I am from Texas, Retired from the military in 2014. I have a 2013 SVT Raptor and I am also looking to get an AMG Mercedes in the coming year or so after I get done researching them.

 

Welcome Thanks for your service. When you get the Mercedes please post picture.

 

Believe me, I will

To many AMG choices, lol

 

welcome to the forum...

 

Keep your eye on Craig's List. Depending upon where you retired, AMG's will pop up every month or so. Take your time. Some are worth it, others are not. Owners often over-value their car because it has "AMG" on it; they tend to overlook it may take $10K to bring the car back up to 10-20 standards (depot-level rebuild). If you are in the South Central Texas area, let me know if you find one you are interested in and I'll be glad to run a diagnostic on it.

 

Thank-you. I have been reading this forum since I joined and saw people I guess like to put the AMG on a non-AMG car. When I find one I like how would I check the VIN to make sure I have a real AMG?

 

Welcome to MBWorld. Just ask them to pop the hood and show you the engineer signed plate on every hand built AMG engine. Or you can just post a pic here and there will be enough cues (interior, brake caliper sizes, etc) for us to identify if it is a real AMG or not. If you want to run the VIN, there's a VIN decoder tool under the tools tab here on MBWorld (https://mbworld.org/forums/vindecoder.php)

Good luck with your hunt and thank you for your service

 

Enter the VIN at the following link. If it ain't AMG, you don't get in the door....

https://www.mercedes-amg.com/private...ration/welcome

FWIW, I purchased my first AMG (the '99) spur of the moment. Cost me several thousand dollars to bring it up to acceptable (to me) standards. Turned out so nice that my wife took the car from me.

I passed on the next four or five (? IIRC) AMG's I came across for various reasons. Finally found a W211 E55 being sold by a Lt Col F-16 pilot PCS'ing to Germany. Nice car, well maintained, and the seller's integrity convinced me to purchase it and I did so with eyes wide open. Since then (a year and half ago) I've spent ~$8400 to maintain the car (and I performed virtually all the work). This covered the mileage from 77K to 102K miles.

Fun automobiles but as expensive as military-grade equipment. Awesomely quick and comfortable is the W211. Not as quick but more comfortable (and far less complicated) is the W210. In all seriousness, take a look at maintenance records, and have a diagnostic run on the car.

On a W210 E55, at 100K (if no proof of recent replacement), inspect and replace as necessary the suspension bushings/ball joints. Replace the spark plugs, wires, belts, pulleys, motor/transmission mounts. Inspect and replace the brake rotors and pads if they are approaching the minimums. Change the coolant, fuel filter, and air filters and you should be good to go for another 100K miles.

On a W211 E55, at 100K miles (if no proof of recent replacement), replace the fuel filter/regulator, fuel pumps, fuel pump relay, air springs, front bushings and ball joints, rear control arms, spark plugs, wires, belts, and pulleys. Change coolant, air filters, and check the air suspension compressor and its filter and air inlet lines. I performed all of the above and I believe I'll be good to go for another 60,000 miles. (Note: brake rotors and pads on my W211 were in much better condition at 100K miles compared to my W210.) In actuality, replace the fuel filter/regulator, fuel pumps, and relay every 60K miles. Trust me, you'll thank me for it later.

Be advised E63 AMG brake rotors and suspension parts can be shockingly more expensive than the E55 parts. Be sure that you are not buying a car on which the previous owner could not afford the parts.