Great answer Blobcat
#3 would be the one i'd want
I would do that first!
Cheers Alexander! I'd certainly be in touch if there's a goer down south
Welcome Nic,
That's my boy
I'm glad you enjoyed the recent thread.. it was a fun experience!
Regarding the V12.. the desire to purchase one of them has really stemmed from the following points and nothing is really due to a comparison of my 500 experience
I have kind of gone off the boil now because I genuinely love the 500 a lot and I would only get a 600 if I had somewhere to store it in doors. Also, while cruising around London in the 500, the fuel needle is in a different place every time I look - which would probably be amplified with the 600. There is also complexity of twin turbos and the possibility of the gearbox causing issue with the amount of torque put out by the engine.
- Rarity and possible increase in value in future
- 500 odd BHP, which can be taken too nearly 600 quite easily - supercar performance!
- A simple fact of bigger being better blah blah - boys will be boys.
That is a nice segway to my opinion on the SL55 vs 500. There is a supercharger in the 55, which is another part to go wrong. '55s also have more amped up breaks and a bunch of other AMG related parts under the hood, which will be more expensive than their 500 counterparts. Like others have said the SL55 will just cost more to repair shall things go wrong. Depending on the car and your mileage you may never have to replace break in your time, or have anything go wrong, so.. your mileage may vary (pardon the pun
I personally love the 500 and it's a nice place to be, without being too greedy! You have a naturally aspirated engine and no beefed up components that may be expensive. Obviously you don't get the AMG experience.. which for some, including me is a major con.. but countered by the former points. For the record i've never actually driving the 55, or even been in an AMG car.....! Some might say thats a good thing. My bank manager for one
But honestly, like all things in the motor world it comes down to budget, which you haven't mentioned really. The R230 is reputed to be one of the most complicated cars around, and I personally feel that has probably suppress the 500 prices, when you compare the price of SLK55 to the 350 and then the SL500 to the 350.
A big factor you haven't mentioned is whether you are a DIYer or will be outsourcing the work. I am a DIYer so was happy enough to take a punt on my R230, the price was good and the colour combo rare. But if I was outsourcing, I probably wouldn't have even started that famous thread. You've probably read this but you will probably need to have a few grand at the ready while you own this car for things that might go wrong. That is mainly regarding the ABC and SBC brakes. For me I am happy to devote a lot of time to research and then DIY fixing, and happy to park the car up for weeks on end until fixed. I think you should really buy the car..for fun and smiles all around, I think much else will really come close for the money. You just really need to have a reality check regarding costs post purchase.
The cars you posted look nice alright.. but remember dealers will always make that so. It's very easy for them to bring the paint/wheels/interior up to a showroom standard. It's underneath that matters...
People will say that you can get an SL for £5000 now, which is great.. but people will also say that buying a cheap SL (£5k) is a recipe for disaster..I say it's more like roulette. With the cars you listed they are all dealer, meaning there is a margin of at least £1k in there so a person let the car go cheap.. you need to ask why.
The SL55 looks too good to be true imho, based on the price. It could be priced due to mileage.. but if it's recently had a new supercharger fitted, I would expect it to be higher.
I personally like #2..
Oh and.. are you aware of the rust issue in the rear arches? When inspecting look out for rust and/or bad repairs. A repair on both arches will start off about £400 and upwards. I was quoted £250 per wheel at one place and £1200 in another, the latter being very professional and would have done a proper job that I wouldn't second guess. If the arches are pristine, they could have been repaired.. but remember there are two levels of repair, cosmetic and structure. The cosmetic repair looks great for a time but untreated rust will come back. Structural repairs will treat the root of the problem and should make the arches good for many years.
- It is effectively a 2004 car (minor point)
- Low miles
- Seems to be daily driven (given mileage) in the last year. Means it's been exercised plenty.
- MOT is just out.. I would expect a fresh MOT if purchased, which should show up any issues after the miles put on in the last year.
- Wheels are nice, like you say.
That's all I can add now.. remember this is all just my opinion.. i'm not an expert by any definition so keep that in mind.
In any case.. just do it!
EDIT: I see you are based in London, that's good so you won't do many miles. I've used my wagon for everything I needed, since January 28th. I'll hit 3k miles since purchase, with a road trip coming up. Also, labour for an indy around here will set you back about £100 per hour (ex. VAT). Keep that in mind.
Thanks Wighty, that's very generous. Sorry didn't clock this earlier, but I'm guessing you're an MB specialist?Whichever you choose , I would be willing at no charge to “take the car out” for the day and file a report of my findings
This isn’t something I would normally offer , but for the right car and because you are new to the forum I’ll make an exception
Thanks Pete.
. ) .
our 3rd SL500 has had a good service record and when it has needed anything the previous owners have had it done, bought at about 107k and had to have a new ABC pump and a level sensor repaired during our 10k ownership over the last year, so again not many issues compared to arm chair critics statistics!!
Fair enough.. In the grand scheme of things I guess it probably wouldn't cost much extra.Only people who don't own an SL 55 or SL 500 as their every day car really don't know the running costs and only exaggerate any problems from a disgruntled owner who has brought a cheap one in the past as all cheap ones we know have many issues. Mainly because the owners have traded it in once the age of the car is passed some of its warranty dates or their hire purchase has ended. The cars then get sold off to new owners who some don't realise that these cars need a little more care around the suspension and ignore issues until they decide to sell them off cheaply and again the cycle starts a down hill spiral leading to all the horror stories.
We have owned the r230 for about 6 years and our first one had a leak from the ABC radiator which was replaced and an ignition switch failure due to a cracked mother board (thanks to johnysbc this was fix) and new disc's and pads. Bought the car at 107k sold at 133k. Second r230 is my SL55 bought at 94k, I will have completed 30k in January after 3 years of ownership and have had a n/f strut replaced, and ABC pump replaced and a ABC strut level sensor replaced over the last 28k of everyday use. I have suffered intermittent loss of performance which has been wrongly diagnosed over the last 2 and a half years from a faulty MAF sensor, throttle pedal, crank pulley, catalytic converters through to spark plugs which have all been replaced to no avail. So with my experience there isn't really any difference between running a 55 compared to a 500, about 2 miles difference in mpg but having a 55 and a 500 you do think that driving the 500 it is a gutless wonder
However our 2005 SL500 is still for sale.
