Hello. . .

I am thinking of purchasing a '95 SL320 with 90k. Price is $23,900 although the dealer let me know he's somewhat flexible. Can anyone tell me what to look for in these cars? What goes bad on them around this mileage and are there any horror stories about 320's of this vintage? I think the price is okay, compared to others I've looked at. Triple black and in what appears to be excellent condition except for some stone chips on the hood and front bumber area.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Barry

 

Is the dealer an MB dealer? If not, I'd recommend you have it checked out by one.

Check all the electric gizmos, especially the roof which is expensive to fix; check the plastic window and the condition of the fabric. Check for regular servicing, there should be a nicely stamped service record and the oil should have no trace of water in it.

For a car of this age, it's worth having a front-end respray to get rig of stone chips.

At the end of the day though, it's worth spending a couple of hundred bucks to have the car checked out by someone independent of the seller. Sounds a good price though and if you get a good example, it will serve you well.

 

Hi. . .

I appreciate your input. The car is for sale at a high end (Porsche, MB, Ferrari, etc.) used car dealer here in Southern California and is a 'one owner' car that has all records and has been serviced across the street(from the used car dealer)at the MB dealership where it had originally been purchased.

The only problem is with the car's color. While black is a very classy and desireable color for this car, it is also very hard to keep looking clean, and any blemish shows immediately. For this reason it's not my first choice, but I may have to give a bit and learn to 'live with it'.

Still looking for some additional input as far as things to look out for with this vintage of MB.

Thanks again, Barry

 

If it's been seviced regularly at an MB dealership, that says a lot, not just about the car 's likely condition but also the attitude of the previous owner. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

The 129 was designed before Mercedes got the idea it would be good to cut costs by cutting quality which they're only just emerging from with the new SL. The 129 was built like a tank and I've just washed and polished my 7 year old SL600 this afternoon - it looks great.

It sounds like a good buy to me, especially if you have that respray and accept that you're going to spend an hour each saturday washing it instead of taking it into a car wash. It will seem a great deal of car for the money....

 

BlueSL is right, these cars are built like tanks, look good and will last for many more years. He is also right with the maintenance. If not well maintained you get soaked with high repair bills.

I do have a couple of observations and remember; they are just my opinion...

1) The SL had it's first facelift in 95 and most likely the one you are looking at it the old style. While the details are subtle (exterior bumpers, side claddding, interior door panels, seats and other details), the new update looks somewhat nicer (especially the bumpers and seats) and younger as that design remained fairly unchanged until 2000 when the AMG sport package became the standard look.

2) I owned both the SL320 and the SL500 (and still suffer through a nice, but very slow 2000 ML320) and did not like the smaller engine. Two reasons: I like acceleration and the 320 has little of that and 2) when driving the car, the engine always felt "pushed and nervous" running at higher RPM's. The V8 simply felt like it was idling, had amazing power reserves and drove much smoother. The SL600 delivers that feeling even more so.

The gas comsumption was actually identical, not that it matters much in the US anyway

3) I remember when the 129 bodied SL came out in the US in 1990. People were dumping the 107 bodied cars and you were able to get them for amazing prices. A year later I saw the late 560SL prices actually picking up again. I see the same here where yoy can pickup amazing deals for last model SL's.
Not knowing what your budget is, but I have seen '99 or 2000 model SL500's for under $40K with 40K miles or less. A very safe bet and better in the long term. Some even have remaining warranties.

If I were you, I would look for a 1996+ SL500, preferably with a sport package.

When it comes to colors, for whatever reason I am always picking black cars and deal with the hassle of keeping them clean, but they look great in black! For that model SL I actually liked the desert silver a lot; looks nice and it's a very practical color. It always looks clean...

Good luck on your selection and whichever car you pick, you can't really go wrong with an SL.

Wolfman

 

Agree with all of that, the 129 is a heavy car and you might just be disappointed with the performance.

I also agree there's lots of good deals to be had on more recent cars, which is the main reason I kept my SL600 when I got my SL55. The 600 was simply worth more to me as a daily driver than the $30k I was being offered.

$23k is not alot for a car like the 129, but if you can stretch your budget, especially to a 500, you'll get the real SL experience.