LUXOBARGE (sub5k) of the week/day

Marcusm · 24-09-2013 08:07PM

Scortho wrote: »

Photo....:D

They were in the post I quoted from a few days ago but lost in quotation.

Cleveland Hot Pocket · 24-09-2013 08:12PM

Sobanek wrote: »

645Ci ain't exactly cheap to service Suspension bills on the merc, iDrive bills on the 645

My idrive fault cost €50 to fix

lomb · 25-09-2013 12:54PM

JP 1800 wrote: »

I hope you did your homework, they are cheap due to horrendous suspension repair bills and servicing costs, trust me I used to own one.

They are cheap as they are old and no one wants a gaz guzzler. Cl was a great looking car in its day (it still is to us car nuts)
Air suspension is a disaster as they wont last and a budget set for conversion to conventional springs. Still a very cheap car. Check the gearbox shifts properly, one I drove didnt kick down immediately. The lazy v8s are very unstressed so should last a million miles if need be.

PrettyBoy · 25-09-2013 05:22PM

lomb wrote: »

They are cheap as they are old and no one wants a gaz guzzler. Cl was a great looking car in its day (it still is to us car nuts)
Air suspension is a disaster as they wont last and a budget set for conversion to conventional springs. Still a very cheap car. Check the gearbox shifts properly, one I drove didnt kick down immediately. The lazy v8s are very unstressed so should last a million miles if need be.

A friend of mine that's working in the UK bought one about 6 months ago and, while he loves it, he says the bills are killing him. Serious servicing bills and he told me over the weekend a headlight bulb cost him £100+ excluding fitting..

£150 to tax for the year though :cool:

ofcork · 25-09-2013 05:49PM

Didnt clarkson and the lads buy three luxobarges and his was a cl and was the first to throw up an issue with a coil iirc.

rovoagho · 25-09-2013 06:35PM

If you're paying someone to service your barge, never mind changing a bulb, you're doing it wrong.

Scortho · 25-09-2013 06:55PM

ofcork wrote: »

Didnt clarkson and the lads buy three luxobarges and his was a cl and was the first to throw up an issue with a coil iirc.

Yep a cl600. Hammond bought an 840 I think.
Still though I'd rather a cl600 with a bit of trouble than the cheap Nissan.
Thing with a luxobarge is they're going to be costly to run and maintain, you just don't suffer the depreciation.
Also parts should be cheaper as inevitably some will end up in the scrappy.

Big Nasty · 25-09-2013 07:14PM

Scortho wrote: »

Yep a cl600. Hammond bought an 840 I think.
Still though I'd rather a cl600 with a bit of trouble than the cheap Nissan.
Thing with a luxobarge is they're going to be costly to run and maintain, you just don't suffer the depreciation.
Also parts should be cheaper as inevitably some will end up in the scrappy.

I wouldn't be following Top Gear's advice either way. It's an entertainment show, not factual. IMO Luxobrages aren't really expensive to maintain unless you've a serious suspension issue. Expensive to run? For sure, but that's offset by the driving pleasure and the fact that when you factor in cost and depreciation of a newer more economical boringmobile you're probably financially better off if you don't do big mileage.

Also - SPG!

lomb · 25-09-2013 07:24PM

CL600 luxobarge ala Top Gear http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn-b0HwfX8s

PrettyBoy · 25-09-2013 07:39PM

rovoagho wrote: »

If you're paying someone to service your barge, never mind changing a bulb, you're doing it wrong.

Was making more of a point about the price of parts

ofcork · 25-09-2013 07:56PM

Thats the thing isnt it you have to allow for pretty big bills not your usual run of the mill things.

Big Nasty · 25-09-2013 08:04PM

PrettyBoy wrote: »

Was making more of a point about the price of parts

ofcork wrote: »

Thats the thing isnt it you have to allow for pretty big bills not your usual run of the mill things.

No, you have to allow for pretty big fuel and tax bills, the rest ain't much above 'normal'.

unkel · 25-09-2013 08:42PM

MCMLXXV wrote: »

No, you have to allow for pretty big fuel and tax bills, the rest ain't much above 'normal'.

+1

Unless something catastrofic (like engine or autobox going bang) happens. Then your luxobarge is just a write-off

(The chances of this happening if you carefully select your car are slim to none. Don't worry about it)

Scortho · 25-09-2013 11:13PM

MCMLXXV wrote: »

I wouldn't be following Top Gear's advice either way. It's an entertainment show, not factual. IMO Luxobrages aren't really expensive to maintain unless you've a serious suspension issue. Expensive to run? For sure, but that's offset by the driving pleasure and the fact that when you factor in cost and depreciation of a newer more economical boringmobile you're probably financially better off if you don't do big mileage.

Also - SPG!

Take advice of top gear?
God no.
However between both of us, luxobarges are going to more expensive to maintain than your run of the mill paddy spec corolla.

Voodoomelon · 26-09-2013 12:31AM

Scortho wrote: »

However between both of us, luxobarges are going to more expensive to maintain than your run of the mill paddy spec corolla.

I think the point is that most people in this thread would be at least able to do an oil change, if not delve into some suspension/brake/cooling work.

As mentioned previously, you'd be pretty mental to buy one of these cars and start taking it to a dealer every time it needs something.

If you have the ability to do some work yourself and source parts yourself, it really doesn't work out much more expensive, if at all, than a paddy spec Corolla.

9 litres of 0W40 and a filter for a CL600 would work out the same as bringing a Corolla in for a "service" in which they just add an air filter and check your fluids in addition to oil.
Sure, parts are more expensive, but if you can stick them in yourself, the labour is the big saving.

rovoagho · 26-09-2013 12:39AM

+1 to the comments of the lads above on costs. I have a (completely unfounded) theory that BMW keeps the cost of most parts for older cars down, to: a) keep their cars on the road longer, and thus show how well built they are; and b) keep stuff rolling out of the warehouses.

There are exceptions, and some things can be eye-watering, but I think the prices only start going up when the stocks on particular items start running down. Which is understandable, supply and demand always wins. There's always used parts though. However I've had 3 older beamers and I've only needed to go used a few times. Even when the suspension needed to be done on my first car, an E34, it cost less than a grand to do. It'd cost the same on a Mundane.

I'm finding the same with my current car, an old Volvo. Only the really rare and complicated stuff is expensive, the simple stuff - even trim pieces you'd think wouldn't be available for a 17 year old car - are relatively cheap. I'm dreading the Nivomats though, and horrified at the thought of something whizz-bangy going wrong on my E61 M5.

Not that I have an E61 M5. I'm on a promise to hold off on my next purchase until the Volvo is 20. And, you know, I have money.

cabb8ge · 26-09-2013 08:14AM

someone here buy 735i recent times and show pics of work he did, car need lot of work, only for him doing work himself it cost big € amount.

unkel · 26-09-2013 08:34AM

Or not necessarily do it yourself, but have a solid independent specialist at hand. You're talking labour rates well under half that of a main dealer for better and more experienced mechanics

rovoagho wrote: »

Even when the suspension needed to be done on my first car, an E34, it cost less than a grand to do. It'd cost the same on a Mundane.

Indeed. The BMW indy that did a full suspension overhaul (at 140k miles) of my E38 7-series charged me about a grand, including all parts, labour and VAT

And let's be realistic, most car owners never have to do a full suspension overhaul of their car. And in this buyers market, you could just buy a car that will not need major suspension work (either low mileage or with the work already done)

This "it's a €130k car so it will need maintenance based on €130k" is bullsh1t tbh (I've owned 4 large old BMWs with 6 and 8 cylinder engines, on average about 10 years old and above job is the only one I ever had that was substantially more than a few hundred euro)

Scortho · 26-09-2013 08:54AM

At the same time though you can't go into it thinking it won't need any work.
Most cars that are 10 years old etc are going to need work and chances are parts for a cl600 or a 7 series is going to me more expensive than parts for a similar aged polo.

You don't buy one though without doing the sums.

Only alfas seem to need suspension work! :mad:

unkel · 26-09-2013 09:02AM

Scortho wrote: »

Most cars that are 10 years old etc are going to need work

Apart from suspension, what other work?

bear1 · 26-09-2013 09:40AM

Back on topic

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/saab-9000-cse-2-3-turbo/5360188

terrible photos though and would need a clean

rovoagho · 26-09-2013 10:08AM

I love CSEs, nearly bought a scarab green V6 as my first car. Fab things.

Scortho wrote: »

Most cars that are 10 years old etc are going to need work and chances are parts for a cl600 or a 7 series is going to me more expensive than parts for a similar aged polo.

Of course they are, - albeit by less than most people would imagine - and that's the trade-off for not having to drive a poxy Polo, even if it is 5+ years younger. Only a moron goes into buying a barge without having either: a) a budget to deal with problems if they do crop up; or b) the mentality to accept that it could go bang and that'll be it. It's a gamble, but buying used is nearly always a gamble. Again, I'd prefer to gamble on something nice over something new.

Plus of course you go into the deal prepared. You do your motorcheck, you visit the car and look it over carefully, you evaluate your seller, you look for history and you evaluate that, you get it checked over, you visit it again with cash in hand and you're ready to walk away even at that stage, because there's other cars out there.

TireeTerror · 26-09-2013 05:14PM

bear1 wrote: »

Back on topic

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/saab-9000-cse-2-3-turbo/5360188

terrible photos though and would need a clean

Hahaha look at the state of that thing, its quite far off my vision of a luxobarge. Although I do admire your attempt to get the topic back on track!

Scortho · 26-09-2013 05:19PM

unkel wrote: »

Apart from suspension, what other work?

Electrical problems, switches stop work, air con compressor may need to be replaced, anything made if rubber will have most likely perished.

I'm a huge fan of luxobarges by the way but they are going to be more expensive than the average 10 year old pile of **** that's called a car to maintain.
I'd happily have one though.

unkel · 26-09-2013 05:21PM

Scortho wrote: »

Electrical problems, switches stop work

Stop buying Mediterranean luxobarges

As for rubber, nah, lasts a hell of a lot longer than 10 years...

Another thing - most luxobarges have timing chains where most inferior cars have belts that cost a lot to change...

delthedriver · 26-09-2013 05:43PM

TireeTerror wrote: »

Hahaha look at the state of that thing, its quite far off my vision of a luxobarge. Although I do admire your attempt to get the topic back on track!

Full marks to seller for his optimistic price:D

Scortho · 26-09-2013 05:54PM

unkel wrote: »

Stop buying Mediterranean luxobarges

As for rubber, nah, lasts a hell of a lot longer than 10 years...

Another thing - most luxobarges have timing chains where most inferior cars have belts that cost a lot to change...

There's a secret to that....a second v6 for parts.

jimgoose · 26-09-2013 06:39PM

unkel wrote: »

...most luxobarges have timing chains where most inferior cars have belts that cost a lot to change...

Aye. Or, get an old three-litre Granada Ghia with a hulking great non-interference Essex V6 with the journal bearings sorted. Then let the chain/belt/shoelace/whatever break away ta furk! :cool:

jimgoose · 26-09-2013 06:41PM

Scortho wrote: »

Electrical problems, switches stop work, air con compressor may need to be replaced, anything made if rubber will have most likely perished.

I'm a huge fan of luxobarges by the way but they are going to be more expensive than the average 10 year old pile of **** that's called a car to maintain.
I'd happily have one though.

Terrible dose, electrics - I had to replace a £10 indicator repeater on the General there yesterday to get through the NCT!

jimgoose · 26-09-2013 06:52PM

Here's a couple of lumps of Japanese main battle-tank for the money:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/lexus-ls-430-pristine-full-lexus-service/5664298

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2002-lexus-430-ls-for-sale/5634295

LUXOBARGE (sub5k) of the week/day

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