ChrisB

OK after almost 3 years of collecting data ... the 110 respondents had an average age of 37.4 years. But we are now all older!

Let's start again!

I'm respondent # 1 ... I am now 50 years old and after 4 years of owning a pre-owned 1999 SL 500, I am still loving every minute of driving my R129 !

Bigdot

19

HLG600

Turning 18 in one month.

jjay911

I think it might be of some interesting statistics to note the year and model since we are starting again. Remember the Demographic of the Typical SL buyer in 1991 was 63 years old. How do you think that Changed 10 years later when they were still putting out the same body style?

Im 33 years old
91 300sl

aussiesl

I am 42, feel 28 and thought I looked 54 in the SL. After reading the average age I now have empirical evidence I wasn't having a mid life crisis when I bought it.

PS Love the SL, but I still enjoy getting in the Bertone X1/9 and throwing it around!

Peter

jjay911

I as well love my X-19 its a blast to drive. Just dont get any respect from the locals. JJ

mbz.mwusa.net

Driving Mercedes since I was 18. Now 38.

percykwong

I'm 34. 97 SL600, but I was thinking of getting a new one. Do you guys think it looks dated? The thing is.. I love the 129 body style.

I guess my question is.. to the casual observer.. what comes to mind when one sees an R129 on the road these days?

I've been on the fence about getting a new one, but I just couldn't imagine getting anything other than an SL65..

Thoughts anyone?

rellik

19

EsEl

I am 49 and have had my black Saddle 1991 500SL for almost 12 years now. It has 193,500 miles on it and still runs trouble free.

ClickAMG

Don't want to skew the average but am 73 years from birth. Enjoy my '96 SL 500. Sold my Porsche when I turned 70 and got what I thought was an "old man's car", the SL. It does have much more torque than my '97 Carrera but doesn't handle the twisties like a Porsche. I'm certain the engineers at MB could design a car to handle the twisties but MB marketing had a different customer in mind when they spec'd out the SL.

mbz.mwusa.net

You almost broke it in.

1985mb

I love the R129. It's a great looking car and comes from a time when MB utterly and truly stood for something, as a company and as a brand. The nice ones still look great today.

BTW, are we supposed to be impressed that if you were to get the R230, you "just couldn't imagine getting anything other than an SL65"?

Bigdot

i think what he means by his last statement, is that he likes his 129 so much, that getting a 230 would be redundant, unless it had 607 hp.

Mark

1985mb

Fair enough

Cheers

mebeJOE

47 years old. 2001 SL500 Sport Package 2/5 spoke AMG thin spoke wheels; Brillant silver w/two-tone silver/black designo; cross-drilled rotors with silver painted calipers. Silver soft top.

As to whether the looks hold up and who likes them:

Last week I put the hard top on. Going to lunch, 28 year old female co-worker saw it with hard top for first time. She says with big smile, "Wow, your car looks really great with the hard top on."

Last year, 29 year old women friend, says, "your car is pretty; what is it?" I pointed out to her that her neighbor had an R129. It was older, with two-tone paint job, no sport package, no AMG wheels.

She says, "really that's the same car as yours?"

About 6 months ago, I drove through a fast food joint with the top down. The teen age girl at the window asks, "is this your car? what is it? It's really cool."

A 45 year old women friend of mine, a former real L.A. party/music video/dancer type girl -- it is her dream car.

My 18 year old son LOVES my baby.

A woman I am dating who is in her mid to late 30's, as far as I can guess (she is pretty tight on that little secret) -- she seems to like it very much, but she doesn't talk a lot.

My 66 year old mother loves the car. As does my 53 year old brother in law.

Okay, so it appeals to ALL AGES. Except one young lady at my office thought it was the same as her friend's SLK.

I had her fired. ha ha ha.

Greg Z

Now thats funny, I don't care who you are.

percykwong

In response to 1985MB380SE's comment..

I love my SL, but it's starting to show age. I just put it into the shop 3 months ago for a complete restoration. basically told my guy, "Look over the car.. if anything's broken, fix it.. If it looks like it's going to break soon, fix it.."

and so far, I haven't seen it back yet. I guess I gave up driving it this summer so that my baby will be perfect once again.. (whenever I see it again.. lol)

The new 230s are nice, but it is basically redundant. The delta in hp isn't enough to justify buying one (that.. and the new body style).. However, an SL65 truly redefines everything about the car.. a significant increase in performance that would be justifiable as a purchase. As I have no plans to replace the R129, I would compliment it with the purchase of a sister car.. an R230 with some serious performance numbers to back it.

Last summer I had the opportunity to drive my car to the hamptons and on the way there, an R230 SL600 came upon me. We played cat and mouse for about 10-15 miles and I can tell you that while the R230 had more speed and a touch more acceleration, it wasn't much faster than mine.

I guess what I'm saying is that RedMongoose's follow-up was accurate. If I wanted a new SL, I would buy one, however, I'm not one to just get one, because I feel the overwhelming need to prove something to people that really don't mean much to me.

The only justification for buying an R230 to me would be a significant increase in performance.. but somehow, I really feel that if I were to buy an SL65, the boys over at AMG would come out with something that would once again redefine the upper limits of the SL600 class of automobile and that would be somewhat annoying.. and so.. I sit on the fence.. for now anyways.. lol.

Godfather

Now 28

kerrypacker

Turned 43 in July. My neighbour with the Vette still thinks its an old mans car.
My 18 year Nephew and his friends think it's the coolest car around. I still get compliments galore.

mebeJOE

Hmmm . . . this reminds me of a recent "goal" that I have developed:

One SL of each body style.

My Sister's neighbor recently was selling his R107 for only about $5,000. She said it was in great shape. But I don't have any garage space right now.

As far as an increase in performance -- well, I think even the R230 SL55 is a huge boost in performance over any SL600, no?

And as a far as the SL65 -- jeez, what is it, over 600 hp? So what if AMG comes out with something with 650 or 700 hp?

They are only going to sell about 100 of them every year; therefore, you will rarely see an SL with more power -- and you will still be able to blow the doors off 99.99999999% of other cars on the road. And you will do it with more style and comfort.

The only reason I don't want you to do it is because I would be jealous. ha ha ha. I can't see the day I could sink 185 large into a car.

Otherwise, I say GO FOR IT!

Greg Z

37

TheV12pwr

129

b4mmy

500

HLG600

Car must be keeping you young then.