RE: PH buying guide: Mercedes SL55 AMG

RE: PH buying guide: Mercedes SL55 AMG

Friday 30th March 2012

PH buying guide: Mercedes SL55 AMG

Bruiser or cruiser? The SL55 manages both in fine style and here's how to pick up a spring bargain



Off the back of Chris Harris's multi-generational SL drive there's a lot of love in the PH office for the venerable Mercedes roadster. One of the best of the breed is the one you see here and, with the weather taking a turn for the sunny, perhaps the time to consider taking the plunge.

The SL55 AMG was the most powerful road car ever built by Mercedes when it was launched in 2002 and, clearly, one of the most PH-worthy SLs ever. It arrived in the UK in the summer of that year, following on from the R230 SL500 on which it was based, with 476hp from its 5.4-litre supercharged V8. The £89,040 SL55 covered 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds and had an electronically capped top speed of 155mph.

Search for Mercedes SL55 AMGs here


There was immediate speculation about the SL55's true top speed from the moment it was launched. To prove the car's potential, one German car magazine removed the electronic limiter and drove an otherwise standard SL55 to 202mph. However, all UK-spec SL55s come with a speedo reading up to 180mph.

The SL55 AMG proved an immediate hit with UK buyers and the AMG accounted for as many as one in four SL sales between 2002 and the less-than-fortunate facelift of 2008. Power was soon upped to 500hp to prevent the similarly engined E55 outgunning the flagship SL, a further round of revisions in 2006 increasing power further to 517hp thanks to a new higher speed pulley for the supercharger and larger throttle valve.

When Merc brought in its revised styling for the SL in 2008, it took the chance to drop the M113 5.4-litre V8 and replace it with the M156 6.2-litre V8 to create the SL63. For this guide, we'll stick with the M113-powered SL55 that is far more plentiful and popular. Even with this popularity, however, early SL55 AMGs are now into the affordable bracket from around £16,000, which makes them a fine performance bargain.

Owner's view:
"After many years of driving different cars, I eventually realised for me, and possibly others, the compromises Porsche and Ferrari make to obtain outstanding lap times at the track do not translate into good cars for the roads we have. So I thought back to the 55 AMG and realised it did everything you would need in a road car."
Richard Harvey


Buying guide contents:

Introduction
Powertrain
Rolling chassis
Body
Interior

Search for Mercedes SL55 AMGs here

Author
Discussion

donkamio

Original Poster:

83 posts

144 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
spectacular buy for the money. its got me thinking though, what is the competition at this price point?

bmw m6 conv/audi rs4 cab? prices are in the 20's

jag xkr convertible?

maserati spyder?

996 c2s cab? looks antiquated now and i always pitched sl55's against 911 turbo's


johnpeat

5,326 posts

264 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
donkamio said:
bmw m6 conv/audi rs4 cab? prices are in the 20's
An honest SL55 is over £20K too - everything under that is categoried or has no history or is just tatty and knackered (at least it was the last time I looked).

Solid honest cars start just over £20K - you might dip a desperate owner below that (esp if the car needs a service or tyres because that costs a LOT of money!!) but the £16K cars are sheds (the £16K one on Pistonheads is a chavved-out Cat C!!)

Edited by johnpeat on Friday 30th March 16:46

The Jolly Todger

2,742 posts

179 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
That black wheeled 16k car in the classified looks truly horrible. At least it has 'new steering'.

Really liked the idea of the SL55 when it first came out but now I think I'd prefer an older R129 SL73.

CliveM

525 posts

184 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
donkamio said:
spectacular buy for the money. its got me thinking though, what is the competition at this price point?

bmw m6 conv/audi rs4 cab? prices are in the 20's

jag xkr convertible?

maserati spyder?

996 c2s cab? looks antiquated now and i always pitched sl55's against 911 turbo's
I bought one last autumn. Wasn't after a convertible (but the hardtop overcomes that issue); competition was NSX, M6 Coupe, Esprit V8, Diablo, AMV8, 355, 360, 930 Flatnose.
Still no idea what posessed me to buy an auto but it sounds great and is reasonably narrow, reliable and comfortable. For c20K it's a hard argument to say sepnding c40K on some of the others made any sense.

V8EVG

170 posts

206 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
A great article and as a current owner it was of interest.

I have a 2004 model with only 25000 miles and the F1 Performance Pack. This was something I particularly wanted and in my eyes made the car even more special. It was a £10k factory option but appears to hold its value well when resold. From memory on top of a standard SL55 the pack included 19" wheels, updated 390mm composite brakes, Nurburgring tuned suspension, two oil coolers built into the front bumper, limited slip diff, restricted top speed to c190mph and a leather and suede steering wheel.

I bought mine last year as a one owner car with 24000 miles and a full history. I have been lucky enough to have had the majority of the performance cars bar the Italian exotica and absolutely love the SL as my weekend car.

It's looks, sound, performance, ride, brakes and cabin all add up to a really complete car that has reasonable luggage space and can be used all year.

However with the good sadly comes the bad!
Despite its low mileage, one owner and full Mercedes history I have spent a considerable some of money on it to fix faults... Or should I say my warranty company has.

The suspension known as ABC continually dropped on the passenger side and over a period of six months everything has been replaced on one side at a rough cost of £6000. It is now fortunately sorted.
The car lost power after some spirited driving and then power resumed later once the charge pump had cooled. This is a common fault and was circa £1000

The heated seats elements failed on the base and upper part of the drivers seat which totalled £2200!

Although not a fault after 24000 miles it needed new front disc and pads which due to the size and composite nature of the discs was a cool £2200.

So overall not terribly reliable but with a good warranty (Warranty Direct) you can more or less mitigate the financial pain.

Some owners might want to part with a car with so many issues but now that they are fixed and the sun has shown signs of emerging it is a keeper (unless someone may me a very generous offer!) and I would genuinely encourage anyone to take a good and careful look at one as their next car whether it be as a daily driver or weekend pleasure.

Fuel economy today over 50 miles in and out of town was about 15 smiles per gallon!

Jonathan



Edited by V8EVG on Friday 30th March 18:01


Edited by V8EVG on Saturday 31st March 07:58

gumsie

680 posts

208 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
Along with the 560SEC and C63, best car they ever made.

Patrick Bateman

12,143 posts

173 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
V8EVG said:
A great article and as a current owner it was of interest.

I have a 2004 model with only 25000 miles and the F1 Performance Pack. This was something I particularly wanted and in my eyes made the car even more special. It was a £10k factory option but appears to hold its value well when resold. From memory on top of a standard SL55 the pack included 19" wheels, updated 390mm composite brakes, Nurburgring tuned suspension, two oil coolers built into the front bumper, limited slip diff, restricted top speed to c190mph and a leather and suede steering wheel.

I bought mine last year as a one owner car with 24000 miles and a full history. I have been lucky enough to have had the majority of the performance cars bar the Italian exotica and absolutely love the SL as my weekend car.

It's looks, sound, performance, ride, brakes and cabin all add up to a really complete car that has reasonable luggage space and can be used all year.

However with the good sadly comes the bad! Despite its low mileage, one owner and full Mercedes history I have spent a considerable some of money on it to fix faults... Or should I say my warranty company has.

The air suspension known as ABC continually dropped on the passenger side and over a period of six months everything has been replaced on one side at a rough cost of £6000. It is now fortunately sorted.
The car lost power after some spirited driving and then power resumed later once the charge pump had cooled. This is a common fault and was circa £1000

The heated seats elements failed on the base and upper part of the drivers seat which totalled £2200!

Although not a fault after 24000 miles it needed new front disc and pads which due to the size and composite nature of the discs was a cool £2200.

So overall not terribly reliable but with a good warranty (Warranty Direct) you can more or less mitigate the financial pain.

Some owners might want to part with a car with so many issues but now that they are fixed and the sun has shown signs of emerging it is a keeper (unless someone may me a very generous offer!) and I would genuinely encourage anyone to take a good and careful look at one as their next car whether it be as a daily driver or weekend pleasure.

Fuel economy today over 50 miles in and out of town was about 15 smiles per gallon!

Jonathan



Edited by V8EVG on Friday 30th March 18:01
Mmmm, that seems to be the opposite of everything I've read about customer's experiences.

fozzymandeus

1,038 posts

145 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
V8EVG said:
A great article and as a current owner it was of interest.

I have a 2004 model with only 25000 miles and the F1 Performance Pack. This was something I particularly wanted and in my eyes made the car even more special. It was a £10k factory option but appears to hold its value well when resold. From memory on top of a standard SL55 the pack included 19" wheels, updated 390mm composite brakes, Nurburgring tuned suspension, two oil coolers built into the front bumper, limited slip diff, restricted top speed to c190mph and a leather and suede steering wheel.

I bought mine last year as a one owner car with 24000 miles and a full history. I have been lucky enough to have had the majority of the performance cars bar the Italian exotica and absolutely love the SL as my weekend car.

It's looks, sound, performance, ride, brakes and cabin all add up to a really complete car that has reasonable luggage space and can be used all year.

However with the good sadly comes the bad! Despite its low mileage, one owner and full Mercedes history I have spent a considerable some of money on it to fix faults... Or should I say my warranty company has.

The air suspension known as ABC continually dropped on the passenger side and over a period of six months everything has been replaced on one side at a rough cost of £6000. It is now fortunately sorted.
The car lost power after some spirited driving and then power resumed later once the charge pump had cooled. This is a common fault and was circa £1000

The heated seats elements failed on the base and upper part of the drivers seat which totalled £2200!

Although not a fault after 24000 miles it needed new front disc and pads which due to the size and composite nature of the discs was a cool £2200.

So overall not terribly reliable but with a good warranty (Warranty Direct) you can more or less mitigate the financial pain.

Some owners might want to part with a car with so many issues but now that they are fixed and the sun has shown signs of emerging it is a keeper (unless someone may me a very generous offer!) and I would genuinely encourage anyone to take a good and careful look at one as their next car whether it be as a daily driver or weekend pleasure.

Fuel economy today over 50 miles in and out of town was about 15 smiles per gallon!

Jonathan



Edited by V8EVG on Friday 30th March 18:01
These are great cars, the V8 Kompressor adds to the drama over the regular car, although my lowly V6 is a great car because it's so usable.

One point though, ABC isn't air suspension, it's hydraulic "Adaptive Body Control", rather than Mercedes' airmatic that it fits to things like the S Class. Unfortunately it suffers from two faults: hydraulic leaks (that cause drops) and worn balljoints on dampers, yielding a £1500 bill per damper. This can be overcome with a rebuild but was the clincher in me deciding to get a traditionally sprung SL350.

I drove R129s before settling on the R230 and I have to say it's a far more pleasant machine to drive. It uses less fuel, model for model is faster and it has a more stylish interior. The R129 is a fine machine, as are all the SLs, but the R230 is simply great.

The R230 is at the watershed point now where quite a few on the market are abused examples with problems. I wouldn't go near such vehicles as the potential repair bills can be enormous. ECUs are particularly expensive. I don't honestly believe it's a worse built car than the later R129s. They don't suffer particularly badly from rust, although they don't have proper underbody protection so it's something to check, and the roof mechanism has far fewer issues than the auto roof mechanism on the R129. (Hydraulic cylinder failure is very very rare indeed, unlike the R129). They also don't have the wiring loom issues the R129 had in the mid 90s.

Key issue, as highlighted in the review, is to check for boot leaks. I know of an SL55 AMG that was bought privately and came with 1ft of water in the boot because it had been standing. It arrived after one trip with the new owner at a specialist on a flatbed and resulted in a significant four figure bill to put right. Mercedes revised the seals in 2005 but they are still poor, even on the facelifted 2007 car. They just need attention.

GTRene

16,367 posts

223 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
nice car and "cheap" prices...to start with that is ;-)

How about those SLK 55 AMG, I like those especially the 400hp NA black-series version.
but those are a bit more expensive...
The standard SLK 55 AMG has the same sort engine as the SL 55, only without the SC but there are kits for it from some German tuners to give them about 500hp biggrin
and those are smaller and lighter then the SL 55 AMG...
also you can make the interior a bit like the black series with those huggy seats.

mattmoxon

5,026 posts

217 months

Friday 30th March 2012
quotequote all
I think by the time the first servicing bill comes allong for anything other than an oil change this £16 performance bargain might not be as much of a bargain any more! Doesn't matte rhow cheap they are you have to remember you are still buying a ~£90k car, and £90k car running costs.

johnpeat

5,326 posts

264 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
mattmoxon said:
I think by the time the first servicing bill comes allong for anything other than an oil change this £16 performance bargain might not be as much of a bargain any more! Doesn't matte rhow cheap they are you have to remember you are still buying a ~£90k car, and £90k car running costs.
Specialists can actually keep most costs 'sensible' - you just need to make sure you're not buying a car which already has fluid leaks and worn roof motors and water leaks and the other stuff which costs ££££s to fix.

You also have to be ready for routine stuff to cost a fortune - tyres are over £200 a corner for one of these?? Buying a car with 4 shoddy tyres would be a slightly big mistake unless you got the bigger end of a grand knocked off for that alone!!

benzito

1,060 posts

158 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
the sl55 is truly incredible, produced in an era where power was everything regardless of cost, the sl55 is a true 200mph sports-car and indeed convertible.

Prices are very tempting but of course running costs have been its downfall - too many issues (esp. electrical faults), and the bills are overly expensive for the parts you are actually buying.

I still wonder whether it may be a future classic, was built in decent numbers though, don't think we will see the supercharged V8 in any car ever again!

Schnellmann

1,893 posts

203 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
Had a long test drive in the SL55 when they first came out. Had a 996.1 GT3 at the time. Was the first Merc I had driven and I went into the test with some prejudices....but was blown away by the SL55. Loved the noise, loved the grunt and the overtaking ability and the handling was good too. Did I change from the GT3? Of course not! It was my weekend car not a daily driver and the GT3 was epic. But left me with considerable affection for the SL55 and an itch I would like to scratch at some point.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
not for me, there far to much "look at me"


SLacKer

2,622 posts

206 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
Got mine back in summer 2010.

The only issues I had came with the car from the Mercedes Dealer. It had a broken exhaust bracket, chipped windscreen, faulty SC coolant pump. Got all of them resolved no thanks to the supplying dealer. Since then it has been faultless.

Put new wheels and tyres on it recently. Got the Panoramic roof which is fantastic and highly recommended. Recent specialist service cost £275 but will need brake fluid doing at Mercedes Dealer as specialist will not touch the SBS system. Some of the prices quoted at main dealers have the AMG tax attached to them.

Any excuse for a picture



The performance is epic as is the fuel consumption but you only live once.

fozzymandeus

1,038 posts

145 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
SLacKer said:
... as specialist will not touch the SBS system...
Any excuse for a picture

No need for me to quote the picture but I am anyway cos it looks lovely.

Surprised a specialist with STAR won't change the brake fluid - I think that you can switch it into a mode where someone can pump the brake pedal and have the usual effect when the bleed nipples are open, so I don't see the difficulty.

Discs and pads are a DIY job, somewhat tangentially. You just need to know how to "sleep" the system.

SBC is a good braking system, however, one additional point to note is that the hydraulic unit (and controller) has a service lifetime. Mercedes are replacing them for free at the moment (and my dealership informs me this will continue to be the case) but it's something to check has been done.

stevenandalex

124 posts

203 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
I was lucky enough to win an experience day at mercedes benz world and got and hour and a half driving the SL55amg around their circuit. I was really fortunate to be instructed by the great John Lyons, who managed to get the best out of me and the car. The lasting impression of the SL was what a great all rounder, one that you could use on a track and then drive to the south of France the next day. You are aware of the weight, but the abc and excellent brakes keep this all in check and the noise will make you feel like an 8 year old all over again - and surely this is the purpose of cars like this.

Steve

Chicane-UK

3,861 posts

184 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
Glorious car.. something I'd love to have in my dream garage some day!

raymondmarble

5 posts

151 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
I can vouch for everything V8EVG said. I bought an E55 from a main dealer (John R Weir - avoid like the plague!!). I had it 11 months, it sat in the dealers car park for 8 months while they tried to fix it. The suspension collapsed twice, the engine kept cutting out, the electrics regularly failed, the door locks failed and on and on. Perhaps if the dealer knew one end of it from another, it might have worked out better, but in the end I was glad to see the back of it. Great car if it worked, it just didn't. Back to BMW.

GeeTeaEye

34 posts

179 months

Saturday 31st March 2012
quotequote all
My motto with sports cars depreciating into this price bracket is "if you couldnt afford to buy it new, you cant afford to run it now".

If I did have the spare cash, I would be more tempted with a simpler piece of engineering, something like a monaro or vxr8, at which £12k to £15k you can find some very tasty examples.