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rev_henry

Very tempted by another S type I've seen on ebay. Sounds well looked after and has been for sale for a while. AND I've reduced the insurance significantly by adding my father to something half reasonable. Hmmm...

What about an Omega V6? Any good?

bigjl

spacey2012 wrote: »

The thing with the Merc 320 Diesel is it is boring, it starts every morning, it never brakes down, on full throttle it eats most performance petrol cars for breakfast, but it is so quiet and so smooth and predictable you miss the excitement of trips to the garage and driving courtesy cars.
It can be re-mapped for around £100 in to a six second 0-60 165 mph monster as MET police did for motorway cars and it will still average 40 mpg, on the motorway point to point at 75MPH it will do 55-58 MPG.

It can have its fun, when some chump in his BMW or Audi pulls up along side the old mans Merc and then wonders where it vanished to....Gone is the answer.

Met Police never had E Class Mercedes.

First diesel traffic car was the 5 series diesel estate. Which replaced the Omega estate, from memory they were MV6s.

The only Police Force that had E Class Mercs was Hampshire as far as i am aware.

bigjl

Why not go a bit leftfield.

Citreon C6, has the same engine as S Type diesel, XJ, Range Rover etc.

Or a big Renault.

Avantime perhaps!

Can't remember the name of the other one with 5 doors that was equally striking to look at.

I had a Renault 25 TX as a big cruiser back in 91. Might even be a classic now!

Or perhaps a Rover Sterling, preferably the coupe. Or a Rover 820 Vitesse with the 2.p turbo lump, later ones had lsd and 200bhp. Early one 180bhp and no lsd.

Only go for half leather in the Vitesse as that meant Recaro front seats.

rev_henry

bigjl wrote: »

Why not go a bit leftfield.

Citreon C6, has the same engine as S Type diesel, XJ, Range Rover etc.

Or a big Renault.

Avantime perhaps!

Can't remember the name of the other one with 5 doors that was equally striking to look at.

I had a Renault 25 TX as a big cruiser back in 91. Might even be a classic now!

Or perhaps a Rover Sterling, preferably the coupe. Or a Rover 820 Vitesse with the 2.p turbo lump, later ones had lsd and 200bhp. Early one 180bhp and no lsd.

Only go for half leather in the Vitesse as that meant Recaro front seats.

A renault or citroen of that kind at my budget will have electrics made out of melted cheese...

You mean the Vel Satis? Yeah wouldn't mind either of them actually.

Those rovers are very pretty...

The aforementioned S type is kinda off the cards now as its a REALLY basic one. Doesn't even have steering wheel stereo controls...

CrazyRed

rev_henry wrote: »

What about an Omega V6? Any good?

I'd heard they were prone to pinging cambelts and wrecking the lump, especially when used as the Police did. Wasn't one of Vauxhall's finest engines, that one, and it liked it's drop of go-go juice, too.

How about a nice C-Class? My old C250TD isn't going to set the road on fire, but the ride is definitely superior to either of my previous E34 Touring 5-series. OK, it's not as 'dynamic' to drive, but it wafts along quite nicely, yet is capable of being 'driven with vigour' and giving a good account of itself if required to do so.

A 230 Kompressor would be a nice gentle daily driver and decent enough performance to bring a smile to the face when the toe gets planted, plus a lot of the older C-Classes are dropping into serious banger money...

OK, rust is their biggest bugbear (W202/203 - S202/203 for an estate) but as long as you find a good one, there should be plenty of life left in it yet, and running costs aren't extortionate, I've found. Mine's come in at 32p a mile (including insurance,tax, fuel and servicing) over the last 25,000 miles.

rev_henry

Well, been to see second S type and...well...it was wasn't great. Missing a year's MOT and no service history for the past couple of years. The MOT thing was really weird - on the new style certificates it shows the last few and the mileages, and one year was just missing. Surely it hasn't been running round without an MOT for a year? Or has it been clocked and obfuscated? The guys mate was there who I didn't appreciate - 'close personal friend of mine, very close friend, Doctor you know. He WILL have had the servicing done.'

Also saw the first one again, which I like very much. Full service history etc etc, clean oil. He's had it sitting there for a while too so I could get a good deal although he maintains 'he could sell it tomorrow'...right. Only thing is its a very early one - 1999. Other than that looks fine. Drove nicely too.

Also the insurance companies are plucking much more pleasant numbers out of thin air today. For no apparent reason whatsoever...

colino

A 99 S Type? Make sure the header tank has been changed, the coolant pipes and thermostat housing have been done, make sure the radiator fans work and check under the plastic covers that there is still some metal on the sills.
Not sure I'd bother as there are an awful lot of newer, sub-£1500 ones in great condition around.

rev_henry

colino wrote: »

A 99 S Type? Make sure the header tank has been changed, the coolant pipes and thermostat housing have been done, make sure the radiator fans work and check under the plastic covers that there is still some metal on the sills.
Not sure I'd bother as there are an awful lot of newer, sub-£1500 ones in great condition around.

Header tank has been done, I saw that in the history. Will check the other bits though.

Hmm, I am aiming towards £1000 though...

gilbert_and_sullivan

Coming up on the outside fence is Subaru's venerable Outback, especially the H6 3 litre with chain cam.
Model from 99 to 03 is going very cheap now, and a better car than you might expect, very fast with proper 4WD, not as bad on fuel as you might think.
Newer model Legacy 3.0R saloons go cheaper than estates if you prefer 03 onwards model.
4 pot engines have belt driven cams and can develop CHG issues, but still worth a look if you prefer manual.

topdaddy_2

rev_henry wrote: »

Well, my car has just been sold, rather surprisingly! So I could do with something soon! Insurance is still proving a bit of a problem though. :S

Who are you trying? Tried specalists?