Something to get my mind of dogs....
I need to get a replacement for my company car and have been looking for a replacement and even funding myself out of the scheme as the car allowance in cash terms is quite generous whilst the lease company's choices are quite limited.
I have previously been looking at soft roaders (Kugas, Qashqais etc.) but these are quite expensive.
Something has come from left field over the weekend.
The local Mercedes glass palace has a new, unregistered 2.1l turbo diesel automatic for £24k from £33k.
I drive 25,000 miles a year. Have a Mrs, two kids (both 18+ and at uni / college). The Mrs has a super mini.
I know it is not practical and will stink of mid life crises. So should I or should I stick with something more sensible....?
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Would you be equally enthused if you could find a similar discount on a Mercedes E-class estate? A new one has just come out so there could be some old-model stock to be shifted.
Or if it's the SLC element, not just Mercedes, that appeals, you'll have to persuade SWMBO to change the supermini for something like a Renault Captur- not too big but lots of room for people and luggage.
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Do you actually want dissuading? Get what *you* want... But...
FWIW I wouldn't, though not on practical grounds (how often are there really more than two of you in the car, and even if there is how far do you actually go...) but on the grounds that that the SLC is not really a particularly suitable car for high mileage as its just not refined enough. Though to be fair I'm basing that on the pre facelift SLK. So it's not the kind of car I'd want to do frequent long journeys in. And I'm saying that as someone who did briefly have an SLK back in '06 but changed it for an A4 convertible which we kept for 5+ years. They were both petrol... Someone (WdB I think) has commented on the lack of refinement that diesel engine has when installed in the previous generation C class, though my experience in the E class was good. I can't imagine a diesel SLC is more refined than a C class, and so if I found a petrol SLK unrefined I think the diesel might be more wearing...
Big discounts on BMWs though; 20%ish seems to be the norm from coast2coast cars and 520d SE touring auto is £28.5k...
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We have a 3-year old SLK diesel at work (old SLK = new SLC) that is about go back under it's lease. It's not a bad car, has been reliable, but the engine is rough and unrefined and really does not suit the car. The steering wheel, dashboard, in fact pretty much everything shakes in it, in a way that just didn't happen in the Mk2 SLK 180K that I drove across Germany 9 years ago. Even with the weeniest engine, that SLK was good fun on the de restricted autobahn!
If I were to buy a car like an SLK it would have to be petrol.
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Mercedes Benz - Mercedes SLC - Avant
