CLS 500 ?

[KungFuPanda]

Hi J4CKO, I'm in Manchester city centre. If you're in Cheshire, I can drive down and we can have a Mercedes mini meet before you commit to anything!

[J4CKO]

Crackie said:

J4CKO said:

Well, deposit paid, car is very very nice, bodywork is perfect, wheels good apart from a minor scuff and interior has 1 scuff on the bit between the rear seats but otherwise, like a new car, well maintained, drives spot on, pulls well.

Managed to get it for seven grand, will get the tax and insurance sorted and pick it up next Saturday, cant beleive what you get for that money, I am glad most avoid petrol V8's.

Plate looks good van, let me get it sorted and I may drop you a message

I've been considering one of these for a while but had only been considering late 08/09/10 cars...........did you check out the M273 engine code for the worn timing chain idler gear issue ?

Loads of info about the M273 problem online, there was a class action against Merc in the USA for example.

Here a link http://www.mercedesmedic.com/check-my-mercedes-ben... which should help check out whether the one you've looked at has an 'old' or 'new' idler gear.

I appreciate you've already paid the deposit but my understanding its a potentially big 'engine out' bill if it does let go.

Clearly, and older car may have already had the uprated timing chain idler gear fitted.

Good luck

Dont see the CLS 500 listed in the applications list, I read about that issue and it didnt seem to cover the V8, seemed mainly to be the sixes, the car runs very well and no lights came up, engine was very quiet, seems to have survived thus far, 110,000 miles so will worry about it if I get any noise.

Thanks for the heads up. but if you read all the issues online, you would end up on a pushbike, with no gears.

Just checked, says affected up to 2739 30 088611

Mine is 273960 30 253427, so sounds like its post the problem, hopefully.....

[J4CKO]

KungFuPanda said:

Hi J4CKO, I'm in Manchester city centre. If you're in Cheshire, I can drive down and we can have a Mercedes mini meet before you commit to anything!

You arent making this any easier

Sounds good ! Let me get it and see where I am upto, if the tyres are good then I am up for a spend, just need to sell my 350Z, a couple of tyres will cost me £200 odd so another set of wheels would come in handy (if the engine isnt about to eat its balance shafts).

[KungFuPanda]

No worries, let me know. Just update the thread once you've got it.

[J4CKO]

KungFuPanda said:

No worries, let me know. Just update the thread once you've got it.

Will do matey, cheers.

[Crackie]

J4CKO said:

Dont see the CLS 500 listed in the applications list, I read about that issue and it didnt seem to cover the V8, seemed mainly to be the sixes, the car runs very well and no lights came up, engine was very quiet, seems to have survived thus far, 110,000 miles so will worry about it if I get any noise.

Thanks for the heads up. but if you read all the issues online, you would end up on a pushbike, with no gears.

Just checked, says affected up to 2739 30 088611

Mine is 273960 30 253427, so sounds like its post the problem, hopefully.....

Good news , engine number is the only way to be sure.

Having looked a little deeper http://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/law... it looks like the problem was only on early 2006 CLS/GL/E/CL/CLK, 2008 ML and 2009 CLK. Strangely S500 isn't even mentioned in the lawsuit link but there are plenty of S500 cases online.

Totally agree about issues being overplayed on the net but I'm still pleased you have a 'good' one

[KungFuPanda]

So, did you pick her up then???

[J4CKO]

KungFuPanda said:

So, did you pick her up then???

Yeah, loving it,

Pros,

Its bloody quick
It drives very well
its in good nick
its very comfy
Engine seems in good fettle, oil was clean so it looks like the dealer did service it as promised.


Cons
its predictably thirsty, but managed to get 22.6 on the way in, 7 miles cross country lanes from cold so not that bad, hoof it and goes down very quickly

The passenger door mirror had a mind of its own, there is a slight crack in the casing I didnt notice, the foldy stuff sends it so its pointing forwards, hence why it had been disabled but when it hits thirty, exactly, every time the mirror tries to rotate so its pointing forwards, dont know if its programmed in to lock the folding aspect due to
increasing air resistance over 30, will need sorting.

Will need 2 tyres before long on the back, also, was expecting staggered alloys and they arent but I guess the tyres will be a lot cheaper.

[KungFuPanda]

Sounds good to me apart from the wing mirror. At least its not anything mechanically serious. Hope you get that sorted soon. Before I got my S Class, I test drove an ML500 and it didn't really feel that fast. Maybe it was the extra weight and transmission loss of the 4x4.

Try Tyre Leader and Camskill for tyres. Both are pretty reasonable.

If you still want those staggered AMGs on mine...

[Patrick Bateman]

Consider lovetyres as well.

[J4CKO]

KungFuPanda said:

Sounds good to me apart from the wing mirror. At least its not anything mechanically serious. Hope you get that sorted soon. Before I got my S Class, I test drove an ML500 and it didn't really feel that fast. Maybe it was the extra weight and transmission loss of the 4x4.

Try Tyre Leader and Camskill for tyres. Both are pretty reasonable.

If you still want those staggered AMGs on mine...

Will take a look at the mirror at the weekend, its not the end of the world, its getting out when its dry and light to look at it thats the problem.

Did you try the ML500 with the 306 or 388 bhp engine ? this seems noticeably quicker than my 300 bhp 350Z, the 388 bhp ML is 300 or so kilos heavier but still does sixty in 5.6, road and track managed 4.8 in a CLS 550, American badge for the US 388 bhp CLS and reckoned Mercedes underplayed the performance to not tread on AMG toes, after all 0-60 is perhaps more traction limited than power limited and not a great yardstick, feels pretty brisk to me.

On the wheels, might be interested, depends how quickly you need to sell, what condition ae they in, are the tyres ok ?

[KungFuPanda]

Not sure regards the ML I tried. It might have been the lower powered version. However I was coming from a V10 S6 so may not have been a fair comparison.

I'll PM you regards the wheels tomorrow. I've stuck an ad up for them on a Merc website. A guy is interested and wants to put down a deposit but wants to pay the balance in January. I'm taking pics and measuring the tread depth for him tomorrow so will pass you the same information. Ideally, I'd want to do the deal before Xmas as my Brabus ones are currently being refurbed. The sale would fund new tyres.

[J4CKO]

Looking at it and getting geeky with numbers, the CLS 550 (as its called in the US) isnt much different in terms of straight line performance to the V10 S6

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2007-mercedes-...

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/road-tests/re...

Same ball park, I think the Car and Driver review was perhaps a good example or a bit over flattering to the Merc, but both 5 ish to sixty and 12 ish to 100, a 306 bhp ML would indeed feel a lot slower at 20.4 for the 306 bhp version and 14.1 to 100 for the 388 bhp version.

Hopefully got a viewing on the Zed this weekend, having dropped the price by £700 so will know where I am up to, Christmas gets int he way of car stuff !

[KungFuPanda]

Four wheel drive counts for a lot in real world conditions though. My mate just had me off the line in his A5 3.0 tdi quattro. On paper both my S class and his A5 seem evenly matched. That is until I try and put my foot down and the traction control cuts in.

Good luck with the viewing of the Z. Let me know after the weekend if you want more info about the wheels. The weather has been terrible so I haven't had chance to clean or photograph them yet.

[J4CKO]

KungFuPanda said:

Four wheel drive counts for a lot in real world conditions though. My mate just had me off the line in his A5 3.0 tdi quattro. On paper both my S class and his A5 seem evenly matched. That is until I try and put my foot down and the traction control cuts in.

Good luck with the viewing of the Z. Let me know after the weekend if you want more info about the wheels. The weather has been terrible so I haven't had chance to clean or photograph them yet.

Zed has gone but going to stick with 18s and stick a full set of decent new tyres on, at the moment it has some Micelins on the back that are low and some "Mohawks" on the front that are brand new but if I need to change two, may as well do all four, I like how it rides and dont want to compromise it

[Patrick Bateman]

J4CKO said:

Zed has gone but going to stick with 18s and stick a full set of decent new tyres on, at the moment it has some Micelins on the back that are low and some "Mohawks" on the front that are brand new but if I need to change two, may as well do all four, I like how it rides and dont want to compromise it

What tyres are you thinking?

[J4CKO]

Patrick Bateman said:

J4CKO said:

Zed has gone but going to stick with 18s and stick a full set of decent new tyres on, at the moment it has some Micelins on the back that are low and some "Mohawks" on the front that are brand new but if I need to change two, may as well do all four, I like how it rides and dont want to compromise it

What tyres are you thinking?

Conti Sportcontact 3, Uniroyal Rainexpert 3 or open to suggestions, basically a premium brand or well reviewed/suitable midrange, will have the car for a couple of years hopefully, my 350Z came with a brand new set of crappy Jinyu tyres, want to have this knowing its got the best I can afford on it so it performs as Mercedes intended, not having £50 a corner nonesense on it

[Patrick Bateman]

Goodyear Eagles tend to be one of the cheapest of the premium brands but excellent. I've had them on 2 cars now and they're hard to fault, suspect better than those Continentals off the top of my head.

[J4CKO]

Patrick Bateman said:

Goodyear Eagles tend to be one of the cheapest of the premium brands but excellent. I've had them on 2 cars now and they're hard to fault, suspect better than those Continentals off the top of my head.

Will pop in to my MOT place and see what they have, the owner is a real character and will always do a good deal.

[BUG4LIFE]

Ah, so you went for a CLS 500! I saw your thread on the S-Type R and XJR. Both the Merc and STR are on my maybe list (together with a C55 and Audi S4)...so how did you decide on the CLS, was it just cos one came up first?