Unsure Buyer

Before being converted to Volvo I had a succesion of Mercs gradually getting better as I could afford it.
The thing that got me onto Volvo was that I had to give up work for a couple of years and hand my company car back (my wife was driving a Merc E260 at the time) I decided on a budget of £1000 to get me a run about and tried to find a decent car. I managed to get a Volvo 940 2.0SE with full leather etc for the princely sum of £950 I didnt expect to like it too much but I was amazed to find that it was better built,more comfortable and a heck of a lot more reliable than the E class (that was valued at around £8000 at the time!)

We sold the Merc and bought a 960 3.0 24V and the difference between that and the E Class was staggering!

Im good friends with the owner of a local independant Mercedes specialist and he reckons the reason that a well looked after Merc will run on and on is because at every service the dealer changes everything that could possibly go wrong!

When my T5R was in having its pads done I borrowed a 200Kompressor and was horrified to find that it only averaged 17mpg around town!

I understand that depreciation is a major issue when buying a car but what about offsetting that with upkeep costs (I bet the books would almost balance up between a Diesel Volvo and a petrol Merc!)

I have tested 2 automatic C class Mercs from different local dealers, C230K Elegance Auto and a 180 classic. Have to admit that one of them was not really bothered if I tested or not.
The 180 is really slow with an auto box, and surprisingly considering Mercs are supposed to be up there with the best I was not impressed with the finish.
The 230 is where you need to be, it was far easier car to drive and the finish was obviously better. However I feel that Mercs must be trading on their reputation because I still did not feel that the finish, specially the plastics, were that good. On both cars the steering was not the best I have come across
I know that I am not comparing like for like but the S80 SE is a more comfortable to drive and when you look at what you get in the SE package I think it is better than a Mercedes.
It is just a shame about the horrendous residuals. To overcome this I have applied a bit of psychology. It will cost an extra £4000 to own over 3 years. Or £3.60 a day so all I need to do is convince the wife to stop smoking and that will pay for it.

I have tested 2 automatic C class Mercs from different local dealers, C230K Elegance Auto and a 180 classic. Have to admit that one of them was not really bothered if I tested or not.
The 180 is really slow with an auto box, and surprisingly considering Mercs are supposed to be up there with the best I was not impressed with the finish.
The 230 is where you need to be, it was far easier car to drive and the finish was obviously better. However I feel that Mercs must be trading on their reputation because I still did not feel that the finish, specially the plastics, were that good. On both cars the steering was not the best I have come across
I know that I am not comparing like for like but the S80 SE is a more comfortable to drive and when you look at what you get in the SE package I think it is better than a Mercedes.
It is just a shame about the horrendous residuals. To overcome this I have applied a bit of psychology. It will cost an extra £4000 to own over 3 years. Or £3.60 a day so all I need to do is convince the wife to stop smoking and that will pay for it.