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Dec 15, 2018 21:46:57 GMT
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I am considering a change to my daily going from a diesel Bora to an R170 Merc SLK 230k or 320 (depending on budget and availability). Now obviously it's always ideal to get a lower mileage car if you can but just how wary should I be of a car that's done more miles? Of course it would depend a lot on how the car's been serviced, but I am more concerned about what is likely to fail and how expensive will it be? Timing belts are an issue as both engines use chains, but it seems that a lot of SLKs suffer from broken coil springs ( a bit of a ball-ache to replace, let's be honest) and then of course there's the usual bushes, CVs and brake items. Bodywork is more key on these though as some have dreadful rot on the arches and front wings.
Provided the car's been relatively well looked after and serviced (a standard part of my car-buying criteria anyway), should I worry if a potential car has done, say 125k rather than 70k? I know the engines tend to look after themselves if serviced well, but does it REALLY make that much difference with a more modern vehicle? I will of course be aiming for a lower mileage car, but I am pretty certain I would prefer one that's been driven regularly to one that's done 600 miles in the past 3 years.
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Last Edit: Dec 15, 2018 21:47:36 GMT by mrbounce
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ian65
Part of things
Posts: 276
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Dec 16, 2018 12:51:59 GMT
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mechanically they are pretty bombproof... you're right, they do have a tendency to break their springs for some reason. The main issue with these is rust rust and rust and I'd buy purely on bodywork condition rather than mileage. They are at the bottom of their depreciation curve at the moment so you should be able to drop on a tidy one with low-ish miles. There's loads about. My wife bought this one....a 2003 SLK 200 Kompressor, 30,000 on it and in stunning condition.... 3 years later it didn't have a rust free panel on it and it had only done 60,000 by then... We dumped it into the vultures at Webuyanycar just to get rid of it. For some inexplicable reason they gave us more than we could get for it private due to the bodywork. The rust issues seem to be with the later ones,the earlier ones seem a little bit more durable. They are a pretty little car, the 200 is a bit dull to drive with a steering box instead of a rack giving that dead feel to the steering but we enjoyed ours... even though we lost a load of dough on it.
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Last Edit: Dec 16, 2018 12:55:14 GMT by ian65
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Dec 16, 2018 13:06:03 GMT
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I'd be buying a 2.8 Z3 or an E36 328i.
I've got a 318 and I love it's fine balance, and a bigger engine would just add the extra poke
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Dec 16, 2018 16:57:08 GMT
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I'd be buying a 2.8 Z3 or an E36 328i. I've got a 318 and I love it's fine balance, and a bigger engine would just add the extra poke Much prefer the look of the SLK - the Z3 (especially the wide-body version) isn't exactly a prom queen. Plus, despite everything good about their engineering, I REALLY don't like BMWs. Something ingrained since childhood when I almost got knocked off my bike by an idiot in one. Makes no logical sense, I know, but I just don't like them. Plus neither of your choices has a folding steel roof
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Phil H
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,448
Club RR Member Number: 133
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Dec 16, 2018 19:11:41 GMT
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I was looking at these. Bought a Volvo C70 T5 instead.
They just seemed to risky for what I was prepared to risk losing. Couldn’t find one with no known (declared or obvious) faults for decent money. Doesn’t seem to be any real correlation to mileage, age or engine. Only one that peaked my interest seemed to be one not originally sold in the UK, so an import.
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Dec 16, 2018 19:16:10 GMT
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I'd be buying a 2.8 Z3 or an E36 328i. I've got a 318 and I love it's fine balance, and a bigger engine would just add the extra poke Much prefer the look of the SLK - the Z3 (especially the wide-body version) isn't exactly a prom queen. Plus, despite everything good about their engineering, I REALLY don't like BMWs. Something ingrained since childhood when I almost got knocked off my bike by an idiot in one. Makes no logical sense, I know, but I just don't like them. Plus neither of your choices has a folding steel roof My current summer drive is a Volkswagen Eos. 200BHP 2.0 turbo. 36mpg so decent ish on juice and folding hard top with glass retractable sunroof too.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,188
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Dec 18, 2018 23:05:47 GMT
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briang
Part of things
Posts: 78
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Dec 19, 2018 20:37:46 GMT
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Hi, We've owned one for several years and the biggest problems we've had, apart from the rust, have been electrical...rear light clusters are a known for poor contacts ,and the notorious K40 relay pack failure ( had that one.. engine refuses to turn over leaving you stranded). Fortunately ours failed on the drive. Two minutes to fix with a soldering iron ONCE you work out what the problem is. Our '99 car doesn't have an OBD port so it's problem solving the old way with a little internet help!
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Ryannn
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,420
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Dec 22, 2018 10:29:53 GMT
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I was looking at these before I got my CLK. The only thing that bothered me with the high mileage ones was that the interior plastics don’t wear very well, all the paint flakes off the centre console.
No other issues I was aware of though, except the rust!
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Dec 23, 2018 19:32:47 GMT
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I've got a very very early auto 230k on a P plate. To be brutally honest, I actually really dislike the thing. The steering is vague and unresponsive being a box, even when my Dolomite had a worn out rack it felt better. The rear light clusters as mentioned fail, the bulb holders actually melt through the tracks. They seem to eat lower ball joints. MAF sensors die fairly regularly. Fuel consumption is utterly ridiculous, I've averaged around 23Mpg in my two years of ownership. I'd expect it to be much faster for that consumption. A diesel Insignia will outrun it, easily. I can confirm that early ones do rust badly as well. If I were bothered about mine, it'd need two front wings, and both rear wheel arches replacing next year, at least. The roof/windows leak so much you might as well keep the roof down at all times. Mine is on 112k now. I'm getting rid as soon as I have the deposit saved for another car. This one will probably be bean tins.
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Dec 23, 2018 20:12:46 GMT
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I've got a very very early auto 230k on a P plate. To be brutally honest, I actually really dislike the thing. The steering is vague and unresponsive being a box, even when my Dolomite had a worn out rack it felt better. The rear light clusters as mentioned fail, the bulb holders actually melt through the tracks. They seem to eat lower ball joints. MAF sensors die fairly regularly. Fuel consumption is utterly ridiculous, I've averaged around 23Mpg in my two years of ownership. I'd expect it to be much faster for that consumption. A diesel Insignia will outrun it, easily. I can confirm that early ones do rust badly as well. If I were bothered about mine, it'd need two front wings, and both rear wheel arches replacing next year, at least. The roof/windows leak so much you might as well keep the roof down at all times. Mine is on 112k now. I'm getting rid as soon as I have the deposit saved for another car. This one will probably be bean tins. Something is amiss with your steering. Worn damper, idle arm bush or the box requires adjustment . Ever possibility it's suffering from worn lower wishbone bushes, hard to properly detect without removing the arm or jacking up and using a big bar with the ball joint disconnected. If they are original they require replacement. Having said that, a steering box initially is not as responsive as a rack & pinion. I can't really fault the Merc box when pushing on. Lower ball joints are good for a minimum of 70,000 miles in normal driving, that's provided they are genuine M-B or from the likes of Lemforder. MAF's, they last years. Ten plus/100,000 miles. Again, that's using a Bosch or Pierburg and most importantly that's provided the engine breather system is in good order. If that's not 100%, MAF failure becomes common thanks to oil contamination. Low MPG, could be several things including a poor MAF for example or just urban motoring. I'd expect 27+ MPG & an easy 32+ cruising. And generally speaking, one in good order are not as slow as you make out. They have very pokey engine offering a good spread of torque thanks to the Super charger, with good in gear acceleration too. As you mentioned rust and roof operation would be my concerns too. Also, if it's an auto (more than likely) that the box is in good working order.
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Last Edit: Dec 23, 2018 20:27:13 GMT by Woofwoof
Still learning...still spending...still breaking things!
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Dec 23, 2018 21:08:23 GMT
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Hi, We've owned one for several years and the biggest problems we've had, apart from the rust, have been electrical...rear light clusters are a known for poor contacts ,and the notorious K40 relay pack failure ( had that one.. engine refuses to turn over leaving you stranded). Fortunately ours failed on the drive. Two minutes to fix with a soldering iron ONCE you work out what the problem is. Our '99 car doesn't have an OBD port so it's problem solving the old way with a little internet help! Nice looking car. Your car does have an OBD port. It will be a 32 pin round port. located from memory in beside the engine & ABS ECU's. All you need to get is an adapter 32 to 16 ( on eBay for a few quid) and then you then connect to even a cheap scanner which will give all the basic engine op parameters. Something like this www.autelstore.co.uk/wholesale/autel-autolink-al319-obdii-can-code-reader.html
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Still learning...still spending...still breaking things!
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Dec 23, 2018 22:04:46 GMT
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I've got a very very early auto 230k on a P plate. To be brutally honest, I actually really dislike the thing. The steering is vague and unresponsive being a box, even when my Dolomite had a worn out rack it felt better. The rear light clusters as mentioned fail, the bulb holders actually melt through the tracks. They seem to eat lower ball joints. MAF sensors die fairly regularly. Fuel consumption is utterly ridiculous, I've averaged around 23Mpg in my two years of ownership. I'd expect it to be much faster for that consumption. A diesel Insignia will outrun it, easily. I can confirm that early ones do rust badly as well. If I were bothered about mine, it'd need two front wings, and both rear wheel arches replacing next year, at least. The roof/windows leak so much you might as well keep the roof down at all times. Mine is on 112k now. I'm getting rid as soon as I have the deposit saved for another car. This one will probably be bean tins. Something is amiss with your steering. Worn damper, idle arm bush or the box requires adjustment . Ever possibility it's suffering from worn lower wishbone bushes, hard to properly detect without removing the arm or jacking up and using a big bar with the ball joint disconnected. If they are original they require replacement. Having said that, a steering box initially is not as responsive as a rack & pinion. I can't really fault the Merc box when pushing on. Lower ball joints are good for a minimum of 70,000 miles in normal driving, that's provided they are genuine M-B or from the likes of Lemforder. MAF's, they last years. Ten plus/100,000 miles. Again, that's using a Bosch or Pierburg and most importantly that's provided the engine breather system is in good order. If that's not 100%, MAF failure becomes common thanks to oil contamination. Low MPG, could be several things including a poor MAF for example or just urban motoring. I'd expect 27+ MPG & an easy 32+ cruising. And generally speaking, one in good order are not as slow as you make out. They have very pokey engine offering a good spread of torque thanks to the Super charger, with good in gear acceleration too. As you mentioned rust and roof operation would be my concerns too. Also, if it's an auto (more than likely) that the box is in good working order. You're probably right about the steering having issues in my car, but I have also driven a very low mileage example, it just didn't feel like it enjoyed being hustled through a corner. Felt like a ploddy tourer as opposed to a sports car. It's fun enough with the roof down bumbling along from place to place. But it won't set the world alight. A bog standard repmobile will eat it alive. Maybe I expected too much from a 20+ year old German with a supercharger. Still disappoints me daily.
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Dec 23, 2018 22:35:46 GMT
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Something is amiss with your steering. Worn damper, idle arm bush or the box requires adjustment . Ever possibility it's suffering from worn lower wishbone bushes, hard to properly detect without removing the arm or jacking up and using a big bar with the ball joint disconnected. If they are original they require replacement. Having said that, a steering box initially is not as responsive as a rack & pinion. I can't really fault the Merc box when pushing on. Lower ball joints are good for a minimum of 70,000 miles in normal driving, that's provided they are genuine M-B or from the likes of Lemforder. MAF's, they last years. Ten plus/100,000 miles. Again, that's using a Bosch or Pierburg and most importantly that's provided the engine breather system is in good order. If that's not 100%, MAF failure becomes common thanks to oil contamination. Low MPG, could be several things including a poor MAF for example or just urban motoring. I'd expect 27+ MPG & an easy 32+ cruising. And generally speaking, one in good order are not as slow as you make out. They have very pokey engine offering a good spread of torque thanks to the Super charger, with good in gear acceleration too. As you mentioned rust and roof operation would be my concerns too. Also, if it's an auto (more than likely) that the box is in good working order. You're probably right about the steering having issues in my car, but I have also driven a very low mileage example, it just didn't feel like it enjoyed being hustled through a corner. Felt like a ploddy tourer as opposed to a sports car. It's fun enough with the roof down bumbling along from place to place. But it won't set the world alight. A bog standard repmobile will eat it alive. Maybe I expected too much from a 20+ year old German with a supercharger. Still disappoints me daily. Being fair to your car, if you want an open top sports car I think one would have to look at an MX5, S2000 etc. I'd consider the SLK is closer to an SL than anything else, more of a junior convertible GT (grand tourer) than a sports car. Which, many would say is no bad thing. I reckon some new potential customers at the time were expecting a Merc version of an MX5, not just Merc's take on a small convertible? Having a similar age 140,000 mile four door version with the same engine but manual, the first job I had to do was refresh the suspension & steering plus upgrade, then give the engine plenty of preventive maintenance and up the power. The car was transformed. It's no sports car but a quick/rapid car (well used ) for a saloon of 2.3L that was really designed as a very competent and comfortable cruiser. Edit: Here's a road test from 2017. Admittedly it's light on detail. classicsworld.co.uk/news/cedes-slk-230/road-test-mer it's a later model with the smaller Eaton M45 rather than a M62.
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Last Edit: Dec 24, 2018 0:08:31 GMT by Woofwoof
Still learning...still spending...still breaking things!
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,188
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Dec 25, 2018 14:32:51 GMT
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Something is amiss with your steering. Worn damper, idle arm bush or the box requires adjustment . Ever possibility it's suffering from worn lower wishbone bushes, hard to properly detect without removing the arm or jacking up and using a big bar with the ball joint disconnected. If they are original they require replacement. Having said that, a steering box initially is not as responsive as a rack & pinion. I can't really fault the Merc box when pushing on. Lower ball joints are good for a minimum of 70,000 miles in normal driving, that's provided they are genuine M-B or from the likes of Lemforder. MAF's, they last years. Ten plus/100,000 miles. Again, that's using a Bosch or Pierburg and most importantly that's provided the engine breather system is in good order. If that's not 100%, MAF failure becomes common thanks to oil contamination. Low MPG, could be several things including a poor MAF for example or just urban motoring. I'd expect 27+ MPG & an easy 32+ cruising. And generally speaking, one in good order are not as slow as you make out. They have very pokey engine offering a good spread of torque thanks to the Super charger, with good in gear acceleration too. As you mentioned rust and roof operation would be my concerns too. Also, if it's an auto (more than likely) that the box is in good working order. You're probably right about the steering having issues in my car, but I have also driven a very low mileage example, it just didn't feel like it enjoyed being hustled through a corner. Felt like a ploddy tourer as opposed to a sports car. It's fun enough with the roof down bumbling along from place to place. But it won't set the world alight. A bog standard repmobile will eat it alive. Maybe I expected too much from a 20+ year old German with a supercharger. Still disappoints me daily. Mileage means nothing . My W124s have been evidence of that, as has a super low mileage MGB I've owned, with history to prove it, and new cars. My 250D drove better than my current E320, despite it having twice the mileage. I've got my E320 possibly to drive nicer now, but it's taken some cash on my part. I reckon it still needs work on the suspension too; I think an idler bush and steering damper want looking it. People get very strung up about mileage, but bushes perish, grease congeals, and in some cases, rust forms in strange places from the car sitting. Agreed on MPG. My E320 gets around 26MPG average, and over 30 on a run. Not bad for an old tank with a large engine I've had repmobiles try it with me on the motorway (i.e I'm in the third lane doing 70-75 and approach an Audi, Jag, BMW or Passat of sorts in the middle lane. For whatever reason, they'll put their foot down. In one case, an A4 slammed his foot hard to to the floor to take him to 80 swifly. Let's just say I made him history . It's not as direct as my M3, it never will be. But it's a lovely thing to drive around daily. My 250D was the same. While I liked the manual 'box, I do prefer this being an auto, it suits the car. It's surprisingly surefooted too. One thing both my W124s had were good tyres; Goodyears/Nexens (then Goodyears all round) on the 250D and 13 year old Contis to new Firestone Roadhawks on the E320. On the latter, that change made a pleasant difference everywhere. To the extent that it's now a nicer drive than my sister's Saab on Landsails. On the M3, going from Falkens, which I thought were good, to Michelin PS4s transformed that car ; you really have to reign yourself in now! I'm comparing my E320 as I reckon the power to weight ratio will be similar between the two. I will admit that I do like a tourer feel about a car mind you . Skimp on the car, and it will skimp on you really.
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Last Edit: Dec 25, 2018 14:39:06 GMT by ChasR
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Dec 26, 2018 23:30:56 GMT
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The 320 and 230k lumps aren't even in the same ball park IMO. I borrowed a 53 plate E320 for a couple of weeks, that thing was a missile. Just walked away from the '85 500 AMG I had the week before. Never dipped under 30mpg either. I just think for what it is, the SLK is a bit meh. Looks alright, but is dull as dishwater to drive.
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briang
Part of things
Posts: 78
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Hi, We've owned one for several years and the biggest problems we've had, apart from the rust, have been electrical...rear light clusters are a known for poor contacts ,and the notorious K40 relay pack failure ( had that one.. engine refuses to turn over leaving you stranded). Fortunately ours failed on the drive. Two minutes to fix with a soldering iron ONCE you work out what the problem is. Our '99 car doesn't have an OBD port so it's problem solving the old way with a little internet help! Nice looking car. Your car does have an OBD port. It will be a 32 pin round port. located from memory in beside the engine & ABS ECU's. All you need to get is an adapter 32 to 16 ( on eBay for a few quid) and then you then connect to even a cheap scanner which will give all the basic engine op parameters. Something like this www.autelstore.co.uk/wholesale/autel-autolink-al319-obdii-can-code-reader.htmlI wasn't aware of the availability of adaptors for the round port. I based the comment on what I had seen on US sites showing a 16 pin OBD port in the panel above the drivers legs, where ours has an intact knock-out. Thanks for the information. Brian.
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2019 16:13:09 GMT by briang
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ian65
Part of things
Posts: 276
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they must have changed this on later models... our 2003 model had an ODB2 plug
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Nice looking car. Your car does have an OBD port. It will be a 32 pin round port. located from memory in beside the engine & ABS ECU's. All you need to get is an adapter 32 to 16 ( on eBay for a few quid) and then you then connect to even a cheap scanner which will give all the basic engine op parameters. Something like this www.autelstore.co.uk/wholesale/autel-autolink-al319-obdii-can-code-reader.htmlI wasn't aware of the availability of adaptors for the round port. I based the comment on what I had seen on US sites showing a 16 pin OBD port in the panel above the drivers legs, where ours has an intact knock-out. Thanks for the information. Brian. You're spot on right about the US versions, all US cars had to be OBD2 compliant from 1996 on, thus the 16 pin port on those US cars. I don't know all the in & outs of OBD/OBD2 when it comes to pre 2001 Merc's but for all intents and purposes these early Euro cars are OBD2 that's if you use the right connector and a suitable scanner, all codes can be pulled - that's what the main stealers do and the specialist garages also. My local specialist Merc garage can on his scanner, pull every code. Including one's for SAM, ABS, ASR etc. Even he uses it to reset the throttle body and the S/C bypass valve. My cheap Autotel scanner is hooked up a lot of the time and mounted inside but it will only monitor engine parameters, still it's bloody handy especially when modifying for more power.
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Last Edit: Jan 7, 2019 20:51:01 GMT by Woofwoof
Still learning...still spending...still breaking things!
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FWIW...my wife has an R171 280 which I believe shares many parts/underpinnings with the R170...it is now on about 85k as I get to use it as my daily Faults across five years: cabin/air con fan bearing has got very noisy on occasions. Can go for weeks or even months as perfectly ok, then will scream like a banshee for a few minutes...turn the fan to zero and back on, and 8 times out of 10 it will be ok again. The only sure fix is a replacement blower unit, and that's a dash out job. Last MOT had a broken spring as mentioned above. A few months ago noticed the boot was very damp, so had to replace the boot and roof seals. That was quite expensive - £350 from a local specialist as I just couldnt be bothered to DIY. Had the engine management light on for about 18 mths...was the very complicated electronic thermostat...didnt seem to make any difference to the performance/economy but got it fixed last year as now an MOT requirement. From the 280 (3l v6) I get about 32mpg day to day with the roof up, and drops to about 27-28 with the roof down - a mix of aerodynamics and loving to hear the v6 howl tends to make my right foot a bit heavier!!
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