Reckdriver

AMG models, but it was sweet for me. I've got an E500 2003 model (completely stock), recently purchased, that I love. Remember those late-80's model Mustangs with the "5.0" badges on their sides? I recently was pulling up to a two-lane left turn, that quickly turns into three lanes, with a lane opening to the right, but only for about a quarter mile and then closing back down to two lanes. The chap in the Mustang had his top down and looked to be about 22 or so. He had been closely following for about a mile, to the point of annoyance. When we got to said turn, I heard his exhaust (must have been modified) tell me "I'm an American V8, and watch me GO!" as he pulled to the right lane to try and pass. The sound caught my attention, and having been annoyed by how closely he had been following, I had to see how we compared. I stepped on it not knowing if I would have room to get in the right lane on time only to discover I had plenty of time. I watched the image of the Mustang get smaller in the rearview all the way to about 90mph. Reality and the desire to not be imprisoned settled in and I slowed down and merged back in to the two lanes of traffic. He managed to eventually get behind me and it was funny watching his darting eyes and head looking at the trunk of the E500, re-examining my car and looking for a sparkling chrome dual exhaust or some sort of Ricey badging, wondering "WTF is this sedan doing crushing my Miami Vice super-car?" Of course, he found nothing, it being a stock E500. Same displacement motor, a 5.0 liter V-8. AND this car weighs a lot more!

I've driven those cars and knew this little test wouldn't be fair, but it ended up being a good lesson for this guy. He should stick to Hummers, Tahoes, and Civics.

MB AMG

Awesome kill!! Obviously those old 5.0 Mustangs aren't very fast.

battlecat714

ahem. some are fast.

MB AMG

Well, the modded ones of course!

SL BRABUS

So is the modded MB too.......

SeaCoupe

Good Kill, great write. Of course it is of interest.

E

sprink49

In all fairness, most people under estimate the power and torque of the "500" engines. MB is a master of efficiency. Twin overhead cams, 3 valves per cylinder, 2 spark plugs and coils per cylinder. Variable cam timing...the list goes on. The torque curve is flat and comes on at low RPM. All in all it's a sweet piece of equipment that works well. A push rod engine has a hard time matching the efficiency. The thing that I enjoy about mine is that the power is always there...whether it's from a standing start or from 80~90 MPH. Plenty of power.

MercedesFTW

The 500 engines are nice...sure compared to the new 550 engines the power seems paltry at merely 309hp...but on the road there are actually not a lot of cars pushing anything close to that.

Although I am surprised you were able to pull on the 5.0 'Stang. Those things are supposed to be decently fast, even without any mods. Maybe there was some badge engineering?

Reckdriver

I can tell the difference between the true stang 5-liter and the non. Earlier in the commute before I was ahead of him, I saw true dual exhaust, and you could just tell by the sound.

It wasn't like when we both punched it he was just standing still. He gave a good chase, but up through the gears, the E500 must have put a good 6-8 car lengths on him.

Bipasha493

dat was my first car, a 88' 5.0 lx hatchback. Modded with BBk headers, flowmasters, cobra intake manifold, 5 speed, etc. pretty fast..not all that. maybe cuz im use to my current car

m3_eater

I probably built the car that you raced! Back then, just out of high school, I had a factory job building Ford Mustang Convertibles. The convertibles were significantly slower than their coupe counterparts, of course - especially when equipped with an auto trans. They were poorly constructed, too - trust me on that one! I will always love the distinctive sound of the Ford 302, though.

MercedesFTW

Ah, maybe that's it.

cdiken

Little engine braking and bye-bye no Mustang.

Several tries versus an eager 5.0, same result. 5.0 loses the stoplight derby to the 425 lb/ft oil burner every time.

blackbenzz

Good kill but for a small amount of money a 5.0 can be turned into a straight line monster! Even a blower for that car is relatively cheap.

Reckdriver

if that's what you're inferring. What mods are available to the E500 engine? Any? Or am I stuck with this horribly slow 5.8 0-60 car? If I mod the engine, will the tranny be able to handle it?

I'm starting to think I should have bought the AMG...

blackbenzz

I was referring to the mustang 5.0 Best thing to do with the E500 motor is to get a kleemann s/c I believe that puts around 500hp at the crank. I will hopefully be picking up a 04 E55 in october.

Reckdriver

my tranny/warranty think about this little addition?

blackbenzz

Warranty=void. I believe the s/c alone costs around 12k. Its pricey!

Reckdriver

for my slow sedan?

vraa

Your 500's tranny is massively powerful. It's the same tranny in the S65 Handles about 1000lb-ft torque.

Kleemann sells a supercharger for that engine, and I think RENNtech does as well. FI is the only really significant thing you can do to make more power, new intake, chip, headers-- things like are relatively insignificant.

Reckdriver

Doesn't ANYONE on this MB have a modded E500 or is it all AMG models?

vraa

Lots of folks have modded cars, check the W211 forums. It'd probably be better to post there asking about mods.

RENNtech and Kleemann both warranty their own parts for a specific amount of time, and the you still have your original warranty on unmodified parts (figure COMAND, seats, things like that).