Mercedes-Benz CL500

[freenote]

AndrewCrown said:

2nd 12 months Report

We're on the 2nd anniversary of the CL500 in my ownership. So how did it fair on running costs? .

Year 1 was remarkable, only oil, petrol insurance and tax. ~ 7000 miles

Year 2 again ~7000 miles

Tyres £1,032.00
Starter Motor £691.98
Lower Grille £230.00
Grille Fitting £70.00

Total £2023.98

One could argue other than the grille mostly consumables...

Not bad...

Def can’t include the tyres. Heavy powerful car will eat tyres and it’s a safety measure. I’d argue the grille was your fault anyway from memory reading the post so not a running cost really. I’d only be a bit pissed at the cost of the starter motor - was that part only?

ETA I have had previous gen cl500 for a year and a half and mot cost £2k although 800 was new good tyres for my peace of mind. Other little bits and pieces have been relatively cheap and labour done myself so I’m not too down about it although my wallet might disagree with my car buying habit.

Edited by freenote on Saturday 23 November 20:23

[Dr mojo]

you have been lucky my 2007 CL600 cost me on average 3k a year for the 3 years i had it! loved it and still miss it but was costing too much and a potential 2.5k bill looming was the last straw. That said I am very tempted by the S class coupe! With serious depreciation now affordable for me.

[freenote]

Dr mojo said:

you have been lucky my 2007 CL600 cost me on average 3k a year for the 3 years i had it! loved it and still miss it but was costing too much and a potential 2.5k bill looming was the last straw. That said I am very tempted by the S class coupe! With serious depreciation now affordable for me.

12 cylinders. Balls of steel!

[AndrewCrown]

freenote said:

I’d only be a bit pissed at the cost of the starter motor - was that part only?

Edited by freenote on Saturday 23 November 20:23

No all in fitted etc.. at Mercedes Benz workshop

[freenote]

AndrewCrown said:

No all in fitted etc.. at Mercedes Benz workshop

Phew...had me worried there

[Harry H]

Andrew - Do you use the stop/start function and hence a possible cause for the starter motor failure.

Personally I switch it off and I'm not a fan.

[AndrewCrown]

Harry H said:

Andrew - Do you use the stop/start function and hence a possible cause for the starter motor failure.

Personally I switch it off and I'm not a fan.

I dislike this function too, but I'm not sure of the prevous owners.

I think the jury is still out on whether this function burns out starter motors faster...

[f1ten]

Surprised to read its been reliable. My sister sold her 2008 cl500 having owned from 5 months old. She had for 7 years and I can tell you it was an expensive car to run. Year 4 onwards she switched to specialists as she had. Clocked up big miles and main dealer was too expensive.

I know her abc suspension clapped out twice properly and a 3rd time was a smaller problem.
Obviously by the time it hit 100k miles it needed wear and tear things like alternator and new batteries (it has 2 due too all the gadgets). Might add that stuff is not cheap.

Racking up serious miles On these cars is expensive and not far off the bills I've had for my Ferrari to put it in some context. So whilst it's nice this owner hasn't had problems, I would say that is not a common theme. There are vast amounts of electrics to go wrong, like her night vision system. To be fair the 20 inch wheels were strong and amazingly didn't seem to buckle. The paint quality of the car was poor (black) even though it was fairly well maintained.

[AndrewCrown]

F1ten
Thank you for your post. What I hope to do with this thread is an objective long term 'review' of running one of these.
Your sister's example sounds a little like my previous model CL500. I agree they can be expensive but I think they're worth it.

[Mr E]

Other than the panoramic roof issue, our E500 has only needed routine maintenance. Admittedly some of the bits are expensive, but roughly in line with expectations.

[AndrewCrown]

MOT Day

Pass... minor advisories...

Very minor oil leak
Minor Exhaust leak
Front Brake discs a bit thin

So brakes on route...

[SuhCL]

Loved reading the running reports on this one as I have a very similar one to you Andrew. Mine is 2011 with the 4.7TT engine. It's my daily driver and in the 2 and a bit years I have owned it, I've taken the mileage from 42k to 74k. I have had a few more issues than you've experienced but nothing that would put me off ...and luckily most were covered under warranty I will post some more details of my experiences over the next few weeks and am more than happy to answer any queries/questions anyone has about my experience with the car, but in the meantime a pic of mine below. Thanks

[Harry H]

SuhCL said:

Loved reading the running reports on this one as I have a very similar one to you Andrew. Mine is 2011 with the 4.7TT engine. It's my daily driver and in the 2 and a bit years I have owned it, I've taken the mileage from 42k to 74k. I have had a few more issues than you've experienced but nothing that would put me off ...and luckily most were covered under warranty I will post some more details of my experiences over the next few weeks and am more than happy to answer any queries/questions anyone has about my experience with the car, but in the meantime a pic of mine below. Thanks

Another one with the same car. Love it.

No major issues so far. Noticed the passenger carpet was wet the other week. Cleared out all the drains again and hopefully solved.They block way too easily. I may well fit some black mesh over them to solve the problem.

As there's so few of them out there it's difficult to get info. All the forum content seems to be American Pimp my Ride kind of stuff.

[AndrewCrown]

Slightly Nerdy Content Ahead

Owning a CL is relatively solitary experience on the roads, only rarely do you see another...

A little surprise ... today I parked opposite another, in exactly the same paint and leather combination. Though it was a pre-facelift and didn't have the diamond cut alloys. Incorrectly badged AMG.

The CL still operates flawlessly at month 26.

[tobinen]

Good to hear all is well

[AndrewCrown]

Uh-Oh.....

Reversing Camera now exhibiting a blue screen...

I probably overfilled the boot getting our Burn's Supper supplies from Majestic the other day... Those big ice buckets only just fit the boot... forced the lid down a little....

Probably a disconnected wire.. will investigate at the weekend.

---

Some time later

It has fixed itself...

Edited by AndrewCrown on Thursday 6th February 21:27

[SuhCL]

Mine been doing the same recently - although I tend to get a blank green screen....seems to have fixed itself for now...let's see how it gets on

[Harry H]

Mine's in for a B Service and MOT next week.

Wish me luck.

Issues for them to look at are, still getting a little bit damp in passenger footwell in spite of me clearing out drains and the start stop function rarely kicks in so I suspect new battery. I find the start stop annoying anyway so usually turn it off but the fact that its' not working on a regular basis makes me suspect there's something else not perfect.

After a year of ownership I'm still in love. Hopefully will feel the same next week.

[AndrewCrown]

The D Service

Now booked for early March...None of my previous Mercedes have popped the ‘d service’ up on the dash...
To be honest it is probably a year overdue ...car was on rotation with others...so left it...will address the minor MOT concerns..

Speeding Incident

Alas the Surrey Constabulary clocked the CL misbehaving in the Hindhead Tunnel, a mere 80mph so I’m due a day out for some awareness coaching..

[bolidemichael]

I'm surprised that you get caught, as the camera signs and very visible. I don't know why they'd bother contracting you for 80mph, however.