Thinking of buying one of these as a 2nd car

Jonttt

Zorg Addict
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Points
60
Location
Liverpool (UK)
Model of Z
///M S54
I had two of these (well my ex did ;-) an early 200 when they first came out and them a 6 month old AMG.

They are very different cars to the Z3 and IMHO just not as fun to drive. The hardroof is good but bizzarly I actually prefer a cloth roof in my roadsters (but then again its not my daily driver).

In my experience they are a lot more expensive to maintain / parts than the Z3 as well (the 200 needed a lot of warranty work over 2 years and some of the bills would have been horrendous jsut for sensors etc......)
 

gookah

Zorg Guru (IV)
Supporter
British Zeds
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Points
170
Location
Shropshire
Model of Z
2.8 Z3
Jonttt said:
I had two of these (well my ex did ;-) an early 200 when they first came out and them a 6 month old AMG.

They are very different cars to the Z3 and IMHO just not as fun to drive. The hardroof is good but bizzarly I actually prefer a cloth roof in my roadsters (but then again its not my daily driver).

In my experience they are a lot more expensive to maintain / parts than the Z3 as well (the 200 needed a lot of warranty work over 2 years and some of the bills would have been horrendous jsut for sensors etc......)

What he said...... ;)

It was nice with the roof down, in a open top driving way, as is any convertible, but other than that,, yawn yawn....
With the roof up it wasn't anything special at all...... and the servicing prices... yikes.
As for the dealership, well lets not go there (ever again)

I actually picked one of these over a 2.2 Z3 Sport... cos the boot is huge with the roof up.
But 6 Zeds later I should be forgiven.... hopefully.
 

Mouldy

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Points
22
Location
Northampton
Model of Z
None at present
Mike

Try one of these;



The wife has had hers since July 2011 and it has been terrific. The only 'non-service' cost has been a rubber doughnut at the end of the propshaft (diff end), which needed replacing as it was cracking. We used the Crossfire for our trip to the Gorge du Tarn earlier this year and cruising on the French Motorways hit 36mpg. The wife normally gets between 25 and 28 mpg for day to day use at home.

In the UK at least, they are fantastic value for money, with the coupe being much cheaper than the convertible.

I know that they are not everyone's cup of tea, but treated as a tourer rather than a sports car, fit the bill rather well.

Remember that they were based on a Mercedes SLK320, have all Merc running gear and were built in Germany by Karmann, so the build quality is good.
 
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