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People do this with houses all the time, they buy at the top of what they can afford then can't pay for general maintenance, I remodel homes for a living and almost every one I do has rotten wood, major paint peeling and it's a pain in the rear to fix, if they just bought a house that was 10% less of a monthly payment they could actually take care of the freaking thing.
I'm fairly certain he gives Hoovie a discount on the labor, not sure if he was quoting his usual rates or the discounted rates. That would help a bit, but it's still less than I would have thought.
New ones too. My 2016 A200d 2.2d AMG went into the dealer 18 times in 1.5yrs. It was so bad it ended up on a UK TV programme called Watchdog and they just ripped into MB for me. Litterally all the faults were down to poor design of components. Which you do not expect on a 34k (50k USD) car.
Two neglected Mercedes, let me correct you 😁 daily driving 31 years old mercedes, so I know a bit, it costs me 10 times less to maintain and drive it than any modern Toyota, Honda or something similar, and I get to enjoy comfortable ride and high quality build
@@ekialkovic4150 yep, it sounds like you are driving a Mercedes from the era when they were truly well built, and though complex, it was well-engineered complexity.
Older Benz not neglected are reliable and amazing to drive. But you need to be able to wrench a bit or know a reliable and knowledgeable Benz mechanic.
Bought an '03 SAAB 93 in '12 for 5k EUR. Paid Bank an extra 3k EUR for the loan. Put a little over 5K over the past 8 years into it, and I'm still planning to do main bearings, rod bearing, piston rings, trans and suspension overhaul, and likely a turbo rebuild. Hurts, but I like driving it very much :|
Have put 7k euro in my 94 E32 740il beemer over 1 year. Thing is sorta sorted out but guessing 4k left on various cosmetic and electrical gremlins. The pit is never full.
Imagine for a moment you are an automotive mechanic. And you have a loyal customer who obsessively buys total crap. And NEVER, not even ONCE says ah you know I'll take care of that myself... #wizardlife
i really appreciate that hoovie and wizard do this sit down because it truly shows what really happens at a shop more accurately than most shows are willing to show
If you maintain it yourself getting a W126 is fine. If you are going to pay someone else to do it you would be better off buying a better car because they are kinda fun but really not that exciting to be worth it.
Travis K Sure, problem is, the country I live in has no "decent" old Merc (123/124/126) for reasonable prices. One that in the US sells for $2,000 here would be around $6,000, and still would require much things to be corrected. The ones around $1,500-$2,000 aren't worth that at all. Usually fully rusted, falling into pieces that one would not even consider it for parts. Plus, there aren't quite many of these cars here, and we have no junkyards to get parts off. If I were in the US or in Europe, I would already own at least 5 of these no doubt!
Were you a tru masochist all other old cars would be a better choice. For mercs there are plenty of used parts or originals (though sometimes you may start thinking that selling a kidney is a solution). Some friends of mine like american cars, but they wait for spare parts some times for several months!
Just had my audi S4 climate refilled. That included detecting the existing leak (leaking pressure sensor, that I fixed myself) and then finally filling the system. Cost me 50€, or about 55 USD. Wizard quoted Hoovie 200 USD. That's hella expensive, but maybe everything is in the US.
Glad to see Hoovie doing the thing he did when and why I joined the channel:) Nothing wrong with the more expensive cars, but there’s nothing better than a hooptie brought back to life!
That was an awesome episode! Thank you for sharing! You 2 make a great team. I know Wizard is just doing his job, but it's funny when he was going down the list of repairs. It's a good thing RU-vid pays you quite a bit.
Mr. Wizard, I saw the Cheshire Cat smile when you stepped into the frame. Mo money for the Wizard yacht project hmmm😉. Loved how you started adding stuff to the repair list: seat belt retractor, hood latch, window shade mechanism, wheel bearing, trans mount, trans linkage....
LOL!!! Dave didn't expect a Mercedes to sound like that. Dave apparently hasn't been around ANY of Mercedes' newer muscle cars, like, ANYTHING that has an 'AMG' badge on it. Mercedes' V8 engines produces some of the best sounding exhaust notes out there! One of my favorite sounding cars is the AMG GT-R.
I have a CL63 with the "6.3" and it has a sinister growl with a deep bass and I haven't even taken out the resonators like I did on the CL55 Kompressor
Good to see good old hoopties back on the menu. Glad you made it to the top and got your dream car, but nice to see you're back to your roots and all the better for it :)
I have a lead on a cheap parts car 89 300 SE, in Arkansas. Mild frame damage, but ran and drove well when hit. It never wobbled or made any noises! White/beige.
Watching the Wizard's channel with a Merc '84 300D telling us that most people under estimate repairs/ servicing costs, Hoovie wincing at paying more than purchase for repairs to both Mercs; classic😂
Maaaaaaaan, they showed us that movie at public school, when I was in the 1st grade!! My mother came down to the school and threw an absolute fit when I came home reciting some of those 1-liners....
@@revolutionday1 haha, my mom let me watch it when I wouldn't stop begging to watch Star Wars. She figured I'd have nightmares from the real thing. She also stopped letting me watch it when I announced that we were "surrounded by assholes" while stuck in traffic one morning.
My dad had a white 80s Benz just like this white one. My grandpa bought a Olive green one right after my dad bought one. This is in the 90s. We put so many miles on both cars and my dad's white one suffered a failed transmission well after 200k miles. We got alot of use out of our Benz. Sent it out to pasture right after I graduated HS.
My son picked up a 98 E430 (W210) with 176k miles 4 years ago. It needed some maintenance and a good detailing. He has had it 3 1/2 years now and it hasn’t cost him (or me) a fortune! Nothing more than a blower relay, an idler pulley, a fan clutch, and a couple window regulators. And a few other basics! Not a bad deal for a first car!
Seat belts and seat belt systems are very misleading when it comes to maintenance costs. One full seat belt system (the only one in the WHOLE country) cost $300.00 from Nissan. Allen Tire in Richmond, VA was going to charge me $505.00 for the whole job ($200.00 labor, plus the cost of the seat belt system from Nissan.). Instead of being ripped off, I researched seat belt replacement videos for two days. I searched every junk yard in Richmond, VA. Chesterfield Auto Parts happened to have the seat belt system for my 1999 B14 Sentra GXE. The car was not even registered in there inventory. I paid $12.00 for the seat belt, went to Lowe's to get the tools required for the job, plus purchased detergent to soak the seat belts to clean the fabric. After soaking the seat belt for one night, I completed the job on the next day. The whole job cost less then $60.00. I saved $445.00! Thank God for RU-vid.
W126s are so easy to work on, and most of the parts are not even that expensive. Definitely a horrible idea to pay someone to maintain one for you though.
I’m actually the guy you beat out at the very end for the 300 SE. I was actually suffering from a toothache at the time and ran to CVS to buy some Oragel as the auction ended. Anyway, after watching this video, I am kind of glad you beat me out for it as you will be able to create some good content and I see that the transmission has some issues and getting it back to daily driver condition would be a pain. Figured the car would be a fun daily back and forth to the Mercedes dealer I work at. Have fun and keep us updated! Also, I’ve been wondering if I would have bid again if you would have outbid me 😂
The lesson I learned long ago..... if you have your heart set on a particular car, buy the absolute best example you can afford. “Fixer-uppers” tend to be money pits that seemingly always end up costing more than a better example. I love the Jaguar X308 platform and have owned several XJRs. I’ll drive one until it’s not financially sound to repair it, then it becomes a parts donor for my next purchase.
@UCt2NE0t2GO-h9-wfRjaDshg yeah if you can work on it yourself then lots of money can be saved. Its pretty amazing how an 18year w211 benz can still out class a brand new car, in ride quality and still performing like almost new. I love my w211 and best of all, no wacky safety sensors that keep beeping or autonomously brake or whatever i don't like.
Without a shadow of a doubt I'd ditch the '97 (CL) S500 and put the proceeds into fixing the 1990 S - Class. The '97 is a horrid thing that has aged terribly, particularly in white.
I think the early W140’s had a biodegradable wiring harnesses... I had a 1995 S500 and after many years the insulation was dissolving around the wires.
Its been a while since i watched your video's and omg i just realize that i've been subscriber from 30k and now you have 1m subs. Good for you keep going man.
Make sure you replace your timing chain every 60k miles if it's a USA spec car. The 3.8 M116 was equipped with a single row timing chain in the USA and they stretch and wear through the guides. If the chain jumps, you'll be rebuilding cylinder heads in short order. Dual row chains in the earlier and later cars, as well as the bigger M117 engine go to about 100k miles, and by then the plastic guides are usually toast. I ended up doing the chain and guides in my 89 560SL at 95k miles, and a guide was snapped in half.
@@OMGWTFLOLSMH some people like to spend stupid money on these cars, I've done it before, as have many other enthusiasts who like them. Depending on the area, $600 can get you a rust free runner that needs other help.
When buying an old flagship Merc you have to buy two of the same type to get one good runner, or you will end up paying for three broken ones from the parts store prices, and still have only one sort of fixed one. If you buy two most of the time you will have one mostly fixed, and and a carcass of the other to keep picking parts from to keep it going for years.
@The-Metal-Life Cheap european cars are great, if you live in Europe. Had Great luck owning VW while living USA, when I left owner after me probably hate me...
I've been buying cheap cars ever since my first, I think I've only had 1 that didn't immediately cost more to fix then I paid for it. And that's doing all the work myself!
Aren’t the seatbelts covered by a lifetime warranty? They are on my Acura. I’ve had mine replaced under warranty because they were slightly harder to pull out.
@@mike73ng Ah, ok. No, here in EU it's 2 years guarantee and then you're fucked. Or you have one of those rare cars from companies that do recalls on their own expenses even for older cars (i.e. Toyota, which anyway here don't import sedans or nice cars...)
@@danieloman429 nope. Just checked: in Italy it's 2 years on new cars, for all the vehicle and excluding A LOT of stuff like (this is from Italian Nissan guarantee booklet) "- tires, airbags, bodywork elements, interior and exterior rear-view mirrors, dashboard, antennas, locks, door and hood hinges, glass seals and doors seals, rear window, sunroof, windows, windshield wipers, aerator / aerator levers, optical groups, friezes and flaps side, shock absorbers, carpet, rims, seats, trims interior, upholstery, manual door and window controls, ashtray, battery and lithium ion battery; - the car stereo, any audio equipment and its accessories, burglar alarms and alarm systems, navigation systems, even if original equipment."
When new, C140’s were among the best cars ever made, especially the 97 to 99. I happen to own 2, a 97 and a 99. If properly maintained, or restored to normal condition, guess what: after 20 years, they are still among the best cars ever made. I have been driving an average of 12k a year with regular maintenance and the odd issues, nothing serious. BUT: a very nice exemplar with let’s say 100.000 miles is about 20k. I am not surprised to see people paying 3k and having to deal with an unbelievable amount of problems. Also, buying a top of the line old Mercedes and expecting it to cost the same as a used Corolla to maintain is not realistic.
i think I may have one upped you Hoovie. Ive got an $800 '95 S420. interior is starting to fall apart because i live on Guam. alternator just failed yesterday and since its a 25 year old european car in the middle of the ocean, i have to order the part which will take anywhere from a week and a half to a month to get here depending on whether the shippers are afraid of Covid. Soft close only works on front passenger door. power locks only lock but don't unlock. trunk handle pops out but then runs away back inside after about 2 seconds. have to slam the trunk to close it but the soft close does pull it closed. lamp failure warning light is on but all lights work......and that's just most of the issues i can ignore. so in a competition for expensive cheap Mercedes I think I win. or maybe lose??
