Saturday 16th December 2017

Mercedes E55 AMG Estate: Spotted

Spruce up your garage fir Christmas with the ultimate tree hauling machine

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Some people have called my holiday spirit into question this week. Why? Because I elected not to put up a Christmas tree this year. Aside from the bother of buying myself a tree, and the lights, and the decorations; it's the untangling of said lights, the placing of decorations on the tree and the dropping of needles on the carpet that puts me off getting a Norwegian Spruce and then dressing it up with more baubles than a Christopher Biggins' panto costume. And (watch whilst I make a violent left turn here) it's not as if I have a fast estate car with which to haul that tree and its decorations home in.

With that in mind, what can we find in the PistonHeads classifieds which gives the car enthusiast a vehicle that can transport all their yuletide decorations home in the fastest possible time? Yes, I know Amazon has shown us the glories of home delivery; but damn it, this is the perfect excuse for buying a high-performance estate.

Mercedes seems to have quite the knack for building a commodious tree hauler. It's pretty good at V8's too. So, bring the two together and you have the recipe for something special. In 1998, after two years of Merc teasing the buying public with the 3.6-litre E36 AMG, and the 5.0-litre E50, the UK finally got the 354hp 5.4-litre naturally aspirated V8 it deserved. Mercedes even left the sixth and seventh seats in the boot for those in need of additional practicality. Those seats are reversed of course, which must give the occupants a fantastic view out the back whilst you do smokey burnouts.

But, it's not just vapourising the rear tyres that the E55 is useful for, it can also do corners, too, thanks to those wide tyres and a communicative chassis. The steering is a bit light and vague, though, giving you precious little knowledge of what the front wheels are up to. So you have to learn to trust the E55, and when you do, you'll find that this estate has surprising cornering grace. Ultimately, it is geared more to pounding down the motorway at huge speed whilst maintaining comfort, but it is still quite fun to drive.

Inside this particular example you get rather a lot of equipment, which, as a bonus, all seems to be working. There are heated seats for the cold winter mornings. A sunroof for when summer eventually returns. You have a five-speed auto to save you from clutch-foot when heading into town. There's even a delightfully period sat-nav system that is more of an entertainment piece than a navigation tool, thanks to its out of date mapping and low-res graphics.

For £6,500, this seems like it's worth a punt, especially if it is in the excellent condition the advert claims it to be in. Check that the gearbox is shifting properly as a leaking electronics plug can give you grief. The self-levelling suspension on estates can also leak, which is expensive to replace, leading some owners to elect to delete it and fit more conventional dampers instead.

Overall though, who doesn't like an estate with a V8 engine? With seven leather-lined perches, that makes it less than £930 a seat. You can remind the in-laws of that as you cart them around over Christmas. Then, you can fold those seats flat to dispose of your tree come the New Year. I can't have this car because I am not getting a tree this year. But you on the other hand, have the perfect excuse.

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SPECIFICATION - MERCEDES E55 AMG ESTATE

Engine: 5,439cc, V8
Transmission: 5-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 354@5,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 391@3,000rpm
MPG: 22.4
CO2: Plenty, in big clumps
First registered: 2000
Recorded mileage: 82,000
Price new: £62,845
Yours for: £6,500

See the original ad here.

Max Adams

[Johnny G Pipe]

Super nice, and such a shame that the AMG badge will be presumed faux by the great unwashed.

But...as nice as it is, Shirley you can't mention 210 mercs without mentioning the R word. If this one hasnt had perfunctorily repaired and blown over corroded arches, I'll eat my Christmas jumper.

[chiefski26]

R from 2015 -

Rear Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)
Rear Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
Off side rear body has excessive corrosion, but not effecting any chassis or mount area for 30cm
Under-trays fitted obscuring some underside components
Engine covers fitted obscuring some components in the engine bay
Play in steering rack inner joint(s)

That aside, nice whip.

[J4CKO]

Spend a bit more, get a W211, you will save money on Mig wire, Steel plate and Por15, its faster and wont look like an abandoned trawler if you turn your back and it rains.

To be fair, this one looks good, some do seem to avoid the galloping rust but the W211 isnt much more expensive and is way better.

[ZX10R NIN]

If the rust isn't that bad it's a decent buy.

[thelawnet1]

Aes87 said:

I literally almost bought this car a few weeks ago, sent an enquiry and everything

what put you off?

[Cambs_Stuart]

So depending on rust, it's either a very cheap way to get a 350 bhp+ V8 AMG, or an utter money pit. Not one to buy unseen...

[J4CKO]

Cambs_Stuart said:

So depending on rust, it's either a very cheap way to get a 350 bhp+ V8 AMG, or an utter money pit. Not one to buy unseen...

I sold my 388 bhp CLS for five grand, not an AMG but there is an AMG tax, plus it didnt have advisories for galloping rust in the floor.

[nightflight]

I had one of these (admittedly a diesel) for three years. In that period it had every panel, apart from the near side rear passenger door, replaced under warranty due to rust. Even the front suspension sheared off under heavy braking due to rust. The second worst car I've ever owned, only beaten by a BMW 535D, which was just hideously unreliable.

[parabolica]

A very tidy saloon variant has randomly appeared on my street for the past couple of weeks; looks showroom fresh (no brown edges or broken suspension) and those lovely mono-block alloys are in perfect condition; someone has themselves a very, very nice car that I'm quite jealous of!

[AC43]

I'm on my third V8 Merc estate. Great family buses with plenty of grunt and great soundtrack.

Although I can almost hear that particular one fizzing from here.

My 99 C43 was rotting alarmingly when I sold in 2010.

The 211's and 212's are far better in that regard.

And if you can find a 388bhp one all the better.

[Chris944_S2]

AC43 said:

I'm on my third V8 Merc estate. Great family buses with plenty of grunt and great soundtrack.

Although I can almost hear that particular one fizzing from here.

My 99 C43 was rotting alarmingly when I sold in 2010.

The 211's and 212's are far better in that regard.

And if you can find a 388bhp one all the better.

I'm only on my 2nd.
My C43 had a lot of panels bubbling up but I had all that cleaned up and resprayed during my ownership. The structural parts seemed to be solid, at least I never spotted anything worrying, it was more the skin that was problematic.
The W211 Brabus K8 I have now is much better in terms of rust protection, haven't spotted anything (yet).

[Mr E]

AC43 said:

And if you can find a 388bhp one all the better.

Ding. Mine wasn’t 6k though.

[samoht]

nightflight said:

I had one of these (admittedly a diesel) for three years. In that period it had every panel, apart from the near side rear passenger door, replaced under warranty due to rust. Even the front suspension sheared off under heavy braking due to rust.

Wow, I never knew they were that bad. The W210 is truly Mercedes' Beta - strange how they've managed to hang onto most of their quality reputation, given how bad these were.

[ArmaghMan]

r


They are all rotten rust buckets......well nearly all!!
There is the occasional nice one.

[AC43]

Chris944_S2 said:

My C43 had a lot of panels bubbling up but I had all that cleaned up and resprayed during my ownership. The structural parts seemed to be solid, at least I never spotted anything worrying, it was more the skin that was problematic.

My first one was fine while I had it but the second one was terrible. Had to have the arches done twice and it was covered in little spidery marks where a stone chip had led to the base paint layer to lift away from the metal. When I had to have the sills welded at 10 years old that was enough and I chopped it in.

A while later I looked up the MOT history of the other one and it ended up rotting in the same place.

Chris944_S2 said:

The W211 Brabus K8 I have now is much better in terms of rust protection, haven't spotted anything (yet).

Had to look that up. That's mental!

You'll be fine with that. All the affected cars were built around the time of the Chrysler purchase and the move to water based paints.

[AC43]

ArmaghMan said:

r


They are all rotten rust buckets......well nearly all!!
There is the occasional nice one.

Love that. That was the first AMG I tried - Tanzanite Blue E55 saloon. Took it for a spin and loved the drive. And the fact that it was trying to break traction in third on a motorway slip road. But my budget would only get me into a ropey 55 and I settled on a C43 instead.

The 55 was a notch up, though, in terms of sheer grunt & the far more sophisticated rear suspension.

[givablondabone]

Lots and lots of stories of these being not that great. For a Merc. At a time when they let quality dip big time.
Wasn't it said that this model E class (not necessarily just the AMGs) cost Mercedes so much in warranty claims that they didn't turn a profit?

Sorry if I made that up but it rings a bell.

[ducnick]

Do yourself a favour and buy a 70’s Alfa instead as they rust more slowly

[sim16v]

Awesome engine fitted to a car with factory installed rust.

[pSyCoSiS]

I've had two of these in saloon guise, both 1999 pre-facelift models. One in Brilliant Silver (definite AMG colour) and one on Green-Black metallic. Both had the dreaded rust, but were a lot of fun to drive.

Lovely motors and the engine / gearbox are literally bullet-proof.

The silver one I had was previously owned by an AMG race engineer, and he said that all of the engineers he knows swear by these engines and gearboxes to take a good hammering.

Incidentally, my old silver one is now back up for sale, and has had a full respray by the current owner. Well worth a punt - it has zero rust or rot which is a rarity:

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/201453/1999-me...