Jim's500E

I am picking up a nice 2007 next week. It has 34K on it, silver over black.

I understand this car is pretty rare...1 of 50 in silver? 1 of 143 for 2007 in the USA? The wife I guess found that info on-line. Looks like we won't be passing any on the road with them numbers !

I'd love to hear from other owners on their life with this Cabby. My only plan is to lower it a bit with springs and maybe un-restrict the exhaust some. I hope my wife will let me drive it once in a while too ....

Critter

Wifes' car, she loves it, as for touching the suspension, don't. You are on springs now and if you reduce travel of the spring the ride will be affected greatly. Enjoy the car, as far as the exhaust goes it is throatier than my E63, and goes from kitty to tigress very quickly, traction control (ESP) is your friend leave it on. No issues with the car, new battery last year, not used in winter so was on battery maintainer over winter. Yes 1 of 143 built worldwide. No offence but it will make your E500 feel like a VW after just one ride.

Jim's500E

Cool man...thanks for the reply.

So, 143 worldwide? Gosh, this IS a rare beast.

Yeah, the old 500E was slow like in the last century. Def no offense taken. 8-)

Critter

One thing that could help you with the price, on the convertible top the seam above the back window is a sort of heat/glue seam. In time this seam lets go and will start to come apart as the top is very taunt. If this seam shows any whitish material, taking the top is black then this seam is breaking down. This could be a chance for less of an offer, thinking new top is about 3k or if good upholsterer maybe can sew it, but sooner or later this will happen. Enjoy this fine car.

Jim's500E

I already paid for it... $33.5K USD which seems like a kind price versus what I have seen on Autotrader with comparable miles.

This car I'm getting is almost perfect, just a bit of wear on the drivers seat side bolsters (like most cars). I will look closely at that seam you mentioned...tho the car will be garaged again and I doubt it will be driven in rain, def no snow....and well, if it does fail then I'll get it fixed.

Do these early 6.2 liter motors have the head bolt fail issues ?

Critter

Our car is always garaged but the weather is not the issue, apparently Benz like to have a taunt top so as it ages the fabric shrinks a bit which makes it even more tight and pulls at this seam above the back window, this is a well known issue but other than that, yes the head bolts are an issue but it seems mostly the C63 although yes the E" as well and pretty much any 63 motor M156 has the potential. We have two and so far no issue, but as previously stated in the forum somewhere running the car hard at WOT, for much of it's life will assist with the failure, but that is not solid proof. Enjoy the car, keep an eye on coolant level, monitor when cold for level at reservoir, monitor engine oil for level and coolant contamination/milky oil. Get the service records for previous issues.
Some owners of the C63 have changed out the bolts as an added precaution, going with the upgraded Benz bolts or studs from ARP/ Weistec engineering sells them too. Good winter project for some also. Again Enjoy, Watch out for perma-grin

More Pork

I've owned my 07 CLK 63 AMG for about 6 months. It is the finest car I've ever driven. It is a perfect Island Car and immaculate road cruiser. I get about 22 highway mpg. Had a leaky windshield washer pump, but that's all. Have to be careful of the front spoiler. Unfortunately with 4 cars, it stays outside. I treat the top w/Raggtop which seems to work pretty good (water beads). Mine is Storm Red w/tan interior. I've never seen another like it anywhere.

Jim's500E

A red w/tan one? That has to be even more rare.

VERY cool...indulge us with some pictures of it please !!

I pick mine up tomorrow after work...I'm pretty excited.

More Pork

I'll see what I can do about pics. For everyday tooling around, leave it in the Sport setting, starts out in 1st. Highway I use Auto, & of course Manual for special occasions. Be careful about trunk loading below the luggage cover, Just a little obstruction and the top will not close all the way. If operated properly, your hand held remote will open & close the top.

You'll be finding any excuse for a short trip, they are addictive, and the sudden foot stomp will brighten you day. Enjoy

Critter

With the wifes' car you have to be right up next to the sensor on the handle for the windows to drop and the top to open, so right about the trunk interference, loaded 1 case of pop there and the top would not work, thought what is broke! 1st gear is good to jump the guy next to you but 99% of the time 2nd works just as well. Great exhaust sound too.
She has the standard black on black with black top. Again Jim watch for perma grin.

More Pork

Jim:

I don't mean to keep barging in on this, but when you pick up the car, make sure it has the windscreen in the boot. It's a big flat folded thing in a black canvas bag. They have a tendency to disappear and they're expensive to replace. I didn't know & it took me a month to track mine down. You'll want it @ highway speeds.

Critter

Yes +1 for the windscreen. One thing I noticed, just what is the block of steel suspended on rubber that sits under the flap passenger side back corner of the trunk, some kind of harmonic chassis suppression?
Also do not forget both key fobs, 200+ to replace, must get them ordered from dealer after showing two pieces of ID along with the ownership of the car

KENNY94945

We have one; original owners; also w/ about 35K mileage.
No service issues, very dependable, yes very quick (and rare) car.

I too would not lower it. OEM exhaust tone is not bad either.

Critter

Replaced battery so far last year sat for 6 weeks battery flat, regular maintenance, 1 set of tires @27K

Jim's500E

Thanks guys...yeah, I'm off lowering it...it sits pretty nice as is. Also since the wife will be driving it more than me, she surely would stuff the front bumper somewhere. I would like to free up some noise and hp with some exhaust work in the future, maybe. But for now we love it as it is and drive with the top down wearing our ski hats. Drove it into work today...it was in the low 40s. Seat heats up nice but the steering wheel isn't heated ! Bummer. Kudos for the old allroad for having that which still works nicely after 12 years.

No, it didn't have the windscreen unfortunately...every other Cab I've bought didn't have them either. I will buy one though. Did they come with the cars new or was it optional?

The only thing I don't like about the car is the cheap silver plastic trim inside...was wood veneer an option? I gotta go on ebay and get a sales brochure for it and educate myself.

And damn...the owners manual is 500 pages long ! The whole leather shebang with the other manuals in it only fits in the trunk. Didn't try too hard yet but how can I set the analog clock on the left side of the instrument cluster?

Overall... great f-ing car. So happy !

Jim's500E

Yep, my old A124 Cab had a lead weight up on the left front shock tower area...supposedly some sort of dampening device.

Yes, luckily it came with 2 key fobs... It was fully serviced with new tires and alignment at 31K too. It appears that all the service was at MB dealerships too so the records are complete, not that anything major was done to it as far as I can tell.

I'll take some pix this weekend and post.

Critter

Congrats, not sure about the woodgrain for the CLK but never really looked for it. What I was impressed with is the better quality and functionality of the front seats over a c350 model, similar to my E63. I found the setting of the clock in the green section of the manual marked Control System/Controls in detail. If the car has Nav then when you go through a time zone the clock will automatically move ahead 1 hour or back whatever is the case to align with the zone you are in.

Just wait until the first day your wife comes home with her hair straight back and a big smile on her face, 0-100mph in about 5 heartbeats and still pulling like a wild stallion. LOL That guy who cut her off has no chance of seeing the front bumper again,

More Pork

Glad you like the car. The windscreen was standard. You can reset the clock through the steering wheel controls.It's under Settings. As to the manual, I set mine aside & downloaded the one from MB. You can click on sub sections and it scrolls where you want to go. Much simpler than thumbing thru 500 pgs. Little plastic bits are a problem. Two of my thumb buttons for seat adjustment have popped off & are lost between the seat and center console. Pop em off and re-glue them.

Jim's500E

Thanks for all the replies and insights guys.

So, do all of you have the silver plastic trim in your 63's interior? Not a big deal...I just think the car looks so much nicer/more inviting with the wood veneers; like a Benz should ! Anyway.

Yeah, page 158 of the manual describes how to set the clock which I assume is digital, though the dash one has pointers like an analog clock. I almost busted the rest button for the trip odometer trying to get the hands to move ! I think I just need to sit in the car, instead of driving it like a madman, and figure out how to use and set everything. As you can see, this is the most modern car in my stable...so many neat gadgets they packed into this model.

Another noob question...I like the top down function with the key fob while outside. When it's all done and I get in, the driver's seat cooling fan blue lites in the dash button are on...is this normal?

LOL, my wife just came and got the car from my work at lunch and left me with the old allroad...tricky chick.

Critter

Yes the clock is a little deceiving, like I said mine changed while driving down the highway, looked down and the clock was going backwards LOL, time zone change.
The cooling function was probably set up that way by the previous owner, not sure about changing it back maybe dealer software or Star setup? Also say goodbye to the driving to work now your wife has been bitten, Lost a pickup truck like that years ago, but sold the truck kept the wife.

Critter

My wifes' top down function only works if there is money involved and lots of it. LOL
Seriously the fob has to be right near to the sensor to operate, would be nice if you could be a foot away or something similar, also hard to work when in complete sun from outside althought the doors open without the fob being activated just have to have it in your pocket. So the car has a sort of brain.

Silver trim inside also.

mercamerica

147 were made for North America in 2007, there are many more in Europe where they also offered the coupe version. But you definitely won't see many on the road in the states. The interior trim is aluminum, not plastic, and it came standard. I have a CLK55 but my seat cooler also turns on automatically when I use the key fob to put the top down, its a standard thing. You can buy a chip for you key fob that lets you control the top from a distance with one click. It will also let you raise the speed limit for putting the top down.

My soft top is separating by the rear window like yall mentioned. Does anyone have any suggestions for fixing it before it gets worse?

Critter

One item you might consider soon, not so much with low mileage but age of car sooner or later the plastic serpentine belt pulleys get noisy in the bearing, overheat and melt causing failure, I have changed these on both cars to the Weistec Aluminum pulleys you can buy off their website, like 300 bucks for 5 pulleys to change them all. Cheap insurance.
Billet Idler Pulleys

Redcab

Delighted to see this thread and the useful info. I just pulled the trigger on a CLK 63. Bought a 2008 with a little under 15K on the odometer. Garage queen...well cared for

The car is silver over black. Burl trim. Nav, vented seats, keyless go and a few other goodies. Missing parktronic but the nicest example of a CLK 63 that I have found within my budget.

I've been driving a magma red CLK 430 (Talula) that will become my sweetheart's car... in the last 2 years, it has brought us a lot of joy. I'll be taking delivery of the 63 Thursday.

I was a little shocked about the low production numbers of these cars. In 08 I was told only 100 were brought into the United States. It's safe to say, this one will be my pride and joy. Bring on the permagrin.

Critter

Sounds like a well optioned car, enjoy!
Permagrin here you come