medici78

I was just wondering how these cars reliability is, compared to the V8 models. I am asking about the naturally aspirated 5.8 litre V12. Anyone?

MercManiac

I've had my 2001 S600 since August of 2000. Have 36k on it now and I must admit there were lots of little things that went wrong during the first 1.5 years......everything was fixed to my satisfaction.

I would say go for it.

medici78

What kind of probs? Were they V12-exclusive or general S-Class problems?

MercManiac

Let's see, V12 specific......only one. The ignition/coil pack is a one piece unit that lays over each bank of six cylinders. They've been made modular and quick to replace....had to have this done once on one bank that was misfiring......car was in and out in one day.

Actually, they probably have this same arrangement over each 4 cylinders in their V8s.

Other than this V12 is flawless.

medici78

Thanks for the replies, MercManiac. How many miles have you logged on your 600?

MercManiac

36k, oh one thing V12 related.....the rear pads wear out first since if you like to launch quickly like I do the rear brakes are engaged by the ESP/ASR computers to keep tires from smoking.

///MB

I believe we have about 25K miles on our 2001 S600. We also had the ignition coil problem and they were on back-order from Germany, so our car was sitting in the shop for over 2 weeks for that problem. I think there was one more engine issue we had took it to the dealer for.

Other than that, the ABC went out once, but that's a fairly common S-class issue, not just the 600s.

We love the car tho. Since the newer 600s are so much faster, I'm sure you can get a good deal on the 2001-2002 600s. I know ours hit took a huge depreciation hit. Oh well.

Good luck.

Mojo

I have 28k miles on mine. No issues whatsoever except for a few very minor warranty fixes.

I will say that I'd be very displeased at the depreciation hit if I hadn't let another fellow put the first 200 miles on the car and he ate the first $38k.