Just now, TomsFocus said:

Youre meant to be talking me out of this btw, not into it!

 

I'm sorry Tom, it's the job of all good forum contributors to act as an enabler - she's a beaut! LOL

I am bit of a fan of Merc's, we've had quite a few in the family and nothing else gives me a sense of luxury and refinement like they do. The only family car I've liked more than our W212 E250 CDI wagon is the current RS Focus.

So I've had a C class, a 2008 C220CDI Elegance, W204, with 5g gearbox, and yes, it was lovely to drive, rwd, sweeping long bonnet, felt solid and secure, handled really well.  Bought at 8 years old with only 56k on, had it for 3 years.  And yes, it felt good driving a Merc.

BUT, things went wrong on it just like they would on any other old car.  Classic was 500 ***** quid for an electronic steering lock.

I had to have front shocks, droplinks, springs and the bsteering rack all replaced, under an aftermarket warranty fortunately.  I had to replace brake lines, temp sensor, battery, not under warranty.

When I traded it in, it had a weeping autobox - 2 grand fix.  Perished bushes on the rear stabiliser bar.  Can't press these off, of course, so new bar from Merc, 1k.  And an intermittent ABS error pointing to the pump being on the way out.  2-3k.

Would I have another old Merc again?  Not sure.

 

14 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Youre meant to be talking me out of this btw, not into it!

It is a nice looking car mind Tom 😋

16 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

So I've had a C class, a 2008 C220CDI Elegance, W204, with 5g gearbox, and yes, it was lovely to drive, rwd, sweeping long bonnet, felt solid and secure, handled really well.  Bought at 8 years old with only 56k on, had it for 3 years.  And yes, it felt good driving a Merc.

BUT, things went wrong on it just like they would on any other old car.  Classic was 500 ***** quid for an electronic steering lock.

I had to have front shocks, droplinks, springs and the bsteering rack all replaced, under an aftermarket warranty fortunately.  I had to replace brake lines, temp sensor, battery, not under warranty.

When I traded it in, it had a weeping autobox - 2 grand fix.  Perished bushes on the rear stabiliser bar.  Can't press these off, of course, so new bar from Merc, 1k.  And an intermittent ABS error pointing to the pump being on the way out.  2-3k.

Would I have another old Merc again?  Not sure.

 

Thanks Guy, that's exactly the kind of negative experience I needed to put me off!  

20 hours ago, StephenFord said:

You gotta admit, for £5 grand, there is NO Ford that will give you that much presence on the road!

A bright orange Focus ST from about 2009 might...

But just because its orange. 

2 minutes ago, The Finance Guy said:

A bright orange Focus ST from about 2009 might...

But just because its orange. 

And also 5 cylinders 

And also because they all have stupid exhausts on them now!  

I still want a Mk2.5 ST...but the harsh ride and lack of cruise control makes it impossible, even before costs come into it.    There was a fully loaded one up for sale locally a couple of weeks ago that caught my eye...but the asking price now was the same as my diesel Titanium X was back in 2014! 😮 

I'm sorry folks, but in the words of that famous 21st century motoring philosopher, Jeremy Clarkson, you are comparing a classic leather brogue with a plastic trainer LOL

 

 

21 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I'm sorry folks, but in the words of that famous 21st century motoring philosopher, Jeremy Clarkson, you are comparing a classic leather brogue with a plastic trainer LOL

 

 

I would take the plastic trainer any day! Its amazing. Far better than a Merc for me. 

And Tom's comments about no cruise control and a harsh ride? I don't care, I still have my diesel Titanium X as a sensible car and a Ranger Wildtrak too...its not supposed to be a cruiser, its just good old-fashioned tracksuited yobbish fun!

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

And also because they all have stupid exhausts on them now!  

I still want a Mk2.5 ST...but the harsh ride and lack of cruise control makes it impossible, even before costs come into it.    There was a fully loaded one up for sale locally a couple of weeks ago that caught my eye...but the asking price now was the same as my diesel Titanium X was back in 2014! 😮 

I love the mk2.5 and the mk3. The 2s and 2.5s up here are all about £6k-£7k last I checked, but they've all got about 120k miles on them. And you just know that every one of those miles will have been hard work...

I've looked into changing the branding of my company to orange so that I can easier justify buying an ST as a "promotional item". Might even be able to bring the pickup into the business as well then. 

2 minutes ago, The Finance Guy said:

I would take the plastic trainer any day! Its amazing. Far better than a Merc for me. 

 

You see, when I was a teenager, I'd be right with you! But, I'm an old ***** now, and a great believer in classic leather brogues LOL

Just now, StephenFord said:

You see, when I was a teenager, I'd be right with you! But, I'm an old ***** now, and a great believer in classic leather brogues LOL

I'm quite the opposite. First car was a 2l diesel mondeo! Now I'm older (33) and I have motorbikes and I want yobbish cars. Funny how things work out. 

4 minutes ago, The Finance Guy said:

I would take the plastic trainer any day! Its amazing. Far better than a Merc for me. 

And Tom's comments about no cruise control and a harsh ride? I don't care, I still have my diesel Titanium X as a sensible car and a Ranger Wildtrak too...its not supposed to be a cruiser, its just good old-fashioned tracksuited yobbish fun!

If you can afford loads of cars it's fine...I'm looking for a daily and a fun car all in one though! 

Sadly the smooth ride is a necessity due to my dodgy innards, I'd love a slammed, cambered stance car for shows if it wasn't for that!

 

3 minutes ago, The Finance Guy said:

I'm quite the opposite. First car was a 2l diesel mondeo! Now I'm older (33) and I have motorbikes and I want yobbish cars. Funny how things work out. 

With respect, yes 33 may be 'older', but just wait til you're in your latter 50s and see how things change LOL Of course, by that time with you, any 'fun' car will be illegal as you wisp by in the latest Prius!

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

If you can afford loads of cars it's fine...I'm looking for a daily and a fun car all in one though! 

Sadly the smooth ride is a necessity due to my dodgy innards, I'd love a slammed, cambered stance car for shows if it wasn't for that!

 

I can't afford them unfortunately. Otherwise I would have an RS by now as well...

The problem is, once I started buying motorbikes, I quickly discovered that one size doesn't fit all...if you want to cover all bases, you need a supermoto for commuting, an adventure bike for touring, a sports bike for fun, a superbike for racing, and an Aprilia so you've always got something to do in the garage...

This thinking has now transferred to my cars, and so I have a pickup for when I've got the dog with me, and the Focus for going long distances, motorways etc. I also have ended up again through the bikes having a love of modifying stuff, so I need a petrol motor, such as an ST to tinker with. 

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

by that time with you, any 'fun' car will be illegal as you wisp by in the latest Prius!

Let hope I'm not around by the time that happens. Or at least leave me my motorbikes!

11 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

but just wait til you're in your latter 50s and see how things change 

Lol, I can add another 10 years to that and I'd still rather have an ST!

This thread is making me sad now for our old ST, sadly only had for 6 months before we sold it for the aformentioned Merc wagon. A 60 reg car in Electric White, has been written off now sadly. I'm going to look at picking up a late 07/57 reg ST in the summer, when I start my job as I'll still be living at home and might as well before we're all forced into boring electricky boxes.