Mercedes S600 - "Another one..."
Discussion
[/DJ khaled]
So, as promised, a thread detailing my second attempt at financial suicide by sliver S600 Mercedes…
The thread starts with me idly scrolling through the 1-5k barge thread. A tidyish looking W221 S500 was showcased a few posts above for £4k odd. Loads of car for the money I thought to myself, but knew I would never been happy with ‘Just’ 383bhp. “Why don’t S600s ever come up that cheap?” I cursed…
Then literally a few posts below, I see a kind threader posting of a 1 owner, 212,000 mile S600 with almost complete MBSH that he knows that had been taken in Part Ex by a dealer. £3k.
My prolonged in depth and carefully thought out decision making process went EXACTLY like this.
A deal was struck and a few days later I was home with (another) 3k S600…
So the car itself?
It’s a late 2006 S600. 212,000 miles, one owner and up until the car started doing sparse mileage in 16/17, full MBSH. Given the mileage, I think it is in amazing condition and clearly has been cherished like it owed its one and only previous owner £106,000 (plus options…) – It is still even wearing MO spec tyres for god sake!
A few stone chips here and there, a bit of paint bubbling on the RHR door and inner parts of the rear arches, and the diamond cut finish on the rear wheels have corroded pretty badly. But that’s it. I’ve seen 3 year old W222s in worse condition.
The interior is tidy with only the driver’s seat and steering wheel buttons maybe suggesting some mileage, but it looks and feels like it has done half the mileage.
Pictures! (Yes, they are crap. W221s aren't exactly photogenic at the best of times!)
What’s broken?
Engine mounts – Has a drivetrain vibration when cold
Intermittent EML – Logs a purge valve code (cheap) along with a bank 1 misfire code (not so cheap). Pretty sure at this point it’s the purge valve itself, but if it needs a coil pack or two, I’ve budgeted for them.
Radio amplifier – I can only occasionally deafen myself with the 18 speaker audio system
Given the fact that it cost me 1/35 of what it cost 13 years ago, I’m frankly ecstatic nothing more serious is wrong with it!
My ethos with this car is to spend the money maintaining and improving it, and get as much joy out of it as I can. I always thought trying to run something like this for a few months is a fool’s errand because if/when a big bill crops up, you’re always thinking about the initial purchase price know you aren’t going to recoup the expenditure in use. If some of the big ticket items fail, I will expect to get 5-10 years of use out of replacements, which greatly softens the blow of £1000 coil packs and the like.
Maintenance planned :
Full service
ABC fluid flush and filter, new accumulators and rebuild valve bodies.
Spark plugs (all 24 of them
)
Transmission flush, filter, speed sensor trans plate and connector
Total suspension arm replacement front and rear (although it doesn’t feel like it needs them!)
Engine and trans mounts
Mitivac the vaccum hoses and replace any and all dodgy pipework.
New brake pipes, hoses, caliper rebuilds, pads and discs
Fix whatever breaks...
Modifications
I didn’t know much about tuning these engines and kinda rushed into a remap on my 220 before I knew where I wanted it to end up. On this car I’m doing the opposite and want to do all the "cheap", "easy" and "bolt on" stuff first, so I can have it properly mapped just the once.
Long term plans are:
Uprated heat exchanger and intercooler pump (Looking to cram a full size car radiator just for the charge air system)
Custom air filter setup (So custom, it will be created out of trial and erroring loads of silicone hose sections from the turbos to cone air filters, because nothing reasonably priced exists off the shelf)
Weistec atmospheric anti surge valves (That ppppsssssstttt sound isn't just for Jap cars you know)
Water/Methanol injection (Low IATs = LOTS of power on these)
Decatted downpipes (As if 20MPG average wasn’t bad enough for the environment)
Quaife LSD (Because seeing the ESP light flash up when WOT at 70MPH+ kinda gets old)
Should see in the region of 650-700BHP, get it comfortably to ~190+ odd MPH on an autobahn run (gearing runs short of 200MPH) and do a 11 second ¼ mile for less than £10k (maintenance and fuel costs excluded ) whilst looking like a retired UberExec car. Glorious.
Madness modifying an engine with such mileage? Probably, but I think this motor is an absolute gem, and I trust them not to go bang even when leggy. Almost entirely hand built, usually live unstressed lives and will pretty much make as much power as you can cram cool charged air into them.
I’ve driven more powerful and lighter cars, but there’s just something about the slightly lazy but slightly brutal power delivery these have once moving that I love. Even when tuned they are a different experience to something like the 4.0TT found in 63 AMGs (or the gorgeous AMG GT R I was lucky enough to drive last week
). Way less eager and responsive, but in a way that suits a barge. But stay in the throttle and the numbers keep climbing way into ‘Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200’ territory.
Touch wood, If it can wait a few years before going proper bang, weistec do some rather lovely forged pistons and billet rods for not THAT much
. I am half considering keeping my 220 stashed away some where as a source of a spare engine and parts. But we’ll play that one by ear!
Progress is going to be relatively random. This car has come up at a bit of a hectic time in my life, unforeseen failures may mean that sticking with a particular timeframe may be difficult and many mods aren't available off the shelf and have to be made (poorly) by me, but as I said earlier, this car is a keeper. I know ultimately where I want to get the car, and I’ll be spending all available time and money trying to get it there, as well as enjoying and driving the socks off of it
Thank you for reading!
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So, as promised, a thread detailing my second attempt at financial suicide by sliver S600 Mercedes…
The thread starts with me idly scrolling through the 1-5k barge thread. A tidyish looking W221 S500 was showcased a few posts above for £4k odd. Loads of car for the money I thought to myself, but knew I would never been happy with ‘Just’ 383bhp. “Why don’t S600s ever come up that cheap?” I cursed…
Then literally a few posts below, I see a kind threader posting of a 1 owner, 212,000 mile S600 with almost complete MBSH that he knows that had been taken in Part Ex by a dealer. £3k.
My prolonged in depth and carefully thought out decision making process went EXACTLY like this.
A deal was struck and a few days later I was home with (another) 3k S600…
So the car itself?
It’s a late 2006 S600. 212,000 miles, one owner and up until the car started doing sparse mileage in 16/17, full MBSH. Given the mileage, I think it is in amazing condition and clearly has been cherished like it owed its one and only previous owner £106,000 (plus options…) – It is still even wearing MO spec tyres for god sake!
A few stone chips here and there, a bit of paint bubbling on the RHR door and inner parts of the rear arches, and the diamond cut finish on the rear wheels have corroded pretty badly. But that’s it. I’ve seen 3 year old W222s in worse condition.
The interior is tidy with only the driver’s seat and steering wheel buttons maybe suggesting some mileage, but it looks and feels like it has done half the mileage.
Pictures! (Yes, they are crap. W221s aren't exactly photogenic at the best of times!)
What’s broken?
Engine mounts – Has a drivetrain vibration when cold
Intermittent EML – Logs a purge valve code (cheap) along with a bank 1 misfire code (not so cheap). Pretty sure at this point it’s the purge valve itself, but if it needs a coil pack or two, I’ve budgeted for them.
Radio amplifier – I can only occasionally deafen myself with the 18 speaker audio system
Given the fact that it cost me 1/35 of what it cost 13 years ago, I’m frankly ecstatic nothing more serious is wrong with it!
My ethos with this car is to spend the money maintaining and improving it, and get as much joy out of it as I can. I always thought trying to run something like this for a few months is a fool’s errand because if/when a big bill crops up, you’re always thinking about the initial purchase price know you aren’t going to recoup the expenditure in use. If some of the big ticket items fail, I will expect to get 5-10 years of use out of replacements, which greatly softens the blow of £1000 coil packs and the like.
Maintenance planned :
Full service
ABC fluid flush and filter, new accumulators and rebuild valve bodies.
Spark plugs (all 24 of them
)Transmission flush, filter, speed sensor trans plate and connector
Total suspension arm replacement front and rear (although it doesn’t feel like it needs them!)
Engine and trans mounts
Mitivac the vaccum hoses and replace any and all dodgy pipework.
New brake pipes, hoses, caliper rebuilds, pads and discs
Fix whatever breaks...
Modifications
I didn’t know much about tuning these engines and kinda rushed into a remap on my 220 before I knew where I wanted it to end up. On this car I’m doing the opposite and want to do all the "cheap", "easy" and "bolt on" stuff first, so I can have it properly mapped just the once.
Long term plans are:
Uprated heat exchanger and intercooler pump (Looking to cram a full size car radiator just for the charge air system)
Custom air filter setup (So custom, it will be created out of trial and erroring loads of silicone hose sections from the turbos to cone air filters, because nothing reasonably priced exists off the shelf)
Weistec atmospheric anti surge valves (That ppppsssssstttt sound isn't just for Jap cars you know)
Water/Methanol injection (Low IATs = LOTS of power on these)
Decatted downpipes (As if 20MPG average wasn’t bad enough for the environment)
Quaife LSD (Because seeing the ESP light flash up when WOT at 70MPH+ kinda gets old)
Should see in the region of 650-700BHP, get it comfortably to ~190+ odd MPH on an autobahn run (gearing runs short of 200MPH
) and do a 11 second ¼ mile for less than £10k (maintenance and fuel costs excluded ) whilst looking like a retired UberExec car. Glorious. Madness modifying an engine with such mileage? Probably, but I think this motor is an absolute gem, and I trust them not to go bang even when leggy. Almost entirely hand built, usually live unstressed lives and will pretty much make as much power as you can cram cool charged air into them.
I’ve driven more powerful and lighter cars, but there’s just something about the slightly lazy but slightly brutal power delivery these have once moving that I love. Even when tuned they are a different experience to something like the 4.0TT found in 63 AMGs (or the gorgeous AMG GT R I was lucky enough to drive last week
). Way less eager and responsive, but in a way that suits a barge. But stay in the throttle and the numbers keep climbing way into ‘Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200’ territory.Touch wood, If it can wait a few years before going proper bang, weistec do some rather lovely forged pistons and billet rods for not THAT much
. I am half considering keeping my 220 stashed away some where as a source of a spare engine and parts. But we’ll play that one by ear!Progress is going to be relatively random. This car has come up at a bit of a hectic time in my life, unforeseen failures may mean that sticking with a particular timeframe may be difficult and many mods aren't available off the shelf and have to be made (poorly) by me, but as I said earlier, this car is a keeper. I know ultimately where I want to get the car, and I’ll be spending all available time and money trying to get it there, as well as enjoying and driving the socks off of it
Thank you for reading!
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 9th February 17:30
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 12th March 09:30
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 12th March 10:02
Stunning, what could possibly go wrong, so so much car for so little money.Thanks for the replies everyone!
I think its less a matter of bravery, and more a perspective thing. I have known people with modified cars to spend loads on engine rebuilds and mods, only to end up with a noisy, uncomfortable car that is unhappy on anything other than a track, and in some cases STILL wouldn't see which many new AMG, M and RS Cars went.
Okay, slightly different ethos and scope of enjoyment given this weighs as much as a house (although you can bet I'll still try and do a couple of track days in it!), but the bangs for buck are here in such abundance, spending money on maintenance and the occasional mod is a nice compromise. I'm never going to be rich enough to own something exotic, or committed enough to build a heavily modified car, but despite being just an old S Class, I feel these can somewhat of straddle the line between both, whilst being supremely comfortable barge 95% of the time.
As a straight barge, sure, save the money and hassle and get a S500 or even a S350d. The W221 itself is an awesome car (a massive improvement over the w220s), but its that engine that is going to keep me interested for many years to come
Somewhat exciting news - After a bit of research, it seems these may be geared way into the 200MPH zone. I'm looking forwards to once and for all proving the cheapest way to a genuine 200MPH on 4 wheels (or dying spectacularly, what-evs...). My initial target of the summer of this year is probably unrealistic, but I do have a week off next March which is the new target for an autobahn run.
I think its less a matter of bravery, and more a perspective thing. I have known people with modified cars to spend loads on engine rebuilds and mods, only to end up with a noisy, uncomfortable car that is unhappy on anything other than a track, and in some cases STILL wouldn't see which many new AMG, M and RS Cars went.
Okay, slightly different ethos and scope of enjoyment given this weighs as much as a house (although you can bet I'll still try and do a couple of track days in it!), but the bangs for buck are here in such abundance, spending money on maintenance and the occasional mod is a nice compromise. I'm never going to be rich enough to own something exotic, or committed enough to build a heavily modified car, but despite being just an old S Class, I feel these can somewhat of straddle the line between both, whilst being supremely comfortable barge 95% of the time.
As a straight barge, sure, save the money and hassle and get a S500 or even a S350d. The W221 itself is an awesome car (a massive improvement over the w220s), but its that engine that is going to keep me interested for many years to come
Somewhat exciting news - After a bit of research, it seems these may be geared way into the 200MPH zone. I'm looking forwards to once and for all proving the cheapest way to a genuine 200MPH on 4 wheels (or dying spectacularly, what-evs...). My initial target of the summer of this year is probably unrealistic, but I do have a week off next March which is the new target for an autobahn run.
I think if you have a good contingency fund for the inevitable repairs and general maintenance involved in running something like this then it's worth buying, I've never understood the "brave man", "balls of steel" nonsense. You can either comfortably afford large bills or you can't, if you can't then don't buy a car like this, if you can it's hardly heroic. In saying all of that I wish the op well.
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