High Mileage SL55 AMG...
Discussion
AD77 said:
B.J.W said:
I guess it depends on whether your measured risk is based on something going wrong and you having the funds to sort it, or measured risk based on keeping your fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong - because if it does you don't have the spare cash to fix it?
I could probably find the funds within reason... but would obviously rather not have to so if its likely would avoid the purchase, hence why I am asking for guidance on here as to what the odds of a big spend appearing over the next 15,000 miles/2 years is. Even if it all goes belly up and in a year I am left with an sl55 that has sadly got an issue I would be happy I had a (hopefully!) hell of a year with it and if i get £6000 back I'd view it as a success!
If you would rather avoid the purchase than find the funds then you have answered your own question. You could run the car for 2 years and 15k miles and nothing could go wrong with it..... or it could spit a huge bill at you in 3 months (this is your measured risk). Your odds are 50:50, the same that I applied when I bought my Tuscan. I ran it for 12 months and nothing went wrong. The previous owner spent 11k on a new engine and various other parts. The current owner has had no problems in 12 months, but recently something went pop and he will be presented with a 4 figure bill once it has been sorted.
I can understand the allure of something like the SL55 AMG - would adore one myself. But I'd wager it's capable of delivering you some quite catastrophic maintenance bills. Maybe worth a call to Mercedes-Benz to see what, for example, routine servicing costs and maintenance items such as brakes?
You've got to appreciate that over 100k and you're going to start getting into the realm of replacing worn components. I mean, I dread to think what something like a new exhaust system might cost for example!
You've got to appreciate that over 100k and you're going to start getting into the realm of replacing worn components. I mean, I dread to think what something like a new exhaust system might cost for example!
Chicane-UK said:
I mean, I dread to think what something like a new exhaust system might cost for example!
Perfect opportunity to put an even better sounding exhaust on! 
I have no problem with costs for routine servicing- I am solely concerned about the larger one off fixing major issues sort of costs... I will have a look to see if I can find anyon who has had one running over 100,000 miles... otherwise i guess I will be a pioneer
Considered Z4M with fewer miles etc. but hard top is a must and I agree with PHAB...
AD77 said:
Chicane-UK said:
I mean, I dread to think what something like a new exhaust system might cost for example!
Perfect opportunity to put an even better sounding exhaust on! I have no problem with costs for routine servicing- I am solely concerned about the larger one off fixing major issues sort of costs... I will have a look to see if I can find anyon who has had one running over 100,000 miles... otherwise i guess I will be a pioneer
Considered Z4M with fewer miles etc. but hard top is a must and I agree with PHAB...
miln0039 said:
PHAB said:
miln0039 said:
Your budget picks you up a decent Z4M....less potential pain...and less whiff of old fart.
Strong odour of hairdresser though, esp a rag top which I'm assuming is the point of this exercise!Get in a SL, get approving looks and feel like a REAL man.
No contest.
miln0039 said:
Why is hard top a must?! What's wrong with canvass? You're only doing 4k miles a year!!!
It will be parked on the road alot of the time, not in a garage and also I feel longer journeys when they do occur will be more pleasant if i can have hard top. I also prefer teh look.
I had a similar choice to the OP, wanted a hard top and something stupid for a year or two before getting sensible and buying an elise / boxster / hot hatch.
Thought a convertible might be a pleasant change.
Dived in and bought a 2002 SL55 with 36K miles. For what it's worth after 14K and 18 months later my conclusions are:
- servicing really isn't THAT bad. It's not great but if you do some homework and accept it's an expensive car this really isn't a problem. Personally I wouldn't rely on any warranty or dealer back-up, I'd just put the cash aside that I've saved and accept that I'll be spending it at some point.
- tyres really do cost a grand. Cheaper tyres that my car came with were generally fine but gave me a couple of scares in the middle of winter on backroads. Just not worth the saving IMHO as it affected the way I drove afterwards which spoiled things for me until I stuck new tyres on.
- check absolutely everything when you buy the car. Anything that doesn't work will cost a fortune to fix.
- having said that, I've had a couple of unexpected issues that together have cost me c1600 to fix. Painful but I remember eventually spending a grand fixing a problem with an engine on a 1.2 Punto. Now that still hurts.
- Single figure mpg inside M25, mid 20s on a motorway. About 17mpg if driven moderately briskly on motorway / open A roads. If you're doing 4000 miles a year who cares?
I don't regret getting the car for a second. On a trip to Scotland in March it gave me one of the best drives of my life - roof down and heated seats on in a national park it was blisteringly quick, secure on bumpy roads, sounded absolutely immense and comfortable enough to do 7 hours driving. Plus the air suspension means ferry ramps and sleeping policemen are no issue at all. Passengers love the air conditioned massaging seats too, not something I cared about but a bonus when you're trying to persuade someone else to take a long trip by car....
Thought a convertible might be a pleasant change.
Dived in and bought a 2002 SL55 with 36K miles. For what it's worth after 14K and 18 months later my conclusions are:
- servicing really isn't THAT bad. It's not great but if you do some homework and accept it's an expensive car this really isn't a problem. Personally I wouldn't rely on any warranty or dealer back-up, I'd just put the cash aside that I've saved and accept that I'll be spending it at some point.
- tyres really do cost a grand. Cheaper tyres that my car came with were generally fine but gave me a couple of scares in the middle of winter on backroads. Just not worth the saving IMHO as it affected the way I drove afterwards which spoiled things for me until I stuck new tyres on.
- check absolutely everything when you buy the car. Anything that doesn't work will cost a fortune to fix.
- having said that, I've had a couple of unexpected issues that together have cost me c1600 to fix. Painful but I remember eventually spending a grand fixing a problem with an engine on a 1.2 Punto. Now that still hurts.
- Single figure mpg inside M25, mid 20s on a motorway. About 17mpg if driven moderately briskly on motorway / open A roads. If you're doing 4000 miles a year who cares?
I don't regret getting the car for a second. On a trip to Scotland in March it gave me one of the best drives of my life - roof down and heated seats on in a national park it was blisteringly quick, secure on bumpy roads, sounded absolutely immense and comfortable enough to do 7 hours driving. Plus the air suspension means ferry ramps and sleeping policemen are no issue at all. Passengers love the air conditioned massaging seats too, not something I cared about but a bonus when you're trying to persuade someone else to take a long trip by car....
CliveM said:
I had a similar choice to the OP, wanted a hard top and something stupid for a year or two before getting sensible and buying an elise / boxster / hot hatch.
Thought a convertible might be a pleasant change.
Dived in and bought a 2002 SL55 with 36K miles. For what it's worth after 14K and 18 months later my conclusions are:
- servicing really isn't THAT bad. It's not great but if you do some homework and accept it's an expensive car this really isn't a problem. Personally I wouldn't rely on any warranty or dealer back-up, I'd just put the cash aside that I've saved and accept that I'll be spending it at some point.
- tyres really do cost a grand. Cheaper tyres that my car came with were generally fine but gave me a couple of scares in the middle of winter on backroads. Just not worth the saving IMHO as it affected the way I drove afterwards which spoiled things for me until I stuck new tyres on.
- check absolutely everything when you buy the car. Anything that doesn't work will cost a fortune to fix.
- having said that, I've had a couple of unexpected issues that together have cost me c1600 to fix. Painful but I remember eventually spending a grand fixing a problem with an engine on a 1.2 Punto. Now that still hurts.
- Single figure mpg inside M25, mid 20s on a motorway. About 17mpg if driven moderately briskly on motorway / open A roads. If you're doing 4000 miles a year who cares?
I don't regret getting the car for a second. On a trip to Scotland in March it gave me one of the best drives of my life - roof down and heated seats on in a national park it was blisteringly quick, secure on bumpy roads, sounded absolutely immense and comfortable enough to do 7 hours driving. Plus the air suspension means ferry ramps and sleeping policemen are no issue at all. Passengers love the air conditioned massaging seats too, not something I cared about but a bonus when you're trying to persuade someone else to take a long trip by car....
Thank you for such a detailed answer... Obvioulsy I am more prone to enjoy the positive answers (!) but to hear from someone who has done similar, albeit a far lower mileage case, is very handy. I'm more than ready for standard costs- TBH my s3 costs nearly £250 a tyre and mpg is mid 20's on motorway, sub 20's around town and that was in the days of far higher mileage so I am ready to absorb these costs adn as you say don't really give a damn about MPG for such small mileage, fuel bills will be less overall than doign 16k a year in s3! Likewise, if just one or two issues occured in the 2 years beyond the norm and I had to fork out a one off £1,000 a time I would recover and still view it a worthwhile escapade... It's just the worry of the whole lot falling to bits and before i know it i need to spend £5,000 in one go to carry on using my car!Thought a convertible might be a pleasant change.
Dived in and bought a 2002 SL55 with 36K miles. For what it's worth after 14K and 18 months later my conclusions are:
- servicing really isn't THAT bad. It's not great but if you do some homework and accept it's an expensive car this really isn't a problem. Personally I wouldn't rely on any warranty or dealer back-up, I'd just put the cash aside that I've saved and accept that I'll be spending it at some point.
- tyres really do cost a grand. Cheaper tyres that my car came with were generally fine but gave me a couple of scares in the middle of winter on backroads. Just not worth the saving IMHO as it affected the way I drove afterwards which spoiled things for me until I stuck new tyres on.
- check absolutely everything when you buy the car. Anything that doesn't work will cost a fortune to fix.
- having said that, I've had a couple of unexpected issues that together have cost me c1600 to fix. Painful but I remember eventually spending a grand fixing a problem with an engine on a 1.2 Punto. Now that still hurts.
- Single figure mpg inside M25, mid 20s on a motorway. About 17mpg if driven moderately briskly on motorway / open A roads. If you're doing 4000 miles a year who cares?
I don't regret getting the car for a second. On a trip to Scotland in March it gave me one of the best drives of my life - roof down and heated seats on in a national park it was blisteringly quick, secure on bumpy roads, sounded absolutely immense and comfortable enough to do 7 hours driving. Plus the air suspension means ferry ramps and sleeping policemen are no issue at all. Passengers love the air conditioned massaging seats too, not something I cared about but a bonus when you're trying to persuade someone else to take a long trip by car....
Out of interest CliveM, why do you say to put cash aside rather than rely on Warranty?
That looks to be a good buy. Most prefer the darker leather but I think it looks fine with the blue paint.
If the service history is complete (there are various items that have a 2 or 4 year replacement cycle that can add up to an expensive service) it looks very good value too.
Re Warranty - it's probably just personal prejudice. I can't stand the thought of having to argue about exclusions with a warranty company. I haven't got the time or the patience. In the long run the warranty company has to make money so it must collect more money than it pays out. As long as you can cover £5k as an absolute worst case scenario it's not worth it in my opinion.
All personal preference though, you may have a different attitude. I put £5k to one side and stopped worrying about things, others will prefer to pay for a warranty and stop worrying - whatever works for you.
If the service history is complete (there are various items that have a 2 or 4 year replacement cycle that can add up to an expensive service) it looks very good value too.
Re Warranty - it's probably just personal prejudice. I can't stand the thought of having to argue about exclusions with a warranty company. I haven't got the time or the patience. In the long run the warranty company has to make money so it must collect more money than it pays out. As long as you can cover £5k as an absolute worst case scenario it's not worth it in my opinion.
All personal preference though, you may have a different attitude. I put £5k to one side and stopped worrying about things, others will prefer to pay for a warranty and stop worrying - whatever works for you.
I have the CL600 and yes they can be expensive, but as everyone as said, go into it with your eyes open and find a good specialist and things are that bad.
Your biggest potential cost will be the ABC suspension - it WILL fail at some point. I spent £1000 on a new main hose but fortunately Merc contributed towards it.
Beautiful cars
Your biggest potential cost will be the ABC suspension - it WILL fail at some point. I spent £1000 on a new main hose but fortunately Merc contributed towards it.
Beautiful cars
Forgive me if im way off the mark - but would a Porsche of some kind not do a lot of the SL55 type stuff.
Granted they have their issues as well - but something like a Boxster or 911 is a cool thing.
Do forgive me though - ive been taking too much notice of the white 911 that greets us all on the log in icon in the members section of this forum.
Its good to look at all potential options though.
Sir Fergie
Granted they have their issues as well - but something like a Boxster or 911 is a cool thing.
Do forgive me though - ive been taking too much notice of the white 911 that greets us all on the log in icon in the members section of this forum.
Its good to look at all potential options though.
Sir Fergie
Sir Fergie said:
Forgive me if im way off the mark - but would a Porsche of some kind not do a lot of the SL55 type stuff.
Granted they have their issues as well - but something like a Boxster or 911 is a cool thing.
Do forgive me though - ive been taking too much notice of the white 911 that greets us all on the log in icon in the members section of this forum.
Its good to look at all potential options though.
Sir Fergie
Im afraid as mad as it may sound my priorities lie in funny places with reliability being low down the order! I'm after a lovely sound in a good looking, fast car- sure the Porsches are a great drive and great fun but I find they just dont excite me as much as they should before i've even got behind the wheel... no doubt here comes a tirade of Porsche owners telling me how wrong I am!Granted they have their issues as well - but something like a Boxster or 911 is a cool thing.
Do forgive me though - ive been taking too much notice of the white 911 that greets us all on the log in icon in the members section of this forum.
Its good to look at all potential options though.
Sir Fergie
Sir Fergie said:
Forgive me if im way off the mark - but would a Porsche of some kind not do a lot of the SL55 type stuff.
Granted they have their issues as well - but something like a Boxster or 911 is a cool thing.
Do forgive me though - ive been taking too much notice of the white 911 that greets us all on the log in icon in the members section of this forum.
Its good to look at all potential options though.
Sir Fergie
But the supercharged V8 sounds a lot better than the flat 6 in the 911, even the turbo.Granted they have their issues as well - but something like a Boxster or 911 is a cool thing.
Do forgive me though - ive been taking too much notice of the white 911 that greets us all on the log in icon in the members section of this forum.
Its good to look at all potential options though.
Sir Fergie
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