im well into my merc's pal , got a CL500 and an S320 cdi so hit me up if you need any info pal

You are a gentleman Sir.

I definitely will be asking questions as it has an ‘EPC return to workshop fault’ which couldn’t be more vague if you ask me.

I’m thinking it’s down to a blocked DPF but I’ll have a good look around it first to look for anything obvious.

Cheers mate ______________________________
Simon
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Range Rover Classic 3.5 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 3.9 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE - Sadly gone
Land Rover 110 3.5 - Gone
Range Rover P38a 4.0 SE - Pleased it's gone
Range Rover P38a 2.5 DHSE - Just sold
Range Rover L322 4.4 v8 Petrol - Current

Until recently I had a 2005 CL500. I hated it. Awful car.

Hey Kurt,

Any particular reasons why? If you enlighten me I’ll give it a closer look.

Cheers ______________________________
Simon
______________________________

Range Rover Classic 3.5 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 3.9 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE - Sadly gone
Land Rover 110 3.5 - Gone
Range Rover P38a 4.0 SE - Pleased it's gone
Range Rover P38a 2.5 DHSE - Just sold
Range Rover L322 4.4 v8 Petrol - Current

The gearbox would hold a higher gear down a hill - nothing wrong with that, my RR does the same, but it has a manual override. The Mercedes would stick in the same wrong gear meaning you had to burn fuel to go down hill with the engine screaming away. This got very irritating in a mountainous country.

The nannying continued with the seat heat that kept turning down after a few minutes (I know other cars do this but I hate it).

The screen and infotainment system broke.

The fan to tell the temperature in the cabin was noisy and would've cost a small fortune to replace even though it was a tiny fan.

Any minor electrical issue with the battery meant a trip to the dealer to get the random warning messages cleared.

It was a low miler but needed the exhaust welded and new suspension bags. Several of the electrical things didn't work. The cam chains needed replacing and there was even a cam cover oil leak. My much older and far higher mileage TD6 was more reliable.

Overall, I just didn't enjoy driving it. Having so much looked forward to it, that was a major disappointment. I just think Mercedes doesn't make cars that you would enjoy driving - which is a bit stupid for a coupe.

When I was choosing it, I also thought about an XJR and I think I'd have been much happier with that.

I agree that Mercedes quality isn’t what it used to be unfortunately. My better half acts as my conscience and she has given me the pros and the cons of this purchase.

The car is long in the tooth regarding miles and is starting to show mile not age induced problems. So I think, even though it’s very cheap, it could be a money pit trying to bring it up to where it should be.

I’ll be giving it a pass I think.... ______________________________
Simon
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Range Rover Classic 3.5 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 3.9 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE - Sadly gone
Land Rover 110 3.5 - Gone
Range Rover P38a 4.0 SE - Pleased it's gone
Range Rover P38a 2.5 DHSE - Just sold
Range Rover L322 4.4 v8 Petrol - Current

I had a cls320 for 5 years and it was a nice car but the older Mercs do seem dated BUT for that money proberbly worth a gamble. 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998

KurtVerbose wrote:

Until recently I had a 2005 CL500. I hated it. Awful car.

UK Marine wrote:

You are a gentleman Sir.

I definitely will be asking questions as it has an ‘EPC return to workshop fault’ which couldn’t be more vague if you ask me.

I’m thinking it’s down to a blocked DPF but I’ll have a good look around it first to look for anything obvious.

Cheers mate

I had Mercs for many years. I had a business for many years with Mercedes vans (buying, selling, repairing, breaking, spares, etc). I owned old 70s stack headlight stuff in the 80s as a teenager, and everything through 123s, 124s, 210, 202 (every A/C/E Class), 126/140 series S Class and even eventually one of that shape S Class. I was a Merc man through and through. If you'd have broke me like a stick of rock it'd have said 'Mercedes' through the middle.

Then, one day in 03/04 I shelled out £26k or so to buy a new shape (as was then) S Class of the shape you are looking at. It was my last Mercedes ever. I wrote the story >>here<< way back when.

At £650 of course it's a no brainer. At worst you'll break it and make profit selling the door switches and a few modules on eBay. Or you'll punt it along to Dronsfields for profit.

Exactly like an RR, you need specialist indies that know what they are doing with Mercs and the dealers are useless. Finding a good indie is half the battle as with RR. Joe Soap garage down the back street will have the dash lit up like a Christmas tree in no time. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

One thing I missed off my list of gripes was the throttle. It was a normally aspirated engine so you'd expect a linear throttle respone. But it wasn't just lag, there was also some bizzare random factor inserted between the throttle and the engine, so getting off line schnell was some pogoing affair.

Thank you very much Stuart and Kurt, my mind has been made up for me if not my heart, but we all all know what you should use when buying a car.

Stuart that was a fascinating read and one that made my eyes water towards the end. I’ve looked on the merc forums and although I realise they are frequented by people with problems with their cars, the problems are all the same ones so it’s a no from me - sadly.

Bembo yours is obviously one of good Mercedes ownership experience and one of very many I’m sure, but if on buying this one I was to find a severe problem that was to extend the repair value far beyond the cars market value, I wouldn’t want a car that I was breaking up for spares on the driveway just to make my money back.

Sad.. ______________________________
Simon
______________________________

Range Rover Classic 3.5 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 3.9 efi - Gone
Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE - Sadly gone
Land Rover 110 3.5 - Gone
Range Rover P38a 4.0 SE - Pleased it's gone
Range Rover P38a 2.5 DHSE - Just sold
Range Rover L322 4.4 v8 Petrol - Current