Agreed on the mileage - better a high miler that has been well serviced and spent most of its life in top gear on the motorway than the low mileage school taxi that never got out of third and never gets warmed up properly. Bought my first Lexus GS300 with a 100K on the clock, now 6 years on sold to friends with 205K (mostly motorway) and running absolutely perfectly. Just bought a 2008 MB CLS 320CDI with 120K on the clock and previously it was a company car and then an owner who mostly used it for trips to Kosovo - runs like a dream, no error codes and feels like a new car still.
As far as stone chips is concerned - and I say is rather than arebecause my late 2009 3.0D has just a single chip on the bonnet, and the mileage rolled over to 80,000 last week - mostly motorway miles.
However, on changing a number plate bulb the other week I was horrified to see a line of rust on the boot lid, breaking through the paint in parts, where the top edge of the wide chrome strip adjoins the boot lid. Pointed it out to the main dealer a week or two back when it was in for an air-con service (which worked brilliantly, btw) and, sadly, it's outside the 6 year paint warranty data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7. Been quoted about £250 to repair it from an independent data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7.
As to spec, I've been looking at changing it for the facelift model from about July 2011 on, 3 litre again, and I agree that there isn't much to distinguish the Portfolio over and above the Premium Luxury - although it's a couple or more insurance groups higher. I'd settle for the premium luxury myself, but definitely the S engine.
Just my two penn'orth data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Doesn't the portfolio have the bowers and wilkens sound system? I would love that data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Yep, and also on the PL but thinks that's optional.
Depends on the age, they are Meridian now.
It was standard on the portfolio on the pre face lift model. My PL doesn't have it unfortunately.
That bootlid rust issue is a common one.
Thanks for the input larkone. Nice to see you other than in the audio section data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Cheers Mike. Another for the check list.
I also call up my insurance to see how much it cost and the quote the for S Portfolio came back slightly cheaper than the S Premium Luxury by £10. Go figure data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Yeah - starting to get bored with the audio area as it seems to be endless questions on how do I connect some 20 year speakers I got in a car boot to my £50 Asda mini system or arguing the merits of how selectively intelligent copper can be if you pay thousands a metre for it. //static.avforums.com/styles/avf/smilies/facepalm.gif
I hear that. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7