zam2000

I bought a car, need more room in the back for my boy. And I'm sure he would appreciate a softer & more gentle ride. I was lucky, it's hard to find black W220 w/ AMG package. There's a guy before me who want to buy the car, but failed finance, since he only wants to put $1000-2000 down, and his credit score isn't that impressive.

Lucky that I keep my old tires & rims, so I can sell my upgrade headlight and wheels separately. I almost have to give extra money to dealer for them to take my car for trade-in. Whatever you add into the car, wheels, kit, light..., add zero value when trade-in . I think take out all the fees & things, they gave me 25 cents for my trade in

Bossman123

Stunning!.. gratz.

Lancelot

Very nice! And yes, stealers like bone-stock originals for strade-ins. A lot of peeps don't like cars with all kinds of 'only so-so' (they feel like) mods done to it...

alan16828

congrats Huy

ReZzZ320

wow what an upgrade......................

Musikmann

BEAUTIFUL car zam2000, congratulations!!

jimmydagreek

Congrats Zam! So, what kind of mods are you going to do to this one now, hmmm...

MARK CUMMINS

Get a Extended Warranty ASAP...You WILL Need it!

Nice looking 220! Its the Right color!

Zackb911

I was kind of curious about the reliability of them too... Are they that bad?

ajent420

Looks like you need to change your sig to

Vehicle I drive - ∞==∞

ruffrob

That is so screwed up,and the same modifications we all made on the car are the selling points they use to get it off the lot......There should be a law....

dsmith

nice car! always keep your original parts and return your car to stock before selling. you'll get more money and have a larger customer base. and, of course, never trade in your car. you'll get less than selling private. if money's no object, forget what i wrote.

mackmack

Congrats man, nice ride

d2Benz

congrats ZAM. that is a sweet ride...
Zam Jr, will surely enjoy the smooth ride..

Alexbenz

w220 arent that bad with repairs? the suspension is the main thing i;ve seen

zam2000

I think backup camera is next, it's so hard to parallel park this car. It's bigger than it looks. I justed figure out the wiring schema for video display. I'm sure folk on the W220 will enjoy this mod. It doesn't cost that much either. After that, it's to hard wire the V1 to the car.

One of the worse problem with the W220 is that the car stuck in park (can't shift !!!). This require tow truck to dealer, and the repair is very expensive, since the whole shifter unit have to be replaced & reprogramed. And most indy shop don't do this, due to lack to Star Diagnostic to program the replacement unit. THis problem often run $1000-2000, and came w/o warning. At least, the air-matic (other known expensive problem on the W220) came w/ plenty of warning signs. This one does not.

I think I just figured out how to repair this shifter unit. My friend gave me a bad one to play around, and after spend couple hours today, it's good to report that I figure out how to fix this & we tested and confirmed so. The whole problem came down to a part that probably cost Mercedes 10 cents, yet they require buyer to buy a whole shifter unit for $800-1000 + labor. Worse, there's no upgrade part, so it's likely to break again for customer. I think my solution will not letting it happen again. And any indy shop would be able to surgery & repair this shifter, since it does not require any reprograming. Probably 1 hour or so job.

My next project is to figure out how to fix the instrument cluster (go dark completely), another known expensive problem (Mercedes extend all W220 to 10 years warranty unlimited mileage on this IC one), but I think it's nice to know how to fix it. Probably some stupid 10 cents part break as well. I did fix the IC on our Lexus, I don't think they're rocket science.

I'll document the whole thing, and will post it soon.

Toog4me

I love the W220. Congrats. What do they go for used?

AsianML

Well, it depends what you add to the car. If they're factory parts (what you can order when it was new) it might add value, but when you go all out and do the unique mods like Zam does, the average buyer might not appreciate or like it.

zam2000

Well, true and false. Dealer offer to give me $300 more if I leave the 17" wheels set in with the car (not that they care about the 17" size, just that the tire are almost new). However, I put the OEM 16" back in, and just sold that 17" set for $1000. It's true that they don't care about the illuminated door sill, chrome ring on IC, nor TV/camera, and wouldn't give me an extra cents for it. But those are the ones where I can remove, and sell for almost what I paid for.

They couldn't care about the custom light, and probably would even deduct money for it not being OEM, but same, I sold that set for $850 within a nano second after posted.

You could spend $1500 to put the OEM command system in, or $2000 to add the OEM sport package (bumpers & side skit), you would probably get at most 20% of your money if you leave that w/ the trade during trade in.

Things like OEM wood steering wheels or OEM sunshade add zero value during trade in, that's what the sale person told me.

So the lesson is keep your OEM part when you upgrade your car, and put them back for trade in.

007

when I traded in my w210 1997, I presented the dealer with all the options I had on them, including the upgraded taillights, headlights, flat hood, and even the shift knob emblem.
But before I gave him the car, I removed everything and put back the OEM parts, I told what I did and basically he said whatever. My only regret was that I should of remove the flat hood emblem so that I dont have buy another $30 dollar part.
Only enthusiasts in the private party will value the upgrades, the dealer can care less .....

Shake

nice car

victorylap

Congrats! I'm just around the corner in upgrading to the S-Class! I'm very impressed with the quiet cabin and the overall space in the back & not to mention the ride quality.

hadam

Zam, great car. I am also looking for 2004 S500 with Sport AMG package with parktronic, distronic, trunk auto closer, rear seat comfort package.

I am getting for about $35000. I feel that if I wait till Jan 2008, the W220 prices will be dropping more.

There are so many W220 now out available.

See below link for inspection report on 2004 S500 Black with AMG Sport Package. This car went for $32000 with about 50000 miles on it.

http://mmsc400.manheim.com/MABEL/ECR...383&SAUCI=RAA#

Following are the recent prices from dealer only auction.

PRICING

Here are prices from recent dealer only auctions for 2004 Mercedes S500's.

sale date location sale $ miles condition
06/28/07 MANHEIM Regular $42,200 7,946 Above 0 8G No
07/05/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $39,500 8,677 Above SIL 744 8G A No
06/20/07 W PALM Lease $39,400 10,236 Above BLACK 8G A No
07/13/07 LAUD/MIA Regular $40,800 13,581 Above BLACK 8G A No
06/27/07 ATLANTA Lease $38,250 15,536 Above BLK OPL 8G A Yes
06/21/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $45,750 19,492 Above GRPH GRN 8G A No
06/20/07 ST LOUIS Lease $41,250 21,027 Above BLK 8G A Yes
07/05/07 W PALM Lease $37,800 23,586 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/12/07 MANHEIM Lease $38,250 24,076 Above TECTITE 8G A Yes
06/28/07 MANHEIM Regular $35,500 27,561 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/12/07 MANHEIM Regular $37,000 28,330 Avg TECT 8G A Yes
06/21/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $36,500 34,408 Avg BLK C040 8G A Yes
06/28/07 DET METR Lease $35,800 34,601 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/12/07 CHICAGO Lease $32,750 35,202 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
06/21/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $35,500 36,103 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
06/21/07 RIVRSIDE Regular $42,000 36,276 Above TECTITE 8G A Yes
06/22/07 LAUD/MIA Regular $35,400 36,379 Avg WHITE 8G A Yes
06/28/07 GTR TMPA Regular $37,400 36,422 Avg WHITE 8G A Yes
06/28/07 MANHEIM Lease $36,000 37,123 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/06/07 W PALM Regular $38,000 37,522 Avg GREY 8G A Yes
06/20/07 W PALM Lease $31,200 39,382 Below BRI SIL 8G A Yes
06/28/07 MANHEIM Lease $34,750 39,866 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
07/10/07 FAAO Regular $36,500 42,144 Avg GOLD 8G A Yes
07/05/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $33,250 43,589 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
06/21/07 CINCINNA Lease $33,000 43,992 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
06/28/07 MANHEIM Lease $32,250 44,150 Avg ALB WHT 8G A Yes
07/12/07 MANHEIM Lease $31,000 46,547 Below PEWTER 8G T Yes
06/28/07 MANHEIM Lease $31,000 49,527 Below BRI SIL 8G A Yes
06/21/07 RIVRSIDE Regular $29,500 53,303 Below BLACK 8G Yes
06/27/07 ATLANTA Lease $31,250 54,420 Below BLACK 8G A Yes
07/17/07 FAAO Regular $31,500 55,405 Below BLUE 8G A Yes
06/21/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $33,500 56,389 Avg WHT C960 8G A Yes
06/27/07 ATLANTA Lease $32,250 62,461 Avg SILVER 8G A Yes
06/27/07 ATLANTA Lease $32,500 64,308 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
06/29/07 MANHEIM Regular $29,250 69,658 Below BLACK 8G A No

hadam

Sorry I don't know why the photo of auctioned W220 Black Sport did not show up in link.

http://mmsc400.manheim.com/MABEL/ECR...383&SAUCI=RAA#

zam2000

Woow, based on the report, that car is in pretty bad shape (accident, dent everywhere, lot of scratch..). I think the interior is not in good shape either, even the shift knob is missing.

Mine is a 2003 S430. It's a consignment car, a lawyer in NB sell it. I would say its condition is 9.5/10, there isn't a single flaw in it. Interior & paint is in like-new condition, just serviced & all brake changed.

I think for every price range, you can always find an S, especially now that the W221 come out.

Btw, the S class is much more expensive to maintain than the E. Tire & brake cost 2-3 times as the E class. And if the airmatic go wrong, you would wish you a have brother being mechanic at Mercedes dealer. There're actuator or vacuum pump everywhere in the car. Its complexity is mind mumbling.

So far, my son gave it 10/10 !! . His 80 mile a day trip (and mine 160 miles/day) is much easier now, and that's the most important thing to me

I just have the clear bra applied to the car ($700 job), and all window tint ($250). Can't wait for everything to dry out, so I can polish and zainooooo the car. Just bought a Griot dual stage polisher, will make it work hard next weekend.