Is this overpriced for a trade car?

It's a 14 year old car. Chances are that at some point it will have been neglected. If you just need comfy and reliable then buy something fairly new and cheap. Like a Mondeo at 4 or 5 years old.

Well, whilst that is newer and less leggy than yours, it's still well over

10 years old, built in the run when Mercs were at their absolute worst, with almost 100,000 miles on it. Just give in and get a Saxo diesel or something. I know you want to be different etc etc but you're just making your life difficult and stressful un-necessarily.

Get a quote without the alarm, it'll probably be about £15 more - if anything at all. Even though you live in Beirut it seems, I bet it won't make a difference because of the value of the car.

Big *DING*. Even if you have to do the unthinkable and borrow a few quid for it, at least you'll have something that works and doesn't have a massive bill round the corner for a change.

Um. That's a W124. They're fairly indestructible. OTOH the Merc club reckoned I should have been looking at £7-8K for a 320 Estate if I wanted a good one. And they all seemed to spend money on their motors like there was no tomorrow.

The Life Cycle of the Mercedes W124

Birth - Glorious moment, prestige, *gleamgleam* Youth - Polished and pride Puberty - "The neighbours have a newer plate one" Adulthood - "Cor, it's a Merc for Mondeo money! And these buggers are indestructible!" (Lack of maintaince follows, of course) Middle age - "I've got pains in my joints" Dotage - "Oh god, kill me now - no, wait, I'll do it meself" - or lots of plastic surgery.

Thing is, the W124 mid 90s is made under Mercedes cost cutting, and they rust earlier in their lives than the 1980s ones did. They ALL rust though. And people need to spend big bucks on suspension on them, though service parts aren't horrific.

I have tried a few leggy old W124s thinking "excellent overengineered Merc, lovely, I remember what my old one was like". And then realising that my old one was 70,000 miles and six years old. And was already rusting in the rear 1/4 and went through a phase of not starting. And had had the rear suspension levelling rebuilt under warranty once.

They are, or were, good cars. A good used buy they definitely ain't if running cost is a factor.

Richard

Hmmm... something like a Skoda Octavia, perhaps?

Last time I had a thatcham approved immobillisor fitted, it was =A3100... a sum which I suspect is slightly less than it'll cost you to change your car... again.

I think this is actually, discounting the rising cost of fuel aside, just another case of you getting itchy car feet and making the excuses you need to make to justify a change to yourself.

-- JackH

But it's a late one, from when Merc's quality control budget was 17p and their 'make stuff go forever' policy was replaced by their 'make stuff cheaply' policy.

I think this is actually, discounting the rising cost of fuel aside, just another case of you getting itchy car feet and making the excuses you need to make to justify a change to yourself.

*****************************************************

Win.

I'm thinking the same too.

-- JackH

Ha Ha, I never met Carl, but I know from his postings he's taller, heavier and has bigger feet than me! I'd pay to see him commute in a Saxo Diesel ;-)

Mike P

I'm reasonably tall, but the problem with Saxos and 106s for me was not the distance between the seat and the pedals, it was the narrow footwell and the distance between the pedals which meant I can't easily drive one wearing shoes.

There was, I believe a normally aspirated Diesel ZX Auto. Heheh, jings crivens help ma boab it must be slow.

Just get an MX-5 and be done with it.

Douglas Payne gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Indeed. The non-turbo ZX diesel's hardly a ball of fire with a manual box.

There was an XM on fleaBay a while back which had had an engine swap. For a non-turbo XUD.

A 1.7 non-turbo XUD...

I suspect it didn't need a speedo, it needed a calendar.

Wha..? Seriously? Mind you, it'll give reason to install a PDA mount - for the diary...

Why oh why? Unless, "I blew my donk and happened to have this sitting around" I suppose.

I used to commute 200 miles a day in an AX Diesel - I'm 6'3" and have a penchant for pies.

-- JackH

No, but they rev quite nicely for an NA diesel of that era, as does its sister, the 306, ergo they don't feel that slow really.

LOL

-- JackH

Me too. Something Fiat manage successfully with the smaller Cinquecento, Daihatsu manage with most of their ubersmall things, the PSA group don't.

And a Xantia too, because we wanted a test drive in one for our diesel-only fleet. They're fairly rare; I'd suppose Citroen's idea was that only a few people wanted a diesel automatic, so it would corner the under-premium market (otherwise, you'd opt for a Mercedes, pretty much) for company car drivers who *needed* the automatic (rather than wanted it, because nobody really wants a 1.9 NA diesel auto, surely?).

No no, if you want _that_ sort of car, get a Ka...