and all wood trim (steering wheel especially).

My fantasy/attainable dreamcar has been a Jag XK8 or XKR convertible though.....same issues with high maintenance so rational me keeps lookin at Accords and such.

Now the Jag, for me at least was a different story, my 98 wasnt that much more to keep on the road than most other V8s, maybe they cost more to service and maintain there.....

yup its an import over here....not a cheap to maintain.

Did you have the XK? The dudes on the jaguar forum swear its worth avoiding pre-2001 XK8 due to serious problems related to the nikasil cylinder liners. And sure enough, many of the 97-99's on ebay have had their engines replaced. You didn't have much reliablity problems?

....ahh I love those things. all that wood trim, the upholstering, its all just so classy and elegant. It just looks so 'proper' :-)

yup its an import over here....not a cheap to maintain.

Did you have the XK? The dudes on the jaguar forum swear its worth avoiding pre-2001 XK8 due to serious problems related to the nikasil cylinder liners. And sure enough, many of the 97-99's on ebay have had their engines replaced. You didn't have much reliablity problems?

....ahh I love those things. all that wood trim, the upholstering, its all just so classy and elegant. It just looks so 'proper' :-)

I only had the car for two years, but its probably having trouble now, it was a really nice car, very smooth, and still sporty. I loved it. I did have a truble with the valves sticking, but that was easily fixed by my dealership, oherwise in the two years i had it, and the 18 months my brother in law had it, it had no issues like that.

good deal. The year doesnt matter as long as it has low miles.

I agree, 38,000 really isn't a lot of miles for a car like that. It's low for the age, plus the "reasonable" life of those cars is in the 150,000 range.

It should give her many more years of service.

That's a FAR cry from some of the cars you mentioned in the earlier thread!!! :D

LOL yes i know, well she didnt mind what it was, as long as she liked it, shed of bought it. She'll prbably keep it for 6 years, and she averages 10k miles a year, so she should be fine./

Nice. That's one of the very few cars I'd trade my ETC for.

I didnt realise it was the 600. Damn a big engine for a low price.

Thats what it is, the SEL sedans are half the price of hte coupes.....

She doesnt need four doors though, and a coupe looks better IMO

I just drove it! My what a beautiful car it is, its built like nothing else, and is so fast!!

What fuel economy can one expect from it?

Looks like about 13 city 19 hwy

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/15019.shtml

the way i drove it i wouldnt expect more than 10, but normally about 18mpg

yeah probably right.....this is the same database that puts theMPG on my car at 17 city 26 hwy

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/1998_Cadillac_FleetwoodDeVilleConcourse.shtml

while I realize more like 15.5

Size Class
Compact Cars?????

That is oneof the largest cars on the road, where do they get compact from?

didnt notice that.....looks like its based on interior volume or something

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byclass/Compact_Cars2005.shtml

says the 2005 CL's are also considerd compact ALSO the Bently Continental GT.

So that means you can squeeze one of these things into a spot marked "compact cars only"!

didnt notice that.....looks like its based on interior volume or something

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byclass/Compact_Cars2005.shtml

says the 2005 CL's are also considerd compact ALSO the Bently Continental GT.

So that means you can squeeze one of these things into a spot marked "compact cars only"!

LOL I suppose it is interior volume, but that is a four passneger car anyway....

I wonder where the SEL fits in...

I'm really thinking about an SEL class again, maybe a 600 or a 500


http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_search.asp?modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&make=MERCEDES-BENZ&model=SEL+SERIES&min_pr=75&max_pr=&mileage=&agerange=&postcode=ne371rn&miles=1500&max_records=200&source=0&photo=1&sort=5&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH

The first two there, theyre so so cheap and they offer so so much

cheap for sure.....I still think its a gamble buying a 12 year old benzo though...unless its got really low mile or something.

I really like those old sel/s-class bodies and I have toyed with idea of owning one for years too.

They made them right up to 1999. I had one and i can honestly say it was the most well built car i have ever owned, and my brothers is a 96 600SEL and that doesnt squeek or rattle at all, it runs well, and has a relatively high milage.

I like them alot, i wish i had bought a 600 initially i would still be driving it today. But the 320 was slow, great but slow. Im cosidering it, even fro a 1999 its only £15k which is about $25 US i think

huh....I thought SEL's became just regular S sometime in early 90's?

btw the 12 year old comment was about that car shown on the link you posted

here's a.....ahem....uhhh....another forum dedicated to these W116's

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=60

:hide:

I didnt know about that, his actually has no badges on it, i just assumed it remained the SEl, its a long wheelbase model though, and it definately has the 6.0 V12, so its probably the S600.

Thanks for the link

Sure thing!

So xmas present for him would be a poser set of AMG S65 badges :-)

.......its pretty common to do, they even had a name for it Japan (label tune)

Sure thing!

So xmas present for him would be a poser set of AMG S65 badges :-)

.......its pretty common to do, they even had a name for it Japan (label tune)

LOL, they were valeted off, he didnt want model distinction,i think the last owner the didnt want people to know whats under the hood. It has no V12 badges on the "C" pillars either.

It looks smart though, i really really want one