Daniel
ClioSport Moderator
Whichever has fuel
Me and my mate Sam tagged along to LeMans this year (Thank you to everyone for making us feel very welcome, we had a BRILLIANT time!)
We decided that my passat was a bit too dull for the 1050 mile round trip. Sams van is a nail, and none of the other of our 18 cars really floated our boat.
So we decided to spend some of the money we jointly save, and buy something that we wouldn't normally look at. Something big, fast and has suffered hideous deprecation. And a minimum of 8 spark plugs.
We had a budget of £5k but everything up at that money was either quite new with 200k+ miles or really old and the owner was dreaming with the for sale price.
Then, the saturday before we were due to leave, Sam found an AMG E55 on Autotrader. It was the cheapest one on the web at the time. A quick call to the seller and he was a top bloke. Told us everything that was wrong with the car, was completely honest and invited us down to pull it apart and drive it. So we jumped in the van after a fry up and off we went!
Pic from the ad;
Within 4 hours we were back home with our first ever proper AMG!
First things first, we needed to get it on the ramp and check it over. We were going on a 500 mile trip in 4 days time so we needed to make sure it was all up together. It is. Been very very well looked after. The engine bay doesn't have a single leak of any description and is bone dry from top to bottom. A big difference to the Renaults we normally work on!
A quick call to GSF and oil, oil filter and two air filters were ordered and fitted for the trip.
Next up, after a bit of research and some fail on our part, we cut out the secondary cats and the MASSIVE centre silencer. This has helped make the exhaust sound better but not loud. Far from it in fact!
This was a late night, I think we left the garage at 2am!
I then drove the car to work and spent the afternoon cleaning. I have a bit of a thing for hoovering cars as soon as I buy them, the thought of putting my hands down the side of a chair to find my phone and retrieving someone elses bogeys makes me feel sick....
So I machine polished the whole car, steam cleaned all the carpets, and cleaned all the leather. She looks good for a 15 year old car!!
Next up was a trip to the sticker shop behind my work. £45 later and I was on my way home to meet sam. We had a Pace car to make!
Once that was done it was time to pack the car. Whilst I was waiting for Sam to get a 13mm socket (We had to fit all new clamps on the exhaust after cutting all the silencers out, turns out nobody keeps 75mm clamps in stock! lol. The exhaust is huge!!) I decided that the car looked AWESOME with some weight in it, so took another pic.
We then drove 525 miles from Bristol to LeMans without issue. Ran like a swiss watch the whole way!
We did get searched at customs though. Sam asked if she was looking for his soiled pants but she didn't even crack a smile. I then pretended to be Borat and she looked positively angry!
Search building;
Finally at LeMans, and It's home for the 4 days;
We worked out that over the 1050 miles, it returned us 27-ish mpg. Which for a 1.7T car with a V8 and 350bhp, was pretty bloody good!
So there we have it. We're going to refurb the wheels (Never buy a car in the rain!!) as they look to have been painted using cheese and sticks and really let the car down, then put the old girl up for sale.
We decided that my passat was a bit too dull for the 1050 mile round trip. Sams van is a nail, and none of the other of our 18 cars really floated our boat.
So we decided to spend some of the money we jointly save, and buy something that we wouldn't normally look at. Something big, fast and has suffered hideous deprecation. And a minimum of 8 spark plugs.
We had a budget of £5k but everything up at that money was either quite new with 200k+ miles or really old and the owner was dreaming with the for sale price.
Then, the saturday before we were due to leave, Sam found an AMG E55 on Autotrader. It was the cheapest one on the web at the time. A quick call to the seller and he was a top bloke. Told us everything that was wrong with the car, was completely honest and invited us down to pull it apart and drive it. So we jumped in the van after a fry up and off we went!
Pic from the ad;
Within 4 hours we were back home with our first ever proper AMG!
First things first, we needed to get it on the ramp and check it over. We were going on a 500 mile trip in 4 days time so we needed to make sure it was all up together. It is. Been very very well looked after. The engine bay doesn't have a single leak of any description and is bone dry from top to bottom. A big difference to the Renaults we normally work on!
A quick call to GSF and oil, oil filter and two air filters were ordered and fitted for the trip.
Next up, after a bit of research and some fail on our part, we cut out the secondary cats and the MASSIVE centre silencer. This has helped make the exhaust sound better but not loud. Far from it in fact!
This was a late night, I think we left the garage at 2am!
I then drove the car to work and spent the afternoon cleaning. I have a bit of a thing for hoovering cars as soon as I buy them, the thought of putting my hands down the side of a chair to find my phone and retrieving someone elses bogeys makes me feel sick....
So I machine polished the whole car, steam cleaned all the carpets, and cleaned all the leather. She looks good for a 15 year old car!!
Next up was a trip to the sticker shop behind my work. £45 later and I was on my way home to meet sam. We had a Pace car to make!
Once that was done it was time to pack the car. Whilst I was waiting for Sam to get a 13mm socket (We had to fit all new clamps on the exhaust after cutting all the silencers out, turns out nobody keeps 75mm clamps in stock! lol. The exhaust is huge!!) I decided that the car looked AWESOME with some weight in it, so took another pic.
We then drove 525 miles from Bristol to LeMans without issue. Ran like a swiss watch the whole way!
We did get searched at customs though. Sam asked if she was looking for his soiled pants but she didn't even crack a smile. I then pretended to be Borat and she looked positively angry!
Search building;
Finally at LeMans, and It's home for the 4 days;
We worked out that over the 1050 miles, it returned us 27-ish mpg. Which for a 1.7T car with a V8 and 350bhp, was pretty bloody good!
So there we have it. We're going to refurb the wheels (Never buy a car in the rain!!) as they look to have been painted using cheese and sticks and really let the car down, then put the old girl up for sale.
