We love cheap car challenges and that’s why we were quite excited when we saw the folks over at CarThrottle are playing this game again. This time around, Alex, Ethan, and Jack had to find and buy a luxury saloon for no more than £1,000. It had to be road-legal, at least 4.0-litre V8, and fitted with leather seats. Wo-hoo!

After a long research process, the gang had a choice between a total of four cars. A few calls here and there reduced the offerings to just two and finally, the guys bought a Mercedes-Benz S500 for exactly £1,000. What a bargain, especially when you consider the fact that this is a “mega spec” S-Class with absolutely all the bells and whistles you could think about, including a fridge for the rear seats, air suspension (that’s actually working!), and soft closing doors! In fact, the final price was £990.

“Would you take £10 off so I can get it cleaned?”
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In the second episode of the series, CarThrottle got the car to a service shop for a full inspection. How bad can it be? Very bad. The exterior is full of rust on the rear quarter panels and the lower sections of the doors. Add to that oil leak from the rear differential, more rusty points underneath the car, rear suspension components in need of a replacement, some more at the front, a motor oil leak, and a few errors in the car’s control modules. The Mercedes specialists, who inspected the car, gave the guys a repair bill of… £8,150. And that’s the figure without a proper bodywork repair.

Does an old luxury saloon for £1,000 still sound good you?