cvp911t

Hey guys-

Newbie here, in the market for an SL55. I test drove two '04s in the area last weekend. I must say, for the money, it's a very versatile car (power, luxury, presence, convertible, coupe, all rolled into one).

Here's the thing. I felt a noticeable difference in throttle response between the two. One just felt a lot more lively...the motor responded with more immediacy, especially when you first get on the throttle.

The gap wasn't enough for me to think there was something seriously wrong, but it wasn't small enough for me to think it was a variance in tire pressure.

So why not just buy the one with the better response? Because it's evident it wasn't as well taken care of...buttons somehow fell off, storage compartments don't stay in place, there's stuff to be fixed on it. The car with less response was pristine in fit/finish.

So..is there a common R230 SL55 issue that would affect throttle response? If not, any educated thoughts on what could be causing the difference?

AsianML

The transmission in these cars is adaptive, learning and adjusting itself to driving habits. The livelier one probably had an owner that loved to play with the throttle.

cvp911t

No kidding. So if that's the case, is it fair to say that I should probably go for the slower one, since it's more likely to have been babied a little more?

AsianML

If it was me, probably. You said it yourself, the faster one wasn't taken care of very well overall anyway.

JonMBZ

I wouldnt use that to gauge what car was better taken car of there are too many variables. The car could have performance issues for many reasons. You could however learn to reset the ECU before testing the different vehicles so they would have no adaptions stored.

zerocover

You never know maybe someone just test drove it aggressively before you did. You think your the only one to check them out?

The only thing you can do is confirm no codes and no problems with the oil. Before you buy get your pick professorially checked out.

AsianML

It takes more than just one simple test drive for the TCU to adapt, unless he performed the ECU reset immediately prior to driving it.