My wife hit a lamp post in a parking lot; front left damage initially estimated at $7800, but the GEICO decided to write off the entire car for $26,000. The adjuster said something about the cost of sensors, which didn't make a lot of sense, but I honestly don't know how much they cost.

I'm seeing GL550s within that price range, although they have more mileage than the 58k miles we had on our GL450. But the added features of the GL550 does make it attractive. I found one for $21k, 88k miles, two major issues and some small interior niggles.

- A/C isn't blowing cold. Just a refrigerant recharge, or potentially something much worse?
- Rear liftgate opens, but stops just short of being fully extended. It will not close automatically. Could it just be needing new gas struts?
- various buttons are loose and worn out - the lumbar support module housing is cracked, and the sunroof button looks like it's hanging by a thread. I'm thinking of just doing replacements from parted out cars, as I've done in the past on other cars. Any caveats?

- the air suspension appears to work fine, although the raising and lowering seems to take about 2-3 times as long as on our '11 GL450. Did the '09 GL550 have a slower pump, or does this indicate there's an air leak somewhere between the air pump and the air shocks?

- we had to replace the front struts on our GL450 at 50k miles due to leaky air shocks. was this also an issue with '09 GL550s? If so, I would assume that the front struts were replaced, but if that's not the case, it will be an additional cost; we had a platinum extended warranty on our GL450 that covered so many things it paid for itself and then some....but front struts were specifically excluded. Also, how does the "sport" setting work...does it just increase the pressure inside the air springs, or is it a completely different mechanism?

Thanks for reading and I do appreciate insights from GL550 owners!

 

That price seems really high for a gl550 with problems. We just traded in our 08 gl550 with 101k miles and absolutely no issues for $11k. we tried to sell it for 13k with no takers. An older Gl does not keep its value due to the perceived higher costs of ownership. Making them a steal if you get the right one. We liked the wider, flared, body of the gl550 and most of them are loaded. the wheels look better and the power is just an added bonus. We ended up getting a gl63 , bc we loved the gl550 so much, we figured the gl63 is just more of what we loved about our old gl550. We never had an issue with our gl550 and wouldn't hesitate to get another one.

Those problems on your gl550 sound expensive to fix.

 

Our '07 450 had about $8000 in fender-bender damage plus whatever the rental cost, but it wasn't totaled. We thought it might be, but Geico went ahead and had the work done. Needed new sensor as well as the module. I presume our truck's value was less than your '11.

Anyway, I'd hold out for a cleaner vehicle than the '09. Whether a 450 or 550, something that is maintained better than the one you found.

 

Pass on that gl550

consider something benz with a v6

 

Well we took a more comprehensive test drive today. The rear hatch wouldn't close because the lock button had been pressed and I'm guessing that since the keys were still in the car it stopped itself from closing? In any event, pressing the normal close button worked just fine and the liftgate is no longer an issue.

A/C was charged and it was blowing cold. The car also went to its raised height more quickly, basically at the same rate as our '11 GL450. Infotainment all worked and fixing the two loose buttons is straightforward. I'll probably purchase replacements although in both cases superglue will work.

The one one issue that was unresolved - the car wasn't able to pick up the TPMS sensors. I don't know if they have replaceable batteries but if not a new set is $55 apparently, so labor to install will be he main cost

It's otherwise clean and drives normally. Maybe the car was simply unhappy sitting in an auction lot for awhile.

KBB puts the car at $21K so it seems like a fair price. I am admittedly swayed by the styling of the GL550 over the GL450; we also were planning to buy a GL63 when the extended warranty expired on our GL450. We can have some of the GL63 features now and pocket a couple grand when all is said and done.

I cant believe you weren't able to sell your GL550 for $13K; if you had all service records and it were available now I'd be taking you up on the deal of the century!

 

Yeah, we thought it would be a no brainer. We're actually driving the car still. The wholesaler was nice enough to let us drive the gl550 while we are waiting for our gl63 to arrive. At the 11k he's giving us, we've thought about just keeping it as the beater car. Congrats on your 550 , hope your car is as trouble free as ours is ( was)

 

That's crazy ; I'm on the hunt for a 550 right now and haven't seen any even close to that #. Where did you have it listed? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places...

 

the 550 is a significant enough improvement over the GL450 to be worthwhile. There's more power, but it's not night and day. It's a prettier car for sure, and the extra interior options are nice.

we did learn that '11 cars have a couple things that they didn't have in '09, like the blind spot assist. you get used to something and then only notice when it's gone. and turns out the TPMS works fine - on the '11 GL450 it displayed each tire's pressure in PSI; on the '09 you just get a warning if the pressure gets too low from the set point you manually lock in after putting air in the tires and reading the pressure manually. I definitely see why they changed it lol.

Liftgate seems to be tied to the battery; works fine after driving, doesn't want to close when cold after sitting for a couple hours. I've got the car on a battery tender now; hopefully conditioning the battery sorts that out, although I did look at how to remove the battery. Fiddly and a headache to be sure, but otherwise not rocket science. Anyways, the battery is AGM....yes?

A/C is the only real issue, which I've posted in a separate thread. The dealer signed an obligation to repair it on their dime; the car's scheduled for next week. Drives splendidly otherwise; for my wife she likes the comfort mode of the suspension, while I really like having the sport setting. If ADS was an option on the GL450 we probably would have gone that route.

 

current status update after having the car for a week:

- A/C solved: pinhole leak in a hose. Hose replaced and system recharged.
- liftgate is throwing "pinched sensor strip" code but nothing else. after popping a trim piece (black, right behind the bumper on the right side) back into place, it's closing 80-90% of the time now.
- the interior looked rough, and the asking price was thousands below book. I replaced a broken driver's side lumbar switch ($80, eBay), and a tatty and smelly center console storage bin and armrest with broken latch ($160 for both on eBay).
- still undecided on whether to fix the sunroof switch. It works with one finger except when closing, where I have to hold one end in place with my thumb and pull down with my index finger. I'd have to replace the whole dome assembly and it just may not be worth it.

- cleaned all the leather and other surface and took off a ton of grime. just need the carpets cleaned and it'll look like a car worth paying full book retail for.

- I'm going to tint the front windows; OCD requires all windows to match :P
- I put in HIDs in the foglamps and LEDs for the high beams. The HIDs came out to be too blue; HIDs in general throw more light than top-notch LEDs, but I should have just slapped in a pair of Philips H11 LEDs; I put a set of them on one of my Ducatis and I can't complain. A tiny ballast and no cooling fan makes them truly plug and play. Three years on my bike without issues; I think they're worth the $110 or so - the set cost $160 when I bought them back then.
- still need to find a good quality LED for the parking lamp

WARNING: when fiddling with the high beams, do not push too hard on the reflector. It's on a ball hinge and can pop off with relatively little force. To get it back into place and to connect everything to the auto-leveling servo motor, one needs to pull the whole headlamp assembly. So the car is going back to the trusted local indy mechanic to sort that out, plus to get Service B done.

- brakes feel a little mushy (compared to our deceased '11 GL450). So I'm going to ask for a brake bleed as well. I'll find out the condition of the pads and rotors then as well. One good thing about these cars - new rotors and pads are surprisingly cheap.

Feeling that this car is working out more and more. Mechanically it runs perfectly. The entire air suspension was replaced by the previous owner, so the air compressor is new and there are Arnotts on all four corners. Come time to replace the air springs, and I'm out labor only.