w211 - the family car
Discussion
Great spec w211, I really liked my e320cdi however found it quite uninspiring to drive.
I've done the injector job, can I ask what you were doing with chemical metal? The fix is well documented: remove the injectors, clean up the seats with a wooden dowel, fit new copper washers (from memory I think Honda cdti ones were recommended back when I did the job but I might be mistaken) and Refit!
I've done the injector job, can I ask what you were doing with chemical metal? The fix is well documented: remove the injectors, clean up the seats with a wooden dowel, fit new copper washers (from memory I think Honda cdti ones were recommended back when I did the job but I might be mistaken) and Refit!
The Dictator said:
Wow, that's a brave purchase based on what you discovered. I would have run a bloody mile.
£160 is a small price to pay compared to the potential for massive issues connected to a car run on half a shoestring by a previous owner.
I wish you the best of luck ??
Came here to say this. ^^^^£160 is a small price to pay compared to the potential for massive issues connected to a car run on half a shoestring by a previous owner.
I wish you the best of luck ??
Good luck. I'll watch with interest.
Jonmx said:
I ran an E91 for a year or so recently, and fully agree about small estates. Bloody useless.
I disagree, I ran an e91 for a long time, to me it was an E90 with a more useable boot.....I didnt view it as 'An Estate Car', I knew it wasnt a load lugger, it was still way way more useful than an E90.Its just picking the right tool for the job, as the OP has done. Great car, will follow with interest. I feel i need a big estate with a big engine on air at some point soon
littlebasher said:
Cost aside, part of the fun is putting everything right
I mean, it is and it isn't.Not to kill the OP's buzz, but it sounds like he was pressured into paying too much for a car he didn't actually want. I'd have personally taken the hit on the train ticket, sucked up the inconvenience, and walked and found a better car, even if it meant waiting a little while.
But then I don't have the means or time to fix these kinds of problems. However, I just know I'd feel like I was constantly worrying about something else going wrong on a car that was so poorly maintained. This to me kills the enjoyment of a new car.
More power to you, OP. You're far braver than me.
C70R said:
littlebasher said:
Cost aside, part of the fun is putting everything right
I mean, it is and it isn't.Not to kill the OP's buzz, but it sounds like he was pressured into paying too much for a car he didn't actually want. I'd have personally taken the hit on the train ticket, sucked up the inconvenience, and walked and found a better car, even if it meant waiting a little while.
But then I don't have the means or time to fix these kinds of problems. However, I just know I'd feel like I was constantly worrying about something else going wrong on a car that was so poorly maintained. This to me kills the enjoyment of a new car.
More power to you, OP. You're far braver than me.
I've travelled all over the country via trains to view cars and have always been prepared to walk away and lose the cost of the ticket and my time... And I've done this more times than I have bought the car I went to see!
This is why now I ask for the full res images that the seller has taken, via email and if they're not prepared to send them on, or will only use WhatsApp and the likes, then I leave it and move onto the next...
I know everyones standards are different; but there's no way I'd have given that seller any more time after his bulls
t act...I walked away from my current E39 when I first went to see it; the weather was absolutely foul so that never helps, but the car was absolutely disgusting due to being sat around and not being used; so gave the seller the opportunity to clean it inside & out, so I could actually see what the car was like when clean/dry and presentable etc
lemonslap said:
The advert would of made me run a mile tbh, I saw similar even one claiming to be a museum piece before I brought my old E320cdi W211. I hope you didn’t pay more than £1500 for that?
Indeed. Quite a few red flags in there. Telling me about the "opportunity" to buy his car, describing it as "glorious", referring to it as "she". Basically sounds like someone trying to puff the value with fluffy words.I'd have scrolled straight past it.
ingenieur said:
lemonslap said:
Christ that’s some list! The advert would of made me run a mile tbh, I saw similar even one claiming to be a museum piece before I brought my old E320cdi W211. I hope you didn’t pay more than £1500 for that?
I valued it at around £2k with the faults and got it for close to that, happy enough. If your located in Kent, I still have my Mercedes diagnostics kit if I can help with some of your faults.
Edited by lemonslap on Tuesday 6th December 20:12
Surprised at how sanctimonious some posters are being on here. If you found the spec you want at a price you're happy with, and you're willing to do the work, then you're winning. Well specced S211s aren't getting any cheaper and unless the gearbox / airmatic blows up on you then you'll be fine once the work is done. These will go the same way W124s went IMO and were a return to form after Merc's QC experiment with the W210.
Plus it's not an E39 BMW so the lovely looking sills won't be hiding a rotten floorpan or jacking points!
Plus it's not an E39 BMW so the lovely looking sills won't be hiding a rotten floorpan or jacking points!
Gooly said:
Surprised at how sanctimonious some posters are being on here. If you found the spec you want at a price you're happy with, and you're willing to do the work, then you're winning. Well specced S211s aren't getting any cheaper and unless the gearbox / airmatic blows up on you then you'll be fine once the work is done. These will go the same way W124s went IMO and were a return to form after Merc's QC experiment with the W210.
Plus it's not an E39 BMW so the lovely looking sills won't be hiding a rotten floorpan or jacking points!
Not sanctimonious at all; the seller was clearly a bullsPlus it's not an E39 BMW so the lovely looking sills won't be hiding a rotten floorpan or jacking points!
t artist, that rings alarm bells straight away. No matter how good the car/spec may be, it's still a massive risk...And not every E39 is hiding rotten floorpans or rotten jacking points
C70R said:
He literally said he wasn't happy with the price... 
Can't have been that unhappy if he bought it and wrote a thread about it!d_a_n1979 said:
Not sanctimonious at all; the seller was clearly a bullst artist, that rings alarm bells straight away. No matter how good the car/spec may be, it's still a massive risk...
And not every E39 is hiding rotten floorpans or rotten jacking points
Of course, but then even the expensive Japanese imports need a ton of work doing if yours was anything to go by! Not to mention the fact that most JDM imports have FUBAR'd paint...t artist, that rings alarm bells straight away. No matter how good the car/spec may be, it's still a massive risk...And not every E39 is hiding rotten floorpans or rotten jacking points
Well specced 211s are very hard to find - most were bought on fleets with barely any options, and a poorly optioned one really is dire. You can fix injectors but can't add a sunroof! Unless you really are determined that is...
Gooly said:
C70R said:
He literally said he wasn't happy with the price...
Can't have been that unhappy if he bought it and wrote a thread about it!d_a_n1979 said:
Not sanctimonious at all; the seller was clearly a bullst artist, that rings alarm bells straight away. No matter how good the car/spec may be, it's still a massive risk...
And not every E39 is hiding rotten floorpans or rotten jacking points
Of course, but then even the expensive Japanese imports need a ton of work doing if yours was anything to go by! Not to mention the fact that most JDM imports have FUBAR'd paint...t artist, that rings alarm bells straight away. No matter how good the car/spec may be, it's still a massive risk...And not every E39 is hiding rotten floorpans or rotten jacking points
Well specced 211s are very hard to find - most were bought on fleets with barely any options, and a poorly optioned one really is dire. You can fix injectors but can't add a sunroof! Unless you really are determined that is...
And no; the work I did to my car is because I chose to do that; they don't all need that and not every owner is the same/works to the same levels of OCD...
And fubar paint; maybe on some, rarely the BMWs from what I've seen. I personally only had bodywork done because I wanted it doing; again, it's all down to personal standards...
You've really got your back up about all this haven't you?!
Edited by d_a_n1979 on Tuesday 6th December 20:36
d_a_n1979 said:
C70R said:
Gooly said:
Surprised at how sanctimonious some posters are being on here. If you found the spec you want at a price you're happy with
He literally said he wasn't happy with the price... 
The OP clearly has the time and talent to rectify the many issues, which might help this car make sense for them. I don't, which is why I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole.
But then, at £2k this is fairly low-stress, borderline disposable motoring. So crack on, I say.
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