Residency Evil posted:

What podcast?

awesome-express posted:

I kinda want a nice car, but I live in a city with great public transportation links... Is my money better off being used to buy property? Hookers? Stocks? idk

rear end in a top hat Bicycle posted:

I've come into a bit of money and I'm looking at a 1982 Mercedes 300TD automatic. It has 190k, and the owner has had it for 17 years. I'm going to look later this week. Are there any problem areas I should be aware of?

EDIT: I'd like to use it as my daily driver. Is this realistic?

Sock The Great posted:

Does MB sell a Lightning Cable for plugging into the media interface on a 2011 C300? I recently purchased a CPO 2011 C300 and I love everything about the car with the exception of this stupid plug. I've been using the 30 pin to Lightning adapter piece, but it's been unreliable to say the least.

I frequently get errors where the Media Interface is "unavailable" or the device is not recognized at all (although my iPhone 5S is clearly receiving a charge). I can't help but feel this is because I'm using the adapter and a male Lightning plug would solve this.

Frank Dillinger posted:

There's a lightning media cable,it's about 100$. Why Mercedes couldn't just make it all work with a normal USB port is beyond me.

Burden posted:

For what it's worth, I have an 09 c300 and bought the apple lightning adapter and haven't had any issues.

soj89 posted:

About to pick up an 04 CL500. Any advice about the car in general? Buying it third-hand from someone who's been meticulous with maintenance. ABC recently repaired by MB so fewer worries there.

I'm having a hard time finding an aftermarket headunit though. I'd like something with bluetooth and GPS (built in GPS works fine but hasn't been updated since 06).

Tremek posted:

This is the best troll. I LOL'd.

rear end in a top hat Bicycle posted:

I've come into a bit of money and I'm looking at a 1982 Mercedes 300TD automatic. It has 190k, and the owner has had it for 17 years. I'm going to look later this week. Are there any problem areas I should be aware of?

EDIT: I'd like to use it as my daily driver. Is this realistic?

meatpimp posted:

Kinda cute, though.

soj89 posted:

Think I missed the joke.

Goober Peas posted:

You are considering the purchase of a well documented money pit. Any feedback you get here is going to upset you.

soj89 posted:

Going in with eyes open. Seems to me the biggest issue is the active body control and its costly repairs.

$11,300k CAD 137k KM

I think I'm good with it as long as it lasts for another 3 or 4 years.

Now upset me. Do it.

MrChips posted:

There's a guy on one of the MB forums that has averaged $12,000 per year in maintenance costs alone for basically the same car.

meatpimp posted:

Either that, or view it as disposable and drive it until you have a multi-thousand dollar electronic repair, then junk it.

BrokenKnucklez posted:

What I would use a random V12 for I have no idea. But it would be cool.

soj89 posted:

soj89 posted:

Now upset me. Do it.

mod sassinator posted:

Coffee table

Voltage posted:

Ok - here's the real deal: can you afford a new CL500? Thats $116,000 new. No? What about any new Mercedes - even the new $29,000 CLA250? The general rule with complex german machines is if you can't afford a new one, you sure as poo poo can't afford a used one. If you can't afford the cheapest model they make, then a used CL will bankrupt you, since the cost of ownership is still that of a $100k+ car, and then some.

I had a great idea when I was 19 to buy a $14,000 2001 BMW 330Ci - what a great deal I thought! A previously $46-50k car for less than a new corolla! Well it turns out that over the 4 years or so I owned it, I could have easily financed a brand spankin' new 328i coupe for LESS than I pumped in that drat thing for repairs and whatnot. There is a very, very good reason used german luxury cars depreciate quicker than just about anything else.

But this is AI after all, so buy that thing, straight pipe it and do a manual conversion and rallycross it!

BrokenKnucklez posted:

What I would use a random V12 for I have no idea. But it would be cool.

GentlemanofLeisure posted:

TopGear made a blender, even made its speed controlled by the acellerator pedal. I can't remember which exact engine they used. One from a Viper maybe?

soj89 posted:

Getting back to the second part of my original question, is it possible to swap the HU out with an aftermarket one without chopping up the centre console?

soj89 posted:

Getting back to the second part of my original question, is it possible to swap the HU out with an aftermarket one without chopping up the centre console?

Voltage posted:

Ok - here's the real deal: can you afford a new CL500? Thats $116,000 new. No? What about any new Mercedes - even the new $29,000 CLA250? The general rule with complex german machines is if you can't afford a new one, you sure as poo poo can't afford a used one. If you can't afford the cheapest model they make, then a used CL will bankrupt you, since the cost of ownership is still that of a $100k+ car, and then some.

I had a great idea when I was 19 to buy a $14,000 2001 BMW 330Ci - what a great deal I thought! A previously $46-50k car for less than a new corolla! Well it turns out that over the 4 years or so I owned it, I could have easily financed a brand spankin' new 328i coupe for LESS than I pumped in that drat thing for repairs and whatnot. There is a very, very good reason used german luxury cars depreciate quicker than just about anything else.

But this is AI after all, so buy that thing, straight pipe it and do a manual conversion and rallycross it!

Nait Sirhc posted:

I would typically agree with this advice but I have been driving a $4,000 2002 BMW 745i for the last 14,000 miles and haven't had any problems.

Buy it. Don't put yourself into huge debt over it, but buy it anyway! That e46 that he's talking about is a simple car to fix and work on yourself.

Nait Sirhc posted:

I would typically agree with this advice but I have been driving a $4,000 2002 BMW 745i for the last 14,000 miles and haven't had any problems.

Buy it. Don't put yourself into huge debt over it, but buy it anyway! That e46 that he's talking about is a simple car to fix and work on yourself.

Sten Freak posted:

I had an 83TD turbo auto about 10 years ago. I don't know if mine was typical or not but it was in the shop 3 or 4 times a year. They're cool but the technology is ancient, parts are expensive and even if you have regular maintenance done (example: I think the valves call for adjustment every 5K miles), poo poo will still go wrong. For me it was "How many more parts can I replace on this car and still have issues?". Bottom line is you can DD them but expect to be out of a working car somewhat regularly.

E: If you can live with that the problems I'd expect are vacuum pump and vacuum lines, transmission woes which may be vacuum-related, rust around the rear window, cooling system woes = fan clutch, radiator, water pump, basically everything and then potentially a ton of maintenance items like glow plugs, fuel injectors suspension components etc... If the car is one that was owned by a maintenance-obsessed person that would be the #1 reason to buy it.

Voltage posted:

Bullshit it's an easy/simple car to fix- I did do most of the work myself but it was annoying as poo poo to work on. It also had a host of electrical gremlins once I started to dip over 100k miles. So many strange problems and poo poo that broke that would never even exist on a "normal" car.

I could write a book on the poo poo that failed on that car. Engine/driveline is rock solid, but the little things just killed me - lock tumbler breaking, electronic hvac going haywire, reprogramming the keys alone after having to literally cut them open to replace the soldered on batteries, insane issues with all of the lights, hilariously,
incomprehensible high levels of oil burning, $900 imported lock tumbler, control arm fuckery, power steering explosion, needlessly complex drive belt/tensioner system, alternator cooling ducts, superior german adhesives, and don't even get my started on how many times I had to replace multiple, brittle plastic parts of the goddamn cooling system.

Don't get me wrong I loving miss that car, it was cool as poo poo but goddamn what a nightmare.

meatpimp posted:

Again, if that is truly a question that is vexing you, you have no business buying a 10 year old high-end Mercedes, because the answer to that is FAR easier to find and finance than "why are all the lights lit up on the dash all of a sudden?"

soj89 posted:

Can't put a price tag on sweet complex german ride and comfort though, right? Right?

Seriously though, thanks for the reality check. Fact is I do just fine. I just don't want to take a huge hit on depreciation by buying new. My boss is swapping for a CL63 and the opportunity just came up.

Getting back to the second part of my original question, is it possible to swap the HU out with an aftermarket one without chopping up the centre console?

Cyrezar posted:

...MB used some fiber-optic cables in cars of that generation

...and you can afford a few $$ here and there in maintenance. The ABC unit is what I'd be afraid of on those vehicles. Do you know what work was recently done to it?

...the hinges on the doors cost about $1900 each to replace when they start to sag!

GentlemanofLeisure posted:

Yeah no affordability issues here. And we talk a lot of poo poo about BMW's and tell a lot of people who post in that thread not to buy certain ones, especially heavily depreciated "bargain" 7-series.

Voltage posted:

Bullshit it's an easy/simple car to fix- I did do most of the work myself but it was annoying as poo poo to work on. It also had a host of electrical gremlins once I started to dip over 100k miles. So many strange problems and poo poo that broke that would never even exist on a "normal" car.

I could write a book on the poo poo that failed on that car. Engine/driveline is rock solid, but the little things just killed me - lock tumbler breaking, electronic hvac going haywire, reprogramming the keys alone after having to literally cut them open to replace the soldered on batteries, insane issues with all of the lights, hilariously,
incomprehensible high levels of oil burning, $900 imported lock tumbler, control arm fuckery, power steering explosion, needlessly complex drive belt/tensioner system, alternator cooling ducts, superior german adhesives, and don't even get my started on how many times I had to replace multiple, brittle plastic parts of the goddamn cooling system.

Don't get me wrong I loving miss that car, it was cool as poo poo but goddamn what a nightmare.

Cyrezar posted:

This forum as a whole is generally terrified of any Mercedes made after like 1991 and would rather collectively jerk off over BMWs with disposable cooling systems and engines that make oil mysteriously disappear and blown headgaskets than ever dare spend money maintaining a Benz.

Cyrezar posted:

You think he bought a car for brand wanking and so he should have bought a Lexus instead? What brands of 500 horsepower sedan are acceptable in your eyes, need to make sure I don't embarrass myself here in Automotive Insanity.

meatpimp posted:

Between the above quote and


from your post here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/newreply.php?action=newreply&postid=434786301#post434786301

I think you're getting a little too emotionally invested in someone else buying and old car that was expensive when new.