SLS Depreciation

[Palmball]

ZeroH said:

Whats the spec?

I found that sls prices are very colour combo and spec dependent... to find a non red nom white car with ceramics, carbo dash/mirrors, b&o, and forged rims led to cars at the more expensive end of whats for sale.

Black with tan interior...which is probably an acquired taste, but it's exactly what I like.

As far as I can tell, it has every option except the garage door opener...that means ceramics, B&O, rear camera, telephone prep, forged wheels and even the full carbon interior pack (even the backs of the seats are carbon, which is a touch extravagant given you can't really see them!). Low miles too and only two owners.

[slippery]

That sounds lovely. Pics upon arrival please!

[vpr]

I think an SLS can look good in any colour though I'm not keen on the red and black interiors.

Black with tan sounds awesome

Mine is quite a rare colour and not my first choice but it was offered to me at the right price. Looks well in the sun when clean

[Palmball]

vpr said:

I think an SLS can look good in any colour though I'm not keen on the red and black interiors.

Black with tan sounds awesome

Mine is quite a rare colour and not my first choice but it was offered to me at the right price. Looks well in the sun when clean

Very unusual seeing one in blue, but that looks great. Nice interior too.

I notice you have michelins on it...are they supersports? Any good?

[DSLiverpool]

vpr said:

I think an SLS can look good in any colour though I'm not keen on the red and black interiors.

Black with tan sounds awesome

Mine is quite a rare colour and not my first choice but it was offered to me at the right price. Looks well in the sun when clean

That is very lovely please let me know if you decide to sell it.

[Ballistic]

Hi Palmball,

Was it your SLS that I saw at MB Derby today?

If so, congrats, it's a lovely car in a very high spec.

[Palmball]

Yes it was - was yours in with them today too? That dealer has had at least 3 SLS's in this week, mine included.

Edited by Palmball on Wednesday 6th August 01:13

[Ballistic]

Palmball said:

Yes it was - was yours in with them today too? That dealer has had at least 3 SLS's in this week, mine included.

Edited by Palmball on Wednesday 6th August 01:13

No, the reason I was there yesterday was to get the battery tested.
As well as yours, there was a nice red coupe in the workshop, so didn't get a chance to have a look around it.
I said to the service manager 'I bet it's not everyday that you have two SLS in the workshop' too which he replied 'there were four in the other day'!

Do you rate them as a good dealer for the SLS as they seem to plenty of them in so must be experienced on them?
Mines due it's annual service and I'm considering who to use.

As there appears to be quite a few SLS owners in the Midlands (I wonder how many on here?) maybe we should think about organising a local meet?

P.S. Did you purchase your latest SLS from MB Derby?
The reason I ask is I'm sure I saw the same car advertised for ages a while back with an indie in the Birmingham area - could be totally wrong.

[orbtar]

Ballistic said:

Do you rate them as a good dealer for the SLS as they seem to plenty of them in so must be experienced on them?
Mines due it's annual service and I'm considering who to use.
.

I would take it to Mercedes World at Brooklands, I took mine there last month as have no confidence in my local dealer. The service from start to finish was fantastic, the point of contact you are given only deals with SLS and Maybach customers and knows exactly what he is talking about, I would not consider trying anywhere else now.

[Palmball]

Ballistic said:

No, the reason I was there yesterday was to get the battery tested.
As well as yours, there was a nice red coupe in the workshop, so didn't get a chance to have a look around it.
I said to the service manager 'I bet it's not everyday that you have two SLS in the workshop' too which he replied 'there were four in the other day'!

Do you rate them as a good dealer for the SLS as they seem to plenty of them in so must be experienced on them?
Mines due it's annual service and I'm considering who to use.

As there appears to be quite a few SLS owners in the Midlands (I wonder how many on here?) maybe we should think about organising a local meet?

P.S. Did you purchase your latest SLS from MB Derby?
The reason I ask is I'm sure I saw the same car advertised for ages a while back with an indie in the Birmingham area - could be totally wrong.

Erm, let's just say I'll PM you in answer to one of your direct questions.

I did buy the car from the indie in Birmingham, who had it on sale or return so it was effectively a private buy. I had my eye on it pretty much since I sold my first SLS (and regretted it) for the whole year it was up for sale - a combination of it being on SoR (so the trader couldn't / wouldn't take a part ex of any value) and the fact it was originally too expensive (it started out at £130k IIRC) meant it thankfully it never sold, as I absolutely love the colour combo.

I've also just had a new battery on the car as it would go flat very quickly if you used any ancillaries for even short periods - it was around £100ish so worth spending to avoid the hassle. My first SLS also needed a new battery at similar age so they must be quite heavy on batteries.

[footsoldier]

Interesting on the battery - I've been having problems with mine. It has twice drained completely overnight (to the point that doors wouldn't open), and another time wouldn't turn over after only a week standing still.

Three times I've had Mercedes assist, and they told me to take it to AMG dealer to get sorted properly. I did this, and all the dealer was worried about was charging me £59 for a diagnostic test. It's under warranty, but when they couldn't find a fault (including with battery), I had to pay the £59 as there was 'nothing wrong with it'.

I was not best pleased at being stranded three times in a £160k car, and then being charged £59 to be told I don't have a problem. I was told that my time wasn't completely wasted as the repeated failures were "helping to build a pattern to justify more detailed investigation". I was even less pleased...

Luckily I have access to another car, so I am now just going to keep calling Mercedes assist to my house until they get fed up.

The same AMG dealer didn't return any of 4 calls when I tried to order an A45 AMG.

I live in Edinburgh.

[footsoldier]

Interesting on the battery - I've been having problems with mine. It has twice drained completely overnight (to the point that doors wouldn't open), and another time wouldn't turn over after only a week standing still.

Three times I've had Mercedes assist, and they told me to take it to AMG dealer to get sorted properly. I did this, and all the dealer was worried about was charging me £59 for a diagnostic test. It's under warranty, but when they couldn't find a fault (including with battery), I had to pay the £59 as there was 'nothing wrong with it'.

I was not best pleased at being stranded three times in a £160k car, and then being charged £59 to be told I don't have a problem. I was told that my time wasn't completely wasted as the repeated failures were "helping to build a pattern to justify more detailed investigation". I was even less pleased...

Luckily I have access to another car, so I am now just going to keep calling Mercedes assist to my house until they get fed up.

The same AMG dealer didn't return any of 4 calls when I tried to order an A45 AMG.

I live in Edinburgh.

[Palmball]

Is it under manufacturers warranty or extended? If the former, then charging you for diagnostics is outrageous. I'd fire off an email to MB and get their view on how a customer of their flagship car is being made to feel, as I'm sure it's not normal practice to charge this for a car in warranty.

It's worth changing the battery in the first instance, especially if the dealer can't find any specific drain on it. As stated above, both my SLS's have needed new batteries at around the 2.5 to 3 year mark.

Edited by Palmball on Monday 11th August 08:12

[slippery]

That's pretty dire footsoldier.

[cho]

Not strictly depreciation anymore this thread but didn't want to start another one just for one question. I have a clanking noise coming from the engine when finishing a drive and switching off and want to know if this is the same for other SLS's. I've got it in at Brooklands and they say it is operating and sounding normal. I don't know if this means the sound is normal or they can't replicate but they are continuing to look. The sound is a bit like a diesel starting up. That industrial tractor kind of noise and actually feels like the engine isn't bolted down properly! Thanks all!

[Palmball]

I think I know exactly the kind of noise you're talking about cho as I've heard it in other cars.

But, neither of my SLS's made the noise you describe - when you turn it off, it just shuts down without any unusual noises.

[cho]

Thanks for that. At least I can push them a bit to investigate more. They also did the TCU upgrade but again said that everything was operating as it should gearbox wise which I suppose is true as it was originally programmed to be that slow. However, the explanation was that being a DCT it would change quickly under auto because it pre selects! I thought the whole idea was that it did this for a manual change and all the super computer processing power was to determine whether you were going to change up or down and then pre select the gear for fast changes. We'll at least that's what Porsches PDK did. I could change gears faster using a regular manual box compared to the DCT in manual!

[Palmball]

Cho, the latest TCU upgrade should make you very happy with the gearbox - if not then it doesn't sound like you've had the upgrade my dealer did on mine a few weeks ago.

I've actually just taken my car to AMG for the supposed GT-TCU upgrade (amongst other things), but if I'm honest, the last (free) dealer-fit upgrade made the 'box pretty much spot-on and in no way did I think it was slow. Before the upgrade, it was diabolical. I'm hoping I actually notice an improvement with the GT upgrade, but I suspect I probably won't.

[cho]

Let's hope you do! Otherwise there's no point spending the money. But didn't you have that done on your previous SLS just before selling. Anyway would be worth going to AMG just for going. At least you will know they have double checked the work. If you do notice a significant difference then I'm booking in straight away! Hope you have/had a great time there.

Brooklands only mentioned that there was a TCU upgrade which they applied under warranty even though there wasn't anything wrong with the gearbox, so hope it's the same things that's been done to yours

Edited by cho on Wednesday 13th August 21:20

[Palmball]

I don't need much of an excuse to go there - like you suggest, it's as much about going there as what they do. The SLS is made for pounding the autobahn and it's always a great experience stretching it's legs.

The gearbox was so good after the dealer upgrade that I wouldn't have taken it to AMG just for that, but as I'm having a few other trinkets done (mainly just trim) I thought I may as well have it done whilst it's there. I asked AMG not to do it if they feel it won't offer noticeable improvement....but they'll probably do it anyway.

After the dealer upgrade, I actually preferred the SLS 'box to the DCT in my M6 so it really is that good. It's still not quite as fast as the BMW in manual (but we're talking fractions here) but it's much smoother in auto, with outrageous downshift blips in the sport modes