Hello ,
How are you all doing ? My name is Khaled , I just joined here , I've getting a lot of info from all of you for the past years.

I am looking to have the AMG experience after owning Kia Cadenza "K7 which is lovley". AMG's are not really famous or easy to find back in my country " Saudi Arabia , UAE Dubai " but now Im in the US finishing my BS degree in Finance.

so I would like your opinion, I found 2 AMG cars that I like , the 1st one is an W208 ClK55 2001 , white and clean. what I Don't like about it is the Wheels , he sold the monoblonk AMG Wheels and got an after market Wheels that I Don't really like , the car has around 150k , the other car is a C32 AMG 2003 , with 130k really clean ,Stock and the color is black , Both cars Have service records the C32 has all Service records
.
I have been getting Mix Info about the C32 reliability and problems " Yes I have Been searching the internet". there is a 900 $ more for the C32 , " I couldn't find any C55 Near me Plz if you know one for sale or someone is up to sell please let me know , I Live In Nashville TN , willing to travel up to 6h.

Please Help me Pick one. Im willing to learn How to DIY since I got free time.

Thank you so much for your time.
regards ,
Khaled.

 

Get the V8!

 

Thank you so much for the reply Chappy, i think the V8 will be more reliable

 

The CLK w208 is an amazing car!

 

you didn't state budget

 

I thoroughly enjoy the V8 in the AMG's.
I have an 2005 CLK55 AMG I am selling currently.
Not sure if its in your price range based on what you are looking at right now.

 

Hello , thank you for your post , my max is 10k.

 

this may not be what you want to hear, but with a 10k max, you may be better off getting a CLK500... not because they're that much cheaper, and not because you can't get a CLK55 for that price... but because the CLK500 will be much MUCH cheaper to fix, should it be required.

For example, on my CLK63, the OIL COOLER was $1300 just for the part. That's an under $200 part for most cars.

I will however respectfully defer to owners with CLK55 experience, as I have not owned one, and can merely extrapolate from my CLK63.

 

Thank you for your reply , I've heard horror stories about the W209 clk 500 reliability. Because of that I'm looking for W208's or W210 55's.
I found C32 AMG that I really like and it's really clean but I'm just getting mixed reviews about reliability.

Thank you.

 

Horror stories, really?

 

I'm talking about the CLK500 not the W209 55 AMG. the father of my friend had W211 E 500. Was in the shop most of the time " might be a lemon"

Thank you for your post.

 

Picked up my W208 over other options for the looks, but also I was told by a MB dealer mechanic that the W208 CLK55 was the most reliable AMG car he has owned. And he owned about 8 or 9 different AMG's in the years I've known him.

 

Yes this is what I've heard too , hopefully I could find a clean one soon.

Thank you so much for your advise CLKRob.

 

First of all, CLK55 and CLK500 does not have any different in maintenance !
They use the same amount of oil, filter... Dealer like to charge more because of AMG badge. My oil change with Mobil 1 always $100 with my mechanic.
For $10K budget, I think W208 CLK55 is a better choice than C32 and W209.

I had 2 W209 CLK55, they were not as reliable. Engine had some issue with black smog coming out occasionally not all the time. Secondary air pump failure, etc... It's a very nice car but reliability wise 208 is better. Also W208 is lighter chassis. Good luck with your purchase.

 

CharlyE500 thank you for the info , as your name , I guess you own or used to E500 , how reliable the car is/was ? I'm still looking for W208 , W210. Some times driving a fast coupe is normal , but a fast sedan is the fun IMO.

 

I had my E500 before my 06 E55 7 years ago. I had it for 2 years, it was reliable but W210 E55 is a better car overall, faster, handle better and brake better. W210 or W208 are more reliable than W211 or W209 overall.

When W210 to W211 they add a Supercharger however, W208 to W209 not much different in power, plus W208 is lighter. My suggestion is W210, 4 doors, reliable, classic look and fast. Personally I would chose W210 E55 again over W209.

 

make sure you ask the same question in the C32 section :-)

i considered a C32 when i bought my C43. the main benefit of the C32 was that with some relatively easy and cheap mods the car can be made really fast in terms for straight line performance, other than that it comes down to what type of design you prefer i guess. not the same with the w208 CLK55 AMG, go-fast parts for this car are not cheap at all and really hard to get alot more performance out of it for the money. but thats what i like about the car 342 hp and 376ft lbs of torque will be plenty for me :-)

im looking for one right now too but im willing to pay a bit more for a lower mileage version so at least we are not competing for the same car ;-) good luck!

 

Thank you so much for the info CharlyE500 , I'm still looking for W210. Hope I can find one soon.

 

I like the C32 , I like the size of it as well "don't need a big car" but I'm not sure about the reliability of it. W208 indeed is one of the best looking coupes IMO. It's really hard to find these cars , I've been trying to find one for over 2 months now and nothing yet. Only one C32 that I really like but it's 6h away and I don't have free time yet. I found C46 for sale near me 4h away , what's your opinion about it ? I love the look of it , I might consider it as well " it is for 3500 without the monoblock wheels and it has 175k on it"

Thank you so much for the reply and good luck with your new ride.

Regards ,
Khaled.

 

Khaled,
my #1 piece of advise is that you need to expand your search radius. i live in Michigan and i went to Texas to get my C43. its 18 hours away and im glad i did it because there was not any others close to me in good shape and condition like i wanted.

as i have been watching the CLK55 cars (Coupe only) for sale for about 8 months online now i can say that there is only ever about 15-20 of these cars for sale at a given time in the USA. usually closer to 15. if you look across the whole country you will find 5-6 of these cars in your price range.

for a $10k budget there are some really clean ones out there with 100k-130k miles.

with low fuel prices now you are looking at about $600-800 additional investment to buy a car that is far away. $300-$500 for a plane ticket to get there, $130 for a dealership inspection, then maybe $100-150 in fuel to drive the car back to where you live. this is what i did for my C43 and i will do it for the CLK as well. i think this is a good investment to get the car you want when you consider there are not very many left. also some dealerships may work with you to include shipping the car to you in the purchase price. last i checked its only about $300-$500 at most to have a car transported to you depending on distance (again, fuel is cheap right now).

for the C43:
i love it, when i buy a clk55 i am turning the C43 into my daily driver because i love it so much I do not intend to ever get rid of the C43... ever, its a very special car. i see CLK coupes and even CLK55 about 2-3x more than i see w202 c coupes and never see a C43. i think it has the perfect amount of power and torque for a daily driver. not too much. also it seems to be less pricey than the CLK models by about 10%.
the CLK will be my fun car to take to the track and autocross/drag racing. i was doing that with the C43 for about 3 years but i just want to drive it more. the CLK will give me a bump up in power and i can still use some of the parts i upgraded on the C43 on it.

 

Considering the extensive flooding in the Houston and Dallas areas, I'd be very careful about buying a used car in Texas.

 

While I'd be careful of the flood status of any used car in general, the logic doesn't really follow that Houston is some kind of cess pool of flood cars. There have been 30 flood events in the US in the 15 years that the C43 has been on the roads, covering almost every area of the US.

The cars to really look out for are cars that are NOT in a flood event area, and that were at one when it happened. IOW, if your really paranoid about flood damage, you have to look at the car fax and correlate it with a list of events, and not just avoid Houston in 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods...2%80%93present

 

A good inspection at a dealership should cover this. Assuming it's a private owner or you get it inspected at a certified MB dealership. Most of these used AMG cars are not at MB dealerships.

 

Hi.
I can't do much for you but, you are very Polite.
Very Cool!
Best on finding your car.