SirRandolph

2000 SL600 BLK/BLK 44,000MI. $24,000

Pros/Cons??????

Thanks

HLG600

Pros:

V12 Performance
Vault-Like Safety
Stunning Looks
Did I Mention V12?

Cons:

Horrible MPG
Electrical Gremlins
$$$ Maintenance

So, if you buy one, always purchase the parts yourself online and find a good independent mechanic (even these guys will rip you off on parts so utilize one of the numerous online part retailers). Other than that, it's a very enjoyable toy. Assuming good condition, that price is where the market is at. Just be sure to have the car inspected pre-purchase.

Cheers

SirRandolph

Thanks

What kind of maintenance am I looking at???
I found out the hard way on an NSX after I bought it.
60K REPLACE TIMMING BELT $2800 PLEASE.

HLG600

The ADS suspension becomes an issue at 100K or so miles, so that is worth a few grand to repair. Regular maintenance is also expensive relative to other cars, being schedules services and what not since the car is out of warranty. Electrical components can be costly as well: starter module $900 installed, traction control module $3000 installed, etc.

But, as I stated earlier, if you are resourceful with finding parts, then you could really cut down on the maintenance costs. For instance, my indy quoted me $3G for replacing both catalysts, parts and labor. $1300 per catalytic converter, yet I found OEM replacements for $370 apiece and aftermarket ones (with superior flow) for $100 each. So, utilize a bit of sense, and repairs can become much easier on the wallet.

The NSX overall is a fairly reliable car, and will hold its value much better than the R129. Not as powerful but better handling. You want to work out some sort of trade?

SirRandolph

Before my divorce I had several nice cars.NSX's,CL-55AMG,Viper GTS,C-6,etc...

Three years later I'm finally finished with my divorce and feel the need for an inexpensive toy in the 20-30k range,something auto so my new wife can drive as well and I thought a SL would be a good choice.She has put 20k miles on a E420 I bought her without any issues.I've always loved MB's.

agentMurdoc

It's a great car and that's a great price.

as far as maintenance goes. I personally have serviced 3 R129 SL600s each for at least a few years. I am not a shop, it's just family owned cars.

I can say that I have not encountered any serious maintenance problems. Regular oil changes are all that I really do along with the occasionally trans flush.

Here are the "major" issues that we have run across
-1995 SL600 hydrolic pump went out [car had roughly 130k]
-1997 SL600 2 spark plug coils went out [at roughly 125k car now has over 134k of hard driven miles and that is the only real problem I have had, still have the car to this day and I do NOT baby it]
-2000 SL600 contaiminated oil [at ~68k now has roughly 80k]

Actually I could say that neither of these cars were babied. I drove them all and I drive the **** outta them. When we first picked up the 2000, I raced my cousin. Dumb I know, but full throttle run to 120+ mph = slight abuse =P

I'm not saying that these cars are problem free, but I just feel that it is unfair to label them as "problematic" or "high maintenance." I will however give that when there is a problem it's sometimes a b!tch to troubleshoot it. The issue with the coils, the obd reader said it was a faulty ecu which turned out to be a pricey inaccurate reading. When the 2000 had the contaminated oil, one shop couldn't even diagnose it.

I'd personally go for it.

Bigdot

they are better than the new mercs, but not as good as the old old mercs. but usually they are trouble free if maintained. i say go for it!

Mark

HLG600

But it's not though. Those motors are at home running hard. They need to be driven hard to stay trouble free, and only have issues when sitting around. Gotta' love that ideology.

CWW

The R129 has been my favorite overall car for 10 years, and the 600 in the later years is just pure sex...

The thing has enough wood to kill 12 trees, a hand-stitched nappa leather interior, etc. etc. It's just a hot car.

Performance upgrades are pretty easy too. An ECU tune on this car is good for around 40hp (more than you would get on a normal engine), and high flow cats add another 10 or so. With very little money, this becomes a 450hp car, and still looks great too.

Definitely have your ECUs remapped...one of the main pluses is that it gets rid of that annoying startup sequence that makes you cringe, where it won't upshift until like 3500rpms if it's cold in the morning. Courtesy of the good old EPA...supposed to warm up the emissions control system faster. Ehh...in case nobody noticed, if I cared about emissions I wouldn't be driving a V12 in the first place. Anyway, that cold-start sequence is awful on the motor, so get rid of it.

As to maintenance, it's not any worse than you would expect from any European car. If you go to the dealer (sometimes your only option, because by 2000 you had to have a $50k STAR computer to service certain things) prepare to bend over, but for the most part indys can handle it just fine and usually don't squawk when you bring your own parts. As someone else mentioned, for whatever reason with MB, everyone wants to quote you retail prices on parts, so just buy them yourself from parts.com or autohausaz.com and then bring them in to be installed.

Here's another tip: Avoid shops that use "Book Time". For example, I was recently quoted 1.7 hours to replace the thermostat in my car. I was like "Are you kidding?" "It's literally the FIRST thing you see when you open the hood...it's RIGHT THERE. If I had metric tools and torx drivers, I could do it myself in 30 minutes!". The guy admitted "ya, that's about how long it usually takes us...ok, can we agree on an hour?". So I let him do it. Point is: Negotiate.

Everyone wants to take the times off the WIS or some other repair manual, and they're grossly inflated compared to what it really takes to do the job, normally. Find a mechanic who charges for the actual time used, and then bring your own parts on top of that, and you are all set.

CWW

Oh ya, I never did answer your question, did I?

I say buy it. That sounds like a nice car and a nice price. I don't think you will be disappointed. Find the maintenance records if you can. As with anything, it's much better to keep up on the maintenance than to try and bring the car back up to proper condition once it's been languishing, so make sure you're not falling into one of those deferred-maintenance traps where the previous owner knew for 2 years he was selling the car, so he put 25k on it and didn't even change the oil. People are shmucks, don't get burned.

So as long as it has a good maintenance history (ask for the service booklet, and pull a VMI on the car, along with obligatory carfax and autocheck reports), then I say buy it. Can't really go wrong at that price, unless it's a disaster.