P350

I’m looking at buying a 03 CL 600 and I started to do this without apparently. My MB salesman stops me, says to run away because they are bad cars and to hold on to my ML350. What gives? It's a v12, it’s a Mercedes supercar and it has 36k on the clock! What should I be worried about or be looking for? He also said that a customer said that a CL55 they own leaked all over his garage due to the ABC system. He also said I couldn’t drive the car everyday or hard if I bought it. To top everything off, I was told the maintenance alone would kill me. I thought all MB vehicles had an A and B service? I’ve owned 3.

Please Advise...
P

Patentmat

I would not buy from that guy. He is being both generic about the problems (they are bad cars) and anecdotal about the problems (ONE customer said it leaked). What the hell is he talking about? They do have A and B service (I am due for B, probably going to your local Sacramento dealer), I do drive the car everyday AND hard (check this https://mbworld.org/forums/cl-class-...ay-driver.html thread started by
wease206) and I have 80K on the clock. So he tells you about one person who had their car leak, tell him about one person who drove it daily for years with relatively few problems. I am sure I won't be the only one commenting on this guy, there has to be some '600 drivers shrugging their shoulders with me

Bo CL500

the 600 have some problems with the V12 engine, the best bet it to look at the 55 or 65, they are good

P350

Thank for for information.

So what are some "red flags" with either car? (600, 55 or 65)

P

BlownV8

What engine problems does the 2003 and later 600 have?

Bo CL500

maybe its just the 00-03 but they say that there is a plroblem with the cilynders when the car switches from 12 to 6 cilynders at low speeds.

CoupeLeicht600

Each CL is slightly different than the other. The CL500s don't have the same problems as the CL600s. When you buy such a high performance vehicle, you have to do your homework. Since the CL is the first Benz to the get the latest technology from Daimler, it's sort of like a guinea pig and a double edged sword. My CL600 usually goes to the shop twice a year and I have 99,000 miles on it now. Maintenance is expensive, but it is relative to the price of the car. You can't expect your repairs to be only a hundred bucks when you drive a six figure car. All you can do is hope that the previous owner didn't abuse it and do your best at preventative maintenance. I'm sure there's people out there with a problem free CL and other's who have a nightmare CL. Warranty, inspection, and research are crucial if you want to be an informed consumer.

BlownV8

The 2003 and later CL600 does not have a cylinder deactivation feature. The issues with the 600 also plague the 2003 and later 55's and 65's. ABC is the biggest problem most people have along with faulty coil packs and intercooler pumps.

Silver CL55

I bought a 55 from my local MB dealer, the salesman was running a 600 (bi-turbo) that he bought from the dealership.
It had had £34,000 (GBP) worth of warrant work done on it before he got it!
The turbos are supposed to be troublesome.
Good luck, the 55 AMG is amazing.
Colin.

BlownV8

I've never heard of any issues with the turbos. Do you know exatly what was repaired or are you just speculating? There are lots of things that break on the 600 but those same things also break on the supercharged 55's. Some of the things that fail, coil packs for instance, are just way more expensive on the 600 but the ABC pump/system and intercooler pumps are the same.

Silver CL55

I don't know exactly what was supposed to be the issue but when I told my existing MB mechanic and a friend who is also an MB salesman that I fancied a CL, both independantly told me to steer clear of the 600's, specifically the bi-turbos.
As to the "£34k warrant work", I have has 2 suspension parts, new dash, gearbox electronics module and 2 rear arches of paint repairs (all under warrant) I think these would be about £5.5k GBP, so £34k, while crazy money, is quite believable.
Colin.