Advantages: Very high build quality, silent running, prestige, badge, lush, solid, fast, sumptuous. Disadvantages: Difficult to park, dealer will empty your bank balence, large car - small....... !
Mercedes 300SEL , S320 Limo 1993.
How I acquired the vehicle?
In my course of work (Mobile vehicle mechanic) I meet a lot of people in the trade.
Because of this, I get the nod when any quality vehicles turn up in the scrapper (for what ever reason they were scrapped).... many times this is down to un-economic repair costs.
Which are for this beast, astronomical? ...well if you are prey to main dealer prices and practices, cars like this will never be owned by the 'less well offs' and I include myself in that statement. It's better to be lucky than rich sometimes.
For me, it's a case of; sod the usual car buying outlets and get your self down the scrapper. Lucky for me then!
On first inspection of this car in the breakers yard, I was shocked by its size; it was huge, damaged, covered in dust + thick mud caked the wheel ...
Advantages: SMOOTH RIDE, HANDLES WELL , PRESTIGE BADGE Disadvantages: NIGGLES CAN BE EXPENSIVE ,BUY THE FACELIFT MODEL
about it although every other Taxi is fast becoming a Mercedes diesel.!!
The car never surprised me on speed off the mark but from 70 onward it did seem too fly with ease.Once I had started the engine from cold and woke the street up with the "clack-clack" it did please me ,as when warmed up and at normal Motorway speeds it went along qiutely without having to have the radio / cd up too loud. The finish of these vehicles is very good with soft plastics and Leather being used and the wind noise is very negligable at any speed. I did find the seats a little unsupportive and I wish I had gone for heated seats on the more cold winter mornings as the heater took an age to get up too a warm blow.
The economy with the Diesel engine and Automatic gears seemed ok on long journeys but I saw a difference of MPG when you go over 65mph in comparison ...
Advantages: Looks, size, build quality, driving position, economy, Disadvantages: Expensive, hard ride, front seats slightly lacking in lumbar support
this car as a well built and different vehicle, comparatively rare on the road.
Update: I now have 13000 miles on the clock and nothing has gone wrong apart from an intermittent rattle from the steering column area over some low speed vertical bumps. The service indicator is showing 3500 miles to the first service. Fuel consumption was 61.5mpg on a recent long motorway run.
Further update November 2008: The first (and so far only service) cost around £170 and was completed on a Saturday morning. Mileage is now around 21000. 1 fault so far - this was a leak from the rear washer tube which was not clipped to the nozzle properly. I fixed this myself. Recently some of the washer jets became clogged, but I sorted this with a jetwash. I am having two new front tyres fitted by the Mercedes dealer next week. They quoted £94/tyre including ...
johnsavill 06.03.2007 (24.08.2009)
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