Big engined AMG/other V8 Merc, road to ruin?

[GreenArrow]

So leaving my job with a chunk of money in 5 weeks time, I keep getting drawn to big engine V8 Mercs, which are some of my dream cars, tbh....have always fancied either a C55AMG, or E55/63 and they represent a huge amount of car for the cash. Heck, even the rare E500 appeals, £8K buys one with 40K miles on it. However, I cant help thinking I would end up being bankrupted by the running costs...aside from MPG (I only do 12K miles a year), what are they like in terms of bills as the miles rack up?

[ArmaghMan]

Hi GA,
Was very much in the same boat as you, this time last year. Had an M5 but wanted an auto so was in the market for an AMG.
At first I was going to go for an E55K but after reading many articles (Google is your friend) I was put off by the stories of supercharger problems.
It seemed quite common and expensive to rectify.
So I plumped for an original E55 and love it. Bought the absolute best one I could find. Lovely motor, sounds great and is a real joy to drive.

[SFO]

ArmaghMan said:

I was put off by the stories of supercharger problems.

this happens when cars are chipped

standard cars have no real supercharger problems

if there is, it's cheap fix .. new pump at around 300 quid fitted

AMG V8s, if looked after, are pretty much bullet proof

I had a CLK 55 for about 4 years, did around 40k miles, and no problems at all

I have had my current CLS55 for 5.5 years, around 50k miles, and no problems at all

AMG V8s tend to sweat oil on the rocker covers, but again, cheap fix. remove and reseal.

[Four Litre]

I had a C55 - much cheaper to run than my audi S4 by a longshot. Never went wrong and seemed very well put together.

I would steer clear of anything with air suspension, of loads of electric gubbins as these appear to be the expensive weak spots.

[ZX10R NIN]

The N/A AMG's are reasonable to maintain & low on problems the supercharged cars cost more to run if you want a nice AMG look for a C55 or a CLK55 although finding a good one for 8k will prove a harder task.

[SimesJH]

Our 2000 W210 E55 estate has been an easy car to own and run in just over 5 years of ownership.

They're not blidingly fast, but are very quick and rather subdued unless pushed. I like this dual character of them, though.

The one thing to be careful of is how low the front spoiler can be as it's easily damaged.

As above, buy the best you can. These are rare cars and worth preserving properly.

[GreenArrow]

ArmaghMan said:

Hi GA,
Was very much in the same boat as you, this time last year. Had an M5 but wanted an auto so was in the market for an AMG.
At first I was going to go for an E55K but after reading many articles (Google is your friend) I was put off by the stories of supercharger problems.
It seemed quite common and expensive to rectify.
So I plumped for an original E55 and love it. Bought the absolute best one I could find. Lovely motor, sounds great and is a real joy to drive.

interesting..as I was looking at an Autotrader ad earlier for a nice looking E55 AMG that's been for sale for ages in ayshire. They want 5 grand for it and to be honest at that price I cant see it ever depreciating as these cars are surely rock bottom price.

Equally the C55 I saw earlier for £12K looked tempting at a trader not too far from me. Apparently they only imported about 250 of these cars...

I love the CLS55AMG too.....! worry that being more complex it could cost a bit and also it might be just a little bit toooo fast for me!

[ZX10R NIN]

GreenArrow said:

interesting..as I was looking at an Autotrader ad earlier for a nice looking E55 AMG that's been for sale for ages in ayshire. They want 5 grand for it and to be honest at that price I cant see it ever depreciating as these cars are surely rock bottom price.

Equally the C55 I saw earlier for £12K looked tempting at a trader not too far from me. Apparently they only imported about 250 of these cars...

I love the CLS55AMG too.....! worry that being more complex it could cost a bit and also it might be just a little bit toooo fast for me!

I'll be selling my CLK55 AMG soon PM mr for details, it's had some of the choice mods already carried out, only selling as it looks like I'm going to my 06 one back.

[AC43]

GreenArrow said:

ArmaghMan said:

Hi GA,
Was very much in the same boat as you, this time last year. Had an M5 but wanted an auto so was in the market for an AMG.
At first I was going to go for an E55K but after reading many articles (Google is your friend) I was put off by the stories of supercharger problems.
It seemed quite common and expensive to rectify.
So I plumped for an original E55 and love it. Bought the absolute best one I could find. Lovely motor, sounds great and is a real joy to drive.

interesting..as I was looking at an Autotrader ad earlier for a nice looking E55 AMG that's been for sale for ages in ayshire. They want 5 grand for it and to be honest at that price I cant see it ever depreciating as these cars are surely rock bottom price.

Equally the C55 I saw earlier for £12K looked tempting at a trader not too far from me. Apparently they only imported about 250 of these cars...

I love the CLS55AMG too.....! worry that being more complex it could cost a bit and also it might be just a little bit toooo fast for me!

They fall into various categories IMHO

The W210 E55, the early CLK 55 and the C43 are relatively simple but these days can be prone to rust

The C55 and the later CLK 55's are still relatively simple but don't rust

The W211 E55 and equivalent CLS have air suspension and far more complex electronics which make people nervous

The CL and SL 55's add ABC suspension and, in the case of the SL, a complex roof mechanism which makes people even more nervous

FWIW I had two C43's which have me no mechanical or eletcrical issues but both of which rusted - one when I had it and the other two owners later.

I now have an E500 on 135k and so far all the electronics and air suspension have been fine.

The least risky of all, IMHO, are the C55's and later CLK 55's. Backed up by a fella I know who runs a Merc workshop who went from a C43 to a C55 rather than something with a 55K motor as he felt there was far less to go wrong. Not with the motor, rather with the rest of it.

Will thinks go wrong? Who knows? They are often fine. But often expensive to diagnose and fix if they do.

Edited by AC43 on Friday 13th November 13:38

[SFO]

55K 'issues' are not catastrophic.

1. SBC pump (brakes): may need replacing. Cost around £1000
2. air struts: seems to affect cars >100k miles. New units from MB are around £800 each fitted.

Apart from the above, nothing more compared to the C55 or later CLK55s

[GreenArrow]

ZX10R NIN said:

GreenArrow said:

interesting..as I was looking at an Autotrader ad earlier for a nice looking E55 AMG that's been for sale for ages in ayshire. They want 5 grand for it and to be honest at that price I cant see it ever depreciating as these cars are surely rock bottom price.

Equally the C55 I saw earlier for £12K looked tempting at a trader not too far from me. Apparently they only imported about 250 of these cars...

I love the CLS55AMG too.....! worry that being more complex it could cost a bit and also it might be just a little bit toooo fast for me!

I'll be selling my CLK55 AMG soon PM mr for details, it's had some of the choice mods already carried out, only selling as it looks like I'm going to my 06 one back.

That'd be tempting, but sadly, I really do need four doors for my family wagon. If it were a C55 I'd be extremely interested!

[edc]

I changed jobs over the summer and back went the company car so for my practical car and drive to station when it's tipping down in winter I got a C55 AMG. There are so few for sale that you can't be too picky. I wanted black and less than 70k miles. I got silver with 82k miles. To be perfectly frank it's a complete waste of money for me as I dont think I have done more than 500 miles since getting it! That said I bought partly with the aim of staying quite static on my initial purchase cash. I prefer the softer exterior lines of this generation of C class than the later more aggressive ones. It's off for a atf fluid change next month and I will do new front brakes next summer.

[DKL]

Our s211 e55 is superb. We've had it 3 months now and done about 2k miles. We've had a couple of niggles and there are a couple more to fix but as family transport it is great. The 2 main areas have been mentioned and you can keep these costs down by doing it carefully. The engine is brilliant and speed of progress equally so.
Again supply is very limited - I've only seen about 3 more for sale since I bought mine. I wanted black and 100k miles and got silver and 115 but it doesn't really matter.
Don't drive the 211 if you want a 210 - the extra 100+bhp will make a difference!

[AMGSee55]

GreenArrow said:

ZX10R NIN said:

GreenArrow said:

interesting..as I was looking at an Autotrader ad earlier for a nice looking E55 AMG that's been for sale for ages in ayshire. They want 5 grand for it and to be honest at that price I cant see it ever depreciating as these cars are surely rock bottom price.

Equally the C55 I saw earlier for £12K looked tempting at a trader not too far from me. Apparently they only imported about 250 of these cars...

I love the CLS55AMG too.....! worry that being more complex it could cost a bit and also it might be just a little bit toooo fast for me!

I'll be selling my CLK55 AMG soon PM mr for details, it's had some of the choice mods already carried out, only selling as it looks like I'm going to my 06 one back.

That'd be tempting, but sadly, I really do need four doors for my family wagon. If it were a C55 I'd be extremely interested!

Love my C55 to bits - http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-carpool/mer... will provide some background on ease of running etc

[GreenArrow]

Very good read

What would probably put me off this sort of car ultimately, is the MPG. Its going to be a daily driver/family car and I am not sure I could stomach 20/21 MPG...even at my modest annual mileage of around 11K....

A better compromise then is perhaps after all one of the V6 petrols, or, a C320CDI with a superchips remap, which will probably be as quick as a V8 in daily driving.....

..but then another part of me says, "what the heck, you only live once...!"

[ZX10R NIN]

Get the V8 have some fun with it, if it's costing to much to run then sell it but at least you'll have run one for 6-12 months.

If you get a V6 then I'd go down the diesel route although with some exhaust mods the V6's can sound good.

[AMGSee55]

GreenArrow said:

Very good read

What would probably put me off this sort of car ultimately, is the MPG. Its going to be a daily driver/family car and I am not sure I could stomach 20/21 MPG...even at my modest annual mileage of around 11K....

A better compromise then is perhaps after all one of the V6 petrols, or, a C320CDI with a superchips remap, which will probably be as quick as a V8 in daily driving.....

..but then another part of me says, "what the heck, you only live once...!"

Your point on the fuel consumption is a fair one, but I can't imagine there is a huge difference compared to a petrol 320 if both were driven in a spirited fashion, perhaps 25-26mpg average?? the 320cdi would presumably crack 30mpg but what a remap would do to that I don't know.

[SFO]

55K mpg in town traffic is around 14 ..

on long journeys at high speeds around 22mpg.

[rgv250ads]

excellent E55k article in the recent edition of modern classics magazine.

V8 fight club is the article.

https://www.facebook.com/modernclassicsmagazine/

[edc]

Just did 170 miles in a C55 of 2 return journeys. Mainly A and M way but hoofing it between roundabouts etc and averaged 24.6. That could easily be high 20s if driven vaguely sensibly.