No kids or wife, so I can be flexible. I did consider an older, more reliable mercedes as well - but I think even one of those may still be a bit finicky compared to a Japanese car, which I'd be getting to conserve my S55. (And save some money on repairs too!)

I don't mind driving a Civic and saving, and keeping my S55 nice and pampered with little miles! If you told me my S55 would run forever with a few grand maintenance a year, I'd do it and daily drive it. I just don't want it to reach the "end" and start to fall apart.

No point having a car you enjoy that just sits in the garage and rarely gets used.....unless you have multiple cars equivalent to an S that you rotate between. Personally I wouldn't count a Civic amongst those cars

Rondo,

I posted a comment on the AMG section as well, but briefly: you drive a lot of miles, 37K per year and your car is 11 years old now, both contribute to high maintenance expenditure.

If you had a 2010 Toyota Camry, you would have spent $200 in oil changes only, BUT you drive an S Class, the car is in great shape since you have maintained it well.

I'd drive your S55 until it dies and then just get a new one.
I don't see the value behind paying $11k or whatever for a fairly new Civic to "save" your S55, which is plummeting in value regardless of miles.

i agree, drive the s55 till it dies.

Can you tell me how to replace the front passager side air strut: email me at yotunya@msn.com. Please

Yotunya, go to post #36 of the W220 S-Class Owners Start Here sticky at the top of the forum and download the pdf file - the W220 S-Class Encyclopedia. Within it you will find links to many articles on the Airmatic system. One of them, dealing with an epoxy fix to upper seal leaks also has the complete instructions for strut replacement.

AF;+

That could explain the high cost. My indy mechanic told me that AMG maintenance is way more expensive than a reg one.

It ain't cheap to be a baller!

lol i bought my car with a legalized plant in washington hahahahahaha

completely false.

As an example, I was told that a brake job on an S55 AMG would cost around $8,000, versus $800 for a regular S500.
Was I misinformed?

Yes you were, I did mine myself the second time around. The first time I actually stood by and watch the mechanic at the dealer changed the pads and rotor on my cousins 05 S55. He also answered all my annoying questions. The dealer cost for all 4 rotor and pads was bout $1950 or so. When I did it myself the rotor all around and Pads cost me $900.

brakes are one area where the amgs, especially the 65s are more expensive, but thats about it.

And $8k is way high, even for 4 rotors and pads on an S65 at full dealer marke up.

To OP. Great post! Thank you for the reality check of your ownership experience. It is so easy to see one of these cars for sale and delude oneself into thinking you could get away without spending alot of money maintaining them or that it's a much better deal than the depreciation costs of a newer one.
One thing for sure your post convinced me of is I am too cheap to own one. I truly admire your attitude about it all. It is the right attitude to go about owning one. I wish you many wonderful miles of motoring with your car.

mbnut1, thanks for the compliments! I absolutely adore this car.

To give a little update to my initial post - car now has 158,000 miles, 7,000 miles more than my post back 3 months ago in November.

Since that time, I have only spent less $300 on the car, on these items:

12/05/2010 OEM Xenon bulb Sylvania D2R 35W 152,600 $58
12/30/2010 Engine Air Filters K&N 154,700 $82
1/27/2011 1.)Oil Change Mobil 1 5W40
2.) Replace Left Marker Bulb Roslyn 156,398 $140


I also had some other small costs, my cigarette lighter fuse blew and I needed a new one, I got a new side marker lamp covering as well, and I had to do a wheel alignment after a bent rim due to a pothole. I left these out because they can happen to any car, and were fairly cheap fixes.

I plan to buy a new daily driver this year, and I'll keep the S55 more as a weekend car, so that will most likely greatly reduce the rate of wear on it.

I've been detailing the interior this winter, and it's looking great! (Shampoo carpets, leatherique on the leather, 303 aerospace to protect the dash, etc) I also removed my tints due to getting a tint ticket, I kind of like the clean, stock look without tints.

rondo, have you had much issues with ABC? You mention it above briefly and the high pressure line, but nothing specific about the pump and struts?

try to get somthing american made! i know it is a challenge but we all have to start buying our own american made "crap" and not "crap" form another country. screw the japanese,chinese auto makers and start buying american daily drivers!. we allready own the "pinnacle" of automobiles so now buy an american car.

My father had an 03 S430, put about 30,000 miles on it a year for 4 years (a total of 120,000 miles).

Total repair costs:
~$300 for an airmatic leak
~$600 for airmatic pump
~$200 for a squeak in the front wheel area
~$300 for a water pump (did it himself)

$1400

That's truly it for repairs over 4 years and 120,000 miles.

He did all the maintenance himself, I will admit there were complex some things that should of been done that he didn't do, but oil, brakes, air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter etc. he did all that.

I would say that it couldn't of been anything more than $300 a year for maintenance.

The car ran fine until he totaled it. We always talk about how good that car was and how much use we got out of it. It served us pretty damn well.

I think the point is if you go to the dealer for every little thing you will be paying A LOT! However, if you have a good unaffiliated shop, and you do some work your self, owning an S-Class can be relatively cheap. That my take on it, which of course I have developed from our ownership experience.

Conner

The high pressure line gave out as I mentioned, and there was a leak on one of the struts at 85k miles, and a few more issues around 105k miles with ABC that involved the pump/struts.

For the last 50,000 miles though, save the pressure line - I've not had any ABC issues. So at least it can go that long! And this is with constant driving, 500-1000 miles a week.

Interesting, thanks for that.

So a little update on the car. It now has 165,000 miles, up from the 151,000 that it had previously. in November of 2010. (So about 14,000 miles in 6 months).

In that time, basically all I've needed is a new engine air filter, new 4 brake pads and 2 front rotors, 2 Oil changes, and a Xenon bulb. Not much more than $1,000.

I am really starting to have a different take and viewpoint on the car. I always enjoyed it, but at first I was sort of not sure where the maintenance would take me. The more I drive it, and the more miles go on it, the more I really respect and admire the vehicle and the build quality.

With the amount of miles I put on, and at the pace I do it at - I think it holds up very well. The car, even being a 2001 with 165,000 miles - drives perfectly. No rattles, powerful acceleration and precise braking. Everything works. I am really starting to have a lot of confidence in the build quality. Sure, a few items have been replaced- but that is expected.

What really impresses me is that every time a part is replaced, the car really does go back to being factory spec, or at least as close as it can be - i.e no "old" car affects like rattles or poor performance.

I think it will easily hit 200k+ miles, if not more. If I buy a newer MB, especially an S Class with less miles, I know that with proper maintenance it will go for literally a few hundred thousand miles.

lol oil change keep getting more expensive from 2009 to 2012

Thank you everybody for sharing your experiences. These are excellent cars though not perfect.

I live in the Dominican Republic and own a 2005 S400 CDI (V8 biturbo diesel).

Indys are much more cheaper depending on your area code. I usually spend half of the amount of the prices posted here.

Owning these cars its a unique experience.

PS. I know I got a couple of years late.