RE: Mercedes-Benz SL (R129) | PH Used Buying Guide

RE: Mercedes-Benz SL (R129) | PH Used Buying Guide

Author
Discussion

f1ten

2,161 posts

152 months

Friday 29th November 2019
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Hi Jango and fellow sl60 driver! Mine is not a daily driver as I've still got a 500sl for those duties. Although mine is no garage queen either! They do sound good also!


jango said:


I have had my sl60 amg now for over a year and love it to bits. I use it as my everyday car and also did a trip around France this year??

BigChiefmuffinAgain

1,054 posts

97 months

Friday 29th November 2019
quotequote all
jango said:


I would also get one with a panoramic roof for the winter



Edited by jango on Thursday 28th November 23:40
Is that a Venturi in the background?

j_s14a

863 posts

177 months

Friday 29th November 2019
quotequote all
"sporting nature"

What sporting nature? I love these cars, but they are not sporty, not in the slightest. From a drivers point of view, an E31 8 series offers the same cruising ability, but is a bit more driver focused. A better compromise IMO, if you can live without the drop top.

Wills2

22,669 posts

174 months

Friday 29th November 2019
quotequote all
I ran a 1997 sl320 back in 2000, whilst it was a fab car, it was very unreliable and the bullet proof build does not extend to the electrics and various bits of the engine, I did have many memorable drives in it though.


WJNB

2,637 posts

160 months

Friday 29th November 2019
quotequote all
MickyveloceClassic said:
The late, much-missed Russell Bulgin
My goodness how I miss his intelligent writings just as I did of Dennis Jenkinson & the supreme wordsmith LJK Setright.



jimdollar

51 posts

87 months

Friday 29th November 2019
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I have had a 1993 SL 500 for 5 years now and I can't imagine ever selling it, they are so good. I had a 300SL-24 but the car is too heavy for that engine, the 500 is so effortless. If you join the Benzworld.org forum and do all the things they recommend such as replacing the fuses with copper instead of aluminium, changing fluids etc. etc. you can make it as reliable as any car out there of any age.
I use mine to work every day summer and winter, do about 3500 miles a year. It helps hugely if you can work on your own cars and these are quite easy to work on. The M119 V8 engine is a jewel, Rolls Royce would be proud of it I'm sure.

Deefor62

473 posts

147 months

Saturday 30th November 2019
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I’ve had my 1990 500sl for nine years. It’s been a mixed experience of continual issues interspersed with periods where I’ve fallen in love with it.
In defence of the car, the reliability issues I’ve had can be laid squarely at my feet in leaving it in a barn for months at a time and not using it.
The main issues have been related to the coolant system, oil leaks and a myriad number of electrical glitches that would make an Alfa proud.
I endorse the earlier comment about replacing the alloy fuses with copper ones, and ensuring that contacts in the fuse box are cleaned regularly
Many of the complex relays suffer from dry joints, so I’ve splashed out on a soldering iron so that I can refresh them.
The V8 engine is wonderful. It doesn’t give that jolt in the back a modern provides, but then you glance at the speedometer and realise it’s going a lot quicker than you think. It’s a wonderfully smooth unit and the 4 speed auto suits the nature of the car in my opinion
On balance, did I do the right thing buying it? Absolutely. I think the design has aged really well, and which makes the car stand out in an understated way.

will2000

10 posts

66 months

Saturday 30th November 2019
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Launched these back in the day at the dealership I worked for.. remember impressing a future owner on the demo v8 on a mid afternoon quiet back street in 89 Belfast behind the dealership, Agnews, and help the revs at 5k and stepped off the brake guy looked at me seconds later, no wheelspin just high speed forward motion'' Jeezus'' he says ''this yoke can lift''..couldn't do that on the busy Lisburn road could you...he bought one later...

Wills2

22,669 posts

174 months

Saturday 30th November 2019
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will2000 said:
on a mid afternoon quiet back street in 89 Belfast....
Sounds like the opening line to an Andy McNab novel.



harrykul

2,770 posts

225 months

Saturday 30th November 2019
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laughlaughlaugh

Crook

6,714 posts

223 months

Saturday 30th November 2019
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Great cars and excellent article. Mine's an early 500 that sadly has languished on the drive for a year with a gremlin I've not got round to sorting although the mention of the throttle body wiring issue affecting the ASR sounds like it may be the culprit.

It was bought almost by accident - first car I went to look at as I was interested in a cloth seated Japanese import at auction but my only experience was sitting in Stirling Moss's old SL so I went to see the closest car to me which I subsequently bought.

Prior to the gremlin I'd had two years of almost plain sailing (bit of a disco dashboard that I had resolved notwithstanding) getting a genuine 26mpg on a brisk cruise to Spa and back one year which was a pleasant surprise.

Irrespective of the fault on my current car, I can't imagine being without one.

Here's a video of the early cars: R129 Development

Looking at the video and other adverts, that Mercedes marketed the car equally to men and women is quite something for the late 80s: as forward thinking as the car itself.



JaredVannett

1,561 posts

142 months

Saturday 30th November 2019
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sidesauce said:
In before comments of the R129 being the "last proper SL" etc - I personally never really liked the shaped and much preferred the R230, one of which I owned for a while.

fortfive

125 posts

58 months

Tuesday 3rd December 2019
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I had two of the R129's and currently a R230. The later 3rd gen didn't drive as well with the big tyres and tramlines a lot compared with the 1995 or the R230. The hard top became a real pain, so I prefer the R230 all round. No problems with any of them.

jango

79 posts

118 months

Wednesday 4th December 2019
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BigChiefmuffinAgain said:
Is that a Venturi in the background?
Yes its 300 turbo i have

acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Tuesday 30th June 2020
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Thought I'd bump this to see if anyone has anything to add on their experiences of 129's, it's that time of year when I start thinking about them again!

Cheers

EC2

1,447 posts

252 months

Tuesday 30th June 2020
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R129s were great cars. I had an inline 6 320 which was a noisy engine that did not do that much for me and then one of the revised V8 500s which came out in about 1998 IIRC. Still miss them but they are cruising cars with very average handling even at the time.

Later on I had one of the early R230 500s which was night and day better handling wise - it had ABC - but the original 500 was a bit light on performance. I've been looking at R231 500s recently as they seem to offer great value at a few years old. Not driven one yet though!

Prolex-UK

3,010 posts

207 months

Sunday 17th December 2023
quotequote all
Excellent article.

Do fancy one....