Potential bargain?

Clarkey said:
I wouldn't say that's hugely quick tbh. A light tuned S15 goes about as well as that.

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The difference is that at 200 KPH the Merc is just getting going, and will just walk away from an S15. A remapped S600 will do 320 KPH, and the video shows 200 to 260 KPH in about 9 seconds. Presumably the S15 gets to 260 KPH after a lot of screaming.
 
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PMKeates said:
The difference is that at 200 KPH the Merc is just getting going, and will just walk away from an S15. A remapped S600 will do 320 KPH, and the video shows 200 to 260 KPH in about 9 seconds. Presumably the S15 gets to 260 KPH after a lot of screaming.
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That's pretty close to being in the 200MPH club. Would probably still be very comfortable at that speed.
 
Those are valid points, but who really cares how fast a car goes deep into 3 figures. That kind of performance has no value on the road or track, it's just willy waving in reality.
 
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I had a W220 shape S500 LWB, absolutely stunning car to drive and to ride in, very comfortable and quiet thanks to the double glazing and air suspension...HOWEVER...

These cars are a nightmare! they rust like Lancias, the airmatic suspension struts blow a lot, they suffer terrible water ingress that destroys the highly sensitive electronics, even simple stuff like sparkplugs cost a fortune because they are twinspark so for the S600 that's 24 spark plugs.

I am a HUGE W220 fan but I would never ever recommend one as the running costs are so high and reliability low. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
 
slick rick said:
I had a W220 shape S500 LWB, absolutely stunning car to drive and to ride in, very comfortable and quiet thanks to the double glazing and air suspension...HOWEVER...

These cars are a nightmare! they rust like Lancias, the airmatic suspension struts blow a lot, they suffer terrible water ingress that destroys the highly sensitive electronics, even simple stuff like sparkplugs cost a fortune because they are twinspark so for the S600 that's 24 spark plugs.

I am a HUGE W220 fan but I would never ever recommend one as the running costs are so high and reliability low. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
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Just to counter this, and in the interest of balance, my old man had no less than three W220 S55 AMGs, each for a couple of years, that cost nothing in terms of unexpected costs. :) The SL55 and SL65s however, were ruinously expensive. ABC = £££.

But YMMV.

e: on a complete tangent, one of the saddest things I've seen in my life is a one-of-a-kind SL55 jacked up with ruined ABC struts, demanding a £6,000 repair bill. It was at this point he told Drayton Mercedes in Stourbridge he wouldn't be paying the bill or collecting the car. Such a shame, possibly the best car I've ever come across in my life.
 
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airwave99 said:
That's pretty close to being in the 200MPH club. Would probably still be very comfortable at that speed.
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What's close to being in the 200MPH club - the S15? Does that S15 have 500 HP? If so it's not 'light tuned'! :p

I imagine my 535d is closer to the 200MPH club than that S15..
Clarkey said:
Those are valid points, but who really cares how fast a car goes deep into 3 figures. That kind of performance has no value on the road or track, it's just willy waving in reality.
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It has plenty of value in many situations. With a few exceptions the Nürburgring fastest times are cars with lots of power, and the S will win all the motorway battles.
 
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Theophany said:
Just to counter this, and in the interest of balance, my old man had no less than three W220 S55 AMGs, each for a couple of years, that cost nothing in terms of unexpected costs. :) The SL55 and SL65s however, were ruinously expensive..
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Err the S55 had ABC too so he was just lucky, sounds like they were quite new too so nothing like a 10 year old one.
 
[TW]Fox;25727504 said:
Err the S55 had ABC too so he was just lucky, sounds like they were quite new too so nothing like a 10 year old one.
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It's definitely a possibility. But the SLs were always a lot more trouble than the Ss. :)

In fact, he paid over six figures for the ill-fated SL, yet the best S we had cost something like 25? None of them missed a beat.

e: just double checked the dates, 53 and 55 plate S55s owned between 2008 and 2011. So by no means young gals!
 
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ABC is probably more reliable than airmatic but it costs more when it goes wrong and failures of either system immobilise the car so it's not a problem you can just ignore.

There is nobody sane that can afford to run that car that couldn't afford to buy a newer car with less issues.

It's sad but that car is destined to be broken very very soon.
 
Theophany said:
It's definitely a possibility. But the SLs were always a lot more trouble than the Ss. :)
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There is no reason really why an SL is much more trouble than an S so i am not sure what makes you have this opinion? The only additional possible issues are SBC and Vario roof related, but both systems are very reliable. Sl's also seem not to rust anything like the S's.

As it happens ive had both an S of this shape, and an SL, done loads and loads of miles in both (100k miles in the S alone!) and my SL has been far far better reliability wise.
 
Jez said:
There is no reason really why an SL is much more trouble than an S so i am not sure what makes you have this opinion? The only additional possible issues are SBC and Vario roof related, but both systems are very reliable. Sl's also seem not to rust anything like the S's.

As it happens ive had both an S of this shape, and an SL, done loads and loads of miles in both (100k miles in the S alone!) and my SL has been far far better reliability wise.
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I wish we'd had your experience. IMO the R230 is the greatest GT that's ever been made and it's only slightly less pretty than the R129 ;)
 
There is nothing more to an R230 than the SBC and Vario roof system over a W220 so by definition they cannot be much worse, SBC and the roof are both very reliable too. The rest of the car is mechanically almost identical, the same ABC system, the same electronics, the same engines, etc etc.

The fact that my SL has actually been better than my S is pot luck, but they cannot be worse than the W220 by the fact that they are the same! :) The only thing you dont want to do with either car is park them outside, my SL has almost never ever spent a night outside getting wet, it sits in a nice dry garage and has done from brand new. This may account for some of the increase in reliability which i have seen come to think of it. Reason being that they both suffer from water ingress, the SL especially so with its millions of roof seals.
 
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Jez said:
There is nothing more to an R230 than the SBC and Vario roof system over a W220 so by definition they cannot be much worse, SBC and the roof are both very reliable too. The rest of the car is mechanically almost identical, the same ABC system, the same electronics, the same engines, etc etc.

The fact that my SL has actually been better than my S is pot luck, but they cannot be worse than the W220 by the fact that they are the same! :) The only thing you dont want to do with either car is park them outside, my SL has almost never ever spent a night outside getting wet, it sits in a nice dry garage and has done from brand new. This may account for some of the increase in reliability which i have seen come to think of it. Reason being that they both suffer from water ingress, the SL especially so with its millions of roof seals.
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All of ours were garaged mate, they never saw a harsh night! Molly coddled Mercs! Must've just been the luck of the draw. :)
 
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