Mid life crisis car

Thespoofer

Ok, at that age now where I would like to buy a large second hand luxury car purely for selfish,mid life crisis, bucket list reasons.
I see on the car sites there are some really beautiful 730d BMW, A7/A8 Audis, Avantgarde Mercedes etc in the early -mid 2000 years at what seems a doable price.

Outside of the cost of road tax which I understand, in terms of reliability, maintenance costs, fuel economy , style/looks and so on which one would ye go for and why or is there other models ye could recommend ( up to the 12k asking price range ).

I once saw BMW for sale a few months ago online, new it cost upwards to 149k and possibly more. It was around the mid 2000's and asking around 10k.
The car was absolutely stunning ( on the pictures anyway ) and it's this reason it got me thinking about this.

Thanks

lomb

All great cars if you have the will and budget to sort them as they go wrong. And an awful lot of electrics and weight on the suspension for things to wear out coupled with high labour rates, specialist dealer knowledge in many cases and expensive parts with few aftermarket options. Also not great mpg, high tax all reasons that they are cheap.
What about something like an SLK or TT for fun while still having another car? An SLK 55 would be nice if it wasn't for the tax.

Heroditas

Not so sure about the high labour rates and high costs for spare parts to be honest.
Spare parts for the likes of BMW drop as the tears go by and there are perfectly adequate generic parts that can be used instead of the "official" ones. Any indy mechanic worth their salt will be able to repairs those cars and for BMW, there's plenty of BMW Indy specialists who don't charge the earth to fix the cars.
Tyres will be the biggest expense.

Thespoofer

Thanks. So compared to a ' standard ' 10 year old plus car what are the comparisons in labour, parts etc ?
Is it simply a case of bigger car , bigger repair costs ?

Heroditas

Thespoofer wrote: »

Thanks. So compared to a ' standard ' 10 year old plus car what are the comparisons in labour, parts etc ?
Is it simply a case of bigger car , bigger repair costs ?

No not necessarily. The biggest expense will be the mechanic and how much he charges per hour. That can range from €50 to €100 depending where you go. I go to a guy in Celbridge who really knows his stuff and can work on the vast majority of cars (his main speciality is older cars) and he charges much less than the main dealerships.
Just depends on where you go!

Heroditas

Have a look at the Luxobarge thread in the Motoring Forum. The guys there will be able to give you plenty of advice.

Crasp

http://boards.ie/thread/2056966169/1

Oafley Jones

If you're really concerned about reliability I'd be looking at a Lexus LS. As much as I like some of them, I'd be incredibly wary of anything MB produced prior to 2007. That 7 series doesn't have the greatest reputation either.

Heroditas

Lexus 450 GSH - lotta car for quite a relatively low cost!

Oafley Jones

Heroditas wrote: »

Lexus 450 GSH - lotta car for quite a relatively low cost!

There was a glut of them hanging around for ages at really great prices a year or two back, and then they all just disappeared in a very short time frame. I'm not sure were they exported, or did people suddenly figure out how powerful they were.

bazz26

These cars can be reliable especially the traditional large petrol ones once they have a good history however if something does go wrong then it does tend to cost big bucks to sort out. Remember just because you are buying one of these for the price of an average family hatchback now, your still repairing a car that cost upwards of €50k or €60k when new.

The two potential problems I see with buying these sort of cars is:
1. Previous owner(s) may have been hit by the recession so skimped on maintenance meaning any new owner could potentially get stuck with some large hefty bills around the corner.
2. Some of the stuff in these cars is quite complicated, finding a good indy who knows these cars could be difficult leaving you no other choice but to go main dealer and they will fleece you on labour and parts charges.

So not saying to avoid them but just go with your eyes wide open and don't expect to run one on a shoe string budget.

The GS450H is a good option, still a few pre 2008 for well under €10k.

mickdw

Worth forking out for the 08 version of the gs450h.
Tax changes from 1809 to 710 I think.

Very very powerful but no real feel to it.

landmarkjohn

If you are prepared to go back as far as 2002 this should give you the experience you are looking for especially if the mileage is genuine and it has been serviced a couple of times:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/b-m-w-735i-leather-n-c-t-2015/8222542

If your mileage is reasonable and outside of road tax it won't break the bank, they are a good car, the BMW Indy's know them well and spares are easy to get. I have a keen interest in this model and there shouldn't be any nasty surprises at this mileage. No connection.

stephenmarr

@Thespoofer
You got Pm