Thinking of buying a late 2012 SL500 4.7 Biturbo

bembo449

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I think id wait because the market will be desperate to sell cars to get it moving again and that should mean so top bargains to be had
 

brandwooddixon

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I'd certainly be a bit wary at the moment, although the car looks good.
I'd remove that aftermarket badging and can't see any Bluefficiency badges on the front wings, but at least the engine looks right in the video as you can see the turbo induction pipes.

You do need to see the car in person though and started from cold.

I know from experience, the early engines had issues with timing chain adjusters and wear (there is a mod to the oil feeds) and the turbo actuator linkages can wear giving loose wastegate control.
 
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lolboy147

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As it happens I've walked away from it. I do have some natural apprehension about buying "sight unseen" as mentioned by some here but mostly because the dealer wasn't really that interested in doing business with me. I'm currently locked down in France and the deal would need to be that I paid up front and he stored the car for me until I could pick it up. I was using my current car as a P/X but couldn't get it to them quickly enough - so no deal. I thought in the current circumstances they'd be keen to find a solution but apparently not. I'll hold fire now until I'm back in the UK. Thanks again for all your thoughts. Always a good experience when I come on here.
 

John Laidlaw

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As it happens I've walked away from it. I do have some natural apprehension about buying "sight unseen" as mentioned by some here but mostly because the dealer wasn't really that interested in doing business with me. I'm currently locked down in France and the deal would need to be that I paid up front and he stored the car for me until I could pick it up. I was using my current car as a P/X but couldn't get it to them quickly enough - so no deal. I thought in the current circumstances they'd be keen to find a solution but apparently not. I'll hold fire now until I'm back in the UK. Thanks again for all your thoughts. Always a good experience when I come on here.
i'm sure we could do some sleuthing for you if you wanted...:geek:
 

AMGeed

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As you already have an E class, have you considered a W212 E63 Biturbo?
More practical than the SL if you need the seating and bigger boot, much quicker and probably not much more to run and insure.
The price of that SL is into E63 facelift terratory where you'll find one newer than the SL pictured above.
I know which one I'd rather be in. (check avatar:D)

Would any of these tempt you?
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...0&quantity-of-doors=4&fuel-type=Petrol&page=2

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...1&quantity-of-doors=4&fuel-type=Petrol&page=1

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classi...0&quantity-of-doors=4&fuel-type=Petrol&page=2
 

range rover

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Does look like a nice car, but there's no way I'd be sending £25k to someone I don't know for a car I haven't seen. On a couple of occasions I've turned up to look at cars that have looked great in photos to find that they were total sheds. My advice would be not to do it. Anyway from today you can drive anywhere to get some exercise.;)
Are there no 4.7 liter bi turbo drivers on the forum? I quite fancy one myself, the saloon model. Always wondered if the quoted mpg was anywhere near the mark.
 

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Are there no 4.7 liter bi turbo drivers on the forum? I quite fancy one myself, the saloon model. Always wondered if the quoted mpg was anywhere near the mark.
Yes @E500 Pete has an S500
 

peterws1957

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As it happens I've walked away from it. I do have some natural apprehension about buying "sight unseen" as mentioned by some here but mostly because the dealer wasn't really that interested in doing business with me. I'm currently locked down in France and the deal would need to be that I paid up front and he stored the car for me until I could pick it up. I was using my current car as a P/X but couldn't get it to them quickly enough - so no deal. I thought in the current circumstances they'd be keen to find a solution but apparently not. I'll hold fire now until I'm back in the UK. Thanks again for all your thoughts. Always a good experience when I come on here.
Probably wise in the circumstances - no wonder you couldn't get to see it if you're in France! The dealer does seem to have good reviews everywhere you look, so perhaps not as much of a risk as might otherwise have been the case. I suspect that there will be a lot more cars available for sale soon so worth a bit of a wait.
 

brandwooddixon

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Are there no 4.7 liter bi turbo drivers on the forum? I quite fancy one myself, the saloon model. Always wondered if the quoted mpg was anywhere near the mark.
My CL500 is a 4.7 Bi-turbo model.

I find that its mpg is a easily 10% better than my previous CL with the old 5 litre V8 across the board. In a mixed commute of short distance country roads and then lots of stop-start town driving I get 24-25mpg even with me disabling stop-start. Just around town I get about 19 and long motorway journeys easily reach 31 -32 mpg.

I did look at the CL63, but in truth it doesn't give much of a real world performance advantage, but does lumber you with huge bill when you need to change those brake discs and pads.
 

John Laidlaw

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my SL500 was the NA 5.5 V8 and was a thirsty lump compared with my E63 5.5 V8 Bi Turbo too, regularly got 6-7 mpg better and as above I believe the 4.7 is even more efficient
 
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lolboy147

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My CL500 is a 4.7 Bi-turbo model.

I find that its mpg is a easily 10% better than my previous CL with the old 5 litre V8 across the board. In a mixed commute of short distance country roads and then lots of stop-start town driving I get 24-25mpg even with me disabling stop-start. Just around town I get about 19 and long motorway journeys easily reach 31 -32 mpg.

I did look at the CL63, but in truth it doesn't give much of a real world performance advantage, but does lumber you with huge bill when you need to change those brake discs and pads.

Do you rate the engine and the performance the 4.7 Biturbo delivers? I'm too old to be throwing a car into bends (I'd probably get a Cayman if that was what I wanted). I do like some grunt though and a brilliant motorway cruiser - I drive down to the South of France & back 2 or 3 times a year. The engine has good write-ups but I'd be very interested in hearing your views.
 

brandwooddixon

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I really like the engine, performance wise I don't think that its leaves anything to be desired, after all its a sub 5 second to 60 car.
I'm biased towards fast motorway driving, myself, after all these tend to be in big cars and there're better cars available for fun country drives.

The engine and gearbox combination is pretty sweet. I've never noticed any turbo lag during normal driving and even with the gearbox in standard "comfort" mode it gives you a quick car, due to the engine's responsiveness. Its an easy and relaxing drive.

Stick it in "sport" and it becomes a beast - expect to see a traction control light flashing if you floor it at 80mph even in the summer on a dry road.

I've used it for long journeys across the continent and due to the use of turbocharging it's pretty economical once up to speed. It'll easily reach the limited top speed of 155mph if you're on a road that allows for it and you can cruise all day at 120mph without effort.

One point that I'd raise is to disable the stop-start, especially true for long fast journeys. It might sound a bit backwards but when you pull off the motorway, it will stop the engine at the first junction, which can't be good for those hot turbochargers. I try to give mine a couple of minutes to cool down when stopping at services.
 
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lolboy147

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I really like the engine, performance wise I don't think that its leaves anything to be desired, after all its a sub 5 second to 60 car.
I'm biased towards fast motorway driving, myself, after all these tend to be in big cars and there're better cars available for fun country drives.

The engine and gearbox combination is pretty sweet. I've never noticed any turbo lag during normal driving and even with the gearbox in standard "comfort" mode it gives you a quick car, due to the engine's responsiveness. Its an easy and relaxing drive.

Stick it in "sport" and it becomes a beast - expect to see a traction control light flashing if you floor it at 80mph even in the summer on a dry road.

I've used it for long journeys across the continent and due to the use of turbocharging it's pretty economical once up to speed. It'll easily reach the limited top speed of 155mph if you're on a road that allows for it and you can cruise all day at 120mph without effort.

One point that I'd raise is to disable the stop-start, especially true for long fast journeys. It might sound a bit backwards but when you pull off the motorway, it will stop the engine at the first junction, which can't be good for those hot turbochargers. I try to give mine a couple of minutes to cool down when stopping at services.

That's really useful - thanks. It's what I expected and what I want from the car. Can't wait to get home and look for one.
 

range rover

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My CL500 is a 4.7 Bi-turbo model.

I find that its mpg is a easily 10% better than my previous CL with the old 5 litre V8 across the board. In a mixed commute of short distance country roads and then lots of stop-start town driving I get 24-25mpg even with me disabling stop-start. Just around town I get about 19 and long motorway journeys easily reach 31 -32 mpg.

I did look at the CL63, but in truth it doesn't give much of a real world performance advantage, but does lumber you with huge bill when you need to change those brake discs and pads.
Thank you very much for your reply.
 

S500 Pete

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Are there no 4.7 liter bi turbo drivers on the forum? I quite fancy one myself, the saloon model. Always wondered if the quoted mpg was anywhere near the mark.

I've got the 4.7 in my W222 S class. It is fantastic, loads of really smooth power even without revving it hard. Never felt the need to put the gearbox in to sport, except for a bit of curiosity, as it does everything I want without trying hard. The exhaust note on the S class is very subdued which I like but may be louder in an SL. I am averaging about 25mpg on mixed running which with a 2 ton V8 saloon is better than I expected.
I previously had a non turbo E500 and it was good but not a patch on this.
 

range rover

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I've got the 4.7 in my W222 S class. It is fantastic, loads of really smooth power even without revving it hard. Never felt the need to put the gearbox in to sport, except for a bit of curiosity, as it does everything I want without trying hard. The exhaust note on the S class is very subdued which I like but may be louder in an SL. I am averaging about 25mpg on mixed running which with a 2 ton V8 saloon is better than I expected.
I previously had a non turbo E500 and it was good but not a patch on this.
Thank you, very much appreciated.
 

Dean Fletcher

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