SLK 55 AMG.....do prices come down in winter?

SLK 55 AMG.....do prices come down in winter?

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Discussion

fizz47

Original Poster:

2,663 posts

209 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all
So I'm 99% sure I want to get an SLK 55 AMG.

My initial budget was 15k but if I need to increase it slightly I can.

Looking at what's available right now it seems 15k will put me in a 2005/ 06 model.

Will prices fall as winter comes? Is it a myth?

Likely to be more availability?


Any pointers or advice ?

Terryrussell1952

6 posts

136 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all
I looked at these as well later last year, yes they do come down a bit from the research I did. I decided on an slk 350 instead for exactly the money you are talking about, a facelift late 2009 model with the updated engine (305) with 17k on the clock and don't regret it at all. Also get about 32 to the gallon.

buzzer

3,533 posts

239 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all
They are great cars...

A couple of points... early cars are much cheaper VED

Early cars with 6 pot calipers have very expensive discs (around £1200 from Mercedes, but there are work rounds to the original discs

here is a picture of mine taken last month in the Llanberis area :-)

and a link to my website page

https://jtccc.wordpress.com/our-cars/mercedes-slk/







turbobloke

103,742 posts

259 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all
In general I've found that not only do prices of V8 MBs (and BMWs) come down over winter, but the drop is greater ooop north using a line drawn between Peterborough and Birmingham as cut-off.

Smokey32

359 posts

92 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all
Gorgeous slk bezzer, what a colour that is.

Im hoping to get a slk55 in a few years, bit too impracticle at the mo as a lone car so ill keep my c55.

The discs are only expensive if you have the p30 performace pack option fitted as there 2 peice discs. I have the same brakes fitted to my w203. You can pick up the discs and pads off ebay for about 900quid from merc dealer. Not too bad.

The p30 discs are 360mm and 32mm thick. The others are 340mm and 30mm thick. If in doubt check with mb with your vin number.

The p30 should be identical to the clk63 which is what ive got.

Dont know of many problems with them, the engine and box are pretty much bombproof. I love the front end on these.

Edited by Smokey32 on Saturday 27th August 18:43

fizz47

Original Poster:

2,663 posts

209 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all

Thanks for the replies so far.

@buzzer -love the colour of the car

Most of the cars I have seen so far are black or silver - very littler variation . Like black but would prefer something different.


Is it worth spending a little extra for a facelift version?


Smokey32

359 posts

92 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
quotequote all
Not sure on differences between facelift. Like said u might find later cars have the much smaller brakes.

The colour you want: with the history and condition wud be more important.

slk 32

1,486 posts

192 months

Sunday 28th August 2016
quotequote all
It's a real shame that more people didn't opt for the designo colour options when new, I guess it was down to the cost. I initially wanted a mocha black example (metallic black with brown and gold flake) but couldn't find one. Years ago I saw a yellow gold colour one (think it was called chablis) which looked quite nice.

Ultimately I would recommend buying on condition , the oldest cars are pushing 12 years old now

the earlier (pre April 2006) cars have lower VED and for the first 18 months of production had the larger 6 pot brakes . Some people prefer the all black interior but for me I wanted the duotone to make it a bit less funereal.

Some people have encountered trouble with the folding roof, mine had receipts for £800 worth of work before I bought it but it's been fine in the 4 years since.

I would make sure the transmission fluid has been changed at 40k , if it's not been done it would show a fairly cavalier attitude to maintainance and i'd walk away




Edited by slk 32 on Sunday 28th August 10:48

Mr M

1,272 posts

201 months

Sunday 28th August 2016
quotequote all
I would try and increase your budget if possible. With hindsight I should have probably had a 19k budget when I was looking at the end of 2014 but I also bought from an atrocious dealer which didn't help. That said I've sorted the car out but there are still things I need to do. I'd suggest though that you should start around 18k. Worth it as they are lovely cars.

buzzer

3,533 posts

239 months

Sunday 28th August 2016
quotequote all
slk 32 said:
It's a real shame that more people didn't opt for the designo colour options when new, I guess it was down to the cost. I initially wanted a mocha black example (metallic black with brown and gold flake) but couldn't find one. Years ago I saw a yellow gold colour one (think it was called chablis) which looked quite nice.

Ultimately I would recommend buying on condition , the oldest cars are pushing 12 years old now

the earlier (pre April 2006) cars have lower VED and for the first 18 months of production had the larger 6 pot brakes . Some people prefer the all black interior but for me I wanted the duotone to make it a bit less funereal.

Some people have encountered trouble with the folding roof, mine had receipts for £800 worth of work before I bought it but it's been fine in the 4 years since.

I would make sure the transmission fluid has been changed at 40k , if it's not been done it would show a fairly cavalier attitude to maintainance and i'd walk away




Edited by slk 32 on Sunday 28th August 10:55
re the fluid change at 40k... I was talking to an Auto Gearbox independent a while ago and the subject of changing auto trans fluid came up. He did work for several taxi companies with quite large fleets and he was saying that the owner of one taxi firm started to have the oil on the gearboxes of their Mercedes Autos changed every 50k miles, which cost wise is a fair commitment.

He was saying that although they still had a few issues, the majority were well over 300k miles before they had problems, where as without changes, they seem to fail around 150 to 200K. overall, he felt the investment in changing the oil was worth it.

the other thing he said was the amount of people that came in with auto problems and asked for an oil change, thinking this would cure the problem..., but a change often made it worse!

one other thing he told me was the amount of problems he had seen as a direct result of using cheap filters... He said he only used Mercedes or OEM filters.

MattyB_

2,008 posts

256 months

Wednesday 31st August 2016
quotequote all
If I was buying another, I'd be looking at this, but it's a little overpriced, reg LX55 OGD for any future searches:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

It's got full Bilstein suspension upgrade (£1500) and a Quaiffe diff (£1800!) but it's not mentioned in the advert. It was formally owned by an SLKWorld member before the last so it's history is known. It was up for sale privately around £14k then the dealer snapped it up. The mods obviously aren't mentioned so chances are, the new owner will never know or declare them.

Edit - also has uprated headers, X-pipe and 2nd cat replacement.

Edit2 - 99% sure it's the same car.

Edited by MattyB_ on Wednesday 31st August 00:36

MattyB_

2,008 posts

256 months

Wednesday 31st August 2016
quotequote all

Just my 2p for the buying guide:

IMPORTANT - look at loads, and I mean loads. Ignore price + mileage, some of the worst ones I saw were the most expensive and lowest mileage, the best one I saw (and bought) was the lowest price and the highest mileage. In all the performance cars I've bought over the years, I've never seen such a massive variation in price/mileage/condition as I did when searching for an SLK. In fact, I nearly gave up.

As mentioned, history is essential, and even though mine had FMBSH, and required gearbox oil changes, the gearbox still s**t its biscuits and cost £2500 to fix. Find a good indie to look after it, and they're fairly reliable cars, but it's still a £50k Mercedes AMG, so it's not cheap to run, but relatively speaking, it's about as cheap as AMG's get.

Lastly, haggle hard. SLK55's seem to hang around a lot. You get the odd bargain which disappears quickly, but I struggled to sell mine (and spoke to others who said the same) as the demand for these cars is pretty low. It's a shame they get overlooked in the performance car market, as they're bloody brilliant.

fizz47

Original Poster:

2,663 posts

209 months

Wednesday 31st August 2016
quotequote all
MattyB_ said:
Just my 2p for the buying guide:

IMPORTANT - look at loads, and I mean loads. Ignore price + mileage, some of the worst ones I saw were the most expensive and lowest mileage, the best one I saw (and bought) was the lowest price and the highest mileage. In all the performance cars I've bought over the years, I've never seen such a massive variation in price/mileage/condition as I did when searching for an SLK. In fact, I nearly gave up.

As mentioned, history is essential, and even though mine had FMBSH, and required gearbox oil changes, the gearbox still s**t its biscuits and cost £2500 to fix. Find a good indie to look after it, and they're fairly reliable cars, but it's still a £50k Mercedes AMG, so it's not cheap to run, but relatively speaking, it's about as cheap as AMG's get.

Lastly, haggle hard. SLK55's seem to hang around a lot. You get the odd bargain which disappears quickly, but I struggled to sell mine (and spoke to others who said the same) as the demand for these cars is pretty low. It's a shame they get overlooked in the performance car market, as they're bloody brilliant.
Thanks for the tips- I would have snapped up that blue one if it was private sale.

If you hear of anything else similar for sale - would love to know if your still in touch with owners etc.


fizz47

Original Poster:

2,663 posts

209 months

Wednesday 31st August 2016
quotequote all
MattyB_ said:
Just my 2p for the buying guide:

IMPORTANT - look at loads, and I mean loads. Ignore price + mileage, some of the worst ones I saw were the most expensive and lowest mileage, the best one I saw (and bought) was the lowest price and the highest mileage. In all the performance cars I've bought over the years, I've never seen such a massive variation in price/mileage/condition as I did when searching for an SLK. In fact, I nearly gave up.

As mentioned, history is essential, and even though mine had FMBSH, and required gearbox oil changes, the gearbox still s**t its biscuits and cost £2500 to fix. Find a good indie to look after it, and they're fairly reliable cars, but it's still a £50k Mercedes AMG, so it's not cheap to run, but relatively speaking, it's about as cheap as AMG's get.

Lastly, haggle hard. SLK55's seem to hang around a lot. You get the odd bargain which disappears quickly, but I struggled to sell mine (and spoke to others who said the same) as the demand for these cars is pretty low. It's a shame they get overlooked in the performance car market, as they're bloody brilliant.
Thanks for the tips- I would have snapped up that blue one if it was private sale.

If you hear of anything else similar for sale - would love to know if your still in touch with owners etc.


DamnKraut

456 posts

98 months

Thursday 1st September 2016
quotequote all
Smokey32 said:
Not sure on differences between facelift. Like said u might find later cars have the much smaller brakes.

The colour you want: with the history and condition wud be more important.
Differences between introduction of the 171 SLK55 and the facelift were minimal.

@OP: if needed I can look those up for you from the German SLK community website.

Smokey32

359 posts

92 months

Thursday 1st September 2016
quotequote all
MattyB_ said:
If I was buying another, I'd be looking at this, but it's a little overpriced, reg LX55 OGD for any future searches:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

It's got full Bilstein suspension upgrade (£1500) and a Quaiffe diff (£1800!) but it's not mentioned in the advert. It was formally owned by an SLKWorld member before the last so it's history is known. It was up for sale privately around £14k then the dealer snapped it up. The mods obviously aren't mentioned so chances are, the new owner will never know or declare them.

If its the same car it has some very nice and expensive mods on it. What make are the

Edit - also has uprated headers, X-pipe and 2nd cat replacement.

Edit2 - 99% sure it's the same car.

Edited by MattyB_ on Wednesday 31st August 00:36
If its the same car those are some very nice sought after mods. What make are the headers? Probly worth around 16k imo 18k is too rich.


MattyB_

2,008 posts

256 months

Thursday 1st September 2016
quotequote all
Smokey32 said:
If its the same car those are some very nice sought after mods. What make are the headers? Probly worth around 16k imo 18k is too rich.
They're AMS headers (according to his post on SLKWorld). About 10HP gain and said it wasn't worth the outlay.

I wanted to buy his car, but I'd given up searching for a decent SLK55 at the time and had just bought a VXR8 instead - I was gutted, as it was exactly the car I was looking for! I agree £18k is way too much, £16k, absolutely £17k tops.

fizz47

Original Poster:

2,663 posts

209 months

Thursday 1st September 2016
quotequote all
DamnKraut said:
Differences between introduction of the 171 SLK55 and the facelift were minimal.

@OP: if needed I can look those up for you from the German SLK community website.
If it would not be too much bother that would be great...

I have searched in Google but not finding anything definitive .... Just more general information


Changes inside include a new instrument cluster and three-spoke steering wheel design. Merc’s latest telematics system has been shoehorned in, letting owners use Bluetooth and operate their iPod remotely through the usual stereo.



Does pre-facelift not have Bluetooth at all or was it an option?





MattyB_

2,008 posts

256 months

Thursday 1st September 2016
quotequote all
fizz47 said:
DamnKraut said:
Differences between introduction of the 171 SLK55 and the facelift were minimal.

@OP: if needed I can look those up for you from the German SLK community website.
If it would not be too much bother that would be great...

I have searched in Google but not finding anything definitive .... Just more general information


Changes inside include a new instrument cluster and three-spoke steering wheel design. Merc’s latest telematics system has been shoehorned in, letting owners use Bluetooth and operate their iPod remotely through the usual stereo.



Does pre-facelift not have Bluetooth at all or was it an option?
IIRC facelift included:

Updated body panels
Minor interior changes
Newer audio system +NAV including Bluetooth (on both Audio 20 (aka non-COMAND)) and the COMAND
Nicer 030 steering wheel
Smaller 4-pot brakes now standard, 6-pot optional.

The pre-facelift did have Bluetooth, but I think it only worked on a very select few handsets, and only for calls (not audio). If your car was pre-wired with the phone kit (under the armrest) for £120 you can buy a "puck" which gives a greater support for phones and allows audio.

jmn

895 posts

279 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
Any reason why the newer model from 2012 onwards seems to be approaching the same second hand value as the older version?