Tanvir

Hi

My '99 SL500 has nearly covered 70k miles. I am thinking what problems may arise with higher mileage? I am seriously thinking of changing the car but as I am not being offered the kind of money that I want at the moment I am thinking that I may just keep it.

What mileages have your SL's covered and what if any problems have you had and where they expensive???

Regards

Tan

ChrisB

Our 99 SL now has 40,300 miles on it. We drive it only 2 or 3 times a week.

Yours would likely be concidered a high mileage SL since most are sitting in the garage a lot.

Are the miles you put on at highway speeds or in stop and go city traffic?

Is you top up and down several times a day?

Tanvir

My car had just over 30k miles on when I got it. The mileage I have put on is a mix of motorway and city driving. Though a bigger chunk of it is city.

I live in the UK so the roof does not get used that much. From October to March time the hardtop is on.

Tan

blueSL

My old SL600 went downhill quickly after 80000 miles. In the space of 4 months, I needed a rebuilt gearbox, I had a major wiring loom failure, the air bag controller failed, the instrument panel bulbs failed and, and, and. I spent a third of it's eventual residual value on maintenance in its last year. Not good.

Sadly, the SL is not a car which will do 200000 miles without major maintenance. There's just too much in there to go wrong.

What are they offering you to trade the car in? £15k? What you can be certain of is that it's value ain't going to go up...

MeAndMySL

Tanvir,

The '99 SL500 engine is solid and it should continue to run like new well into the 100,000 miles. Assuming you've taken care of it, you just shouldn't have any problems and could easily double your mileage without worry. That engine will just keep going and going. Although one user commented that 70K is high mileage for an SL, it's only because - as he said - they often sit in the garage; not because they can't handle it.

You do need to be careful of the electronics. Even independent of mileage, if aging circuits start to fail it can be big bucks. The SL500 has tons of technology and circuitry, and if problems are going to develop, it's usually with the electronics. (This is often seen with failure of the top control mechanism. The actual hydraulics in the top are sound and will withstand daily use with no problem.) That's not to say problems WILL happen - just that the risk increases with age, and MB electronics are not cheap to fix.

Other than that, routine maintenance will be required which is not cheap on the SL. But with MB doing away with maintenance programs, you'll be picking up the tab for that on a brand new one too. In my opinion, bottom line is that if you enjoy the car and are willing to do the keep-up, just keep enjoying it.

Jeremy

ChrisB

Jeremy

You seem to have a good knowledge of the SL &/or MB cars in general. Where did you gain this knowedge?

This an intersting thread that seemed to slip by without much notice.

Who out there has the highest mileage R129?

We are up to about 42,000 miles.

agentMurdoc

my '97 sl600 has over 101k miles and is DAILY driven. It does NOT sit in a garage all week. Get's driven 7 days a week, and driven hard (by me )

The most major maintenance I have had done to the car that I thought was due, was flush the tranny and change the spark plugs (10k ago). I change the oil myself. And that's it.

Really that's all the maintenance . About 3k miles ago, decided to have the rear diff fluids flushed and refilled for no reason at all. So as far as maintenance is concerned to me, oil change every 3-5k miles and that's it.

Runs like a champ

elau

My '95 has 75K miles. No major problem ever have to do to the car. Only routine maintenance stuff.

MeAndMySL

Thanks Chris.. I'm no expert, just a MB / SL fan. I spend way too much time trying to learn more about the cars. And, a friend of mine is a Mercedes Master Technician who also happens to drive MB's... I pick his brain when I can.

I also own a '96 SL500 Sport that now has almost 116,000 miles. (Hey I bought it to drive it.) It's had it's share of issues, but not more than any other car with that many miles. And the engine runs like new. It came new with Xenons which were really something out of the future at the time, and 18" AMG wheels. With the AMG sport package, the only noticeable exterior difference between it and an '02 are the side mirrors. People just can't believe it's almost 10 yrs old.. SL's are really the epitome of timeless MB styling and engineering. I only wish the new ones felt as special. Maybe I just need to drive them more.

blueSL

I do actually miss my SL600 - the decision to move on from it was a rash one, seduced as I was by a wide bodied 911, but that car has issues all of its own.

ChrisB

blueSL. That is the second time I've seen you post that sentiment. I know you loved your R129 SL600 a lot.

What is it that the old SL600 provided that the SL55 does not?

Do you think the R230 SL600 Bi-turbo would do it for you?

Ken Silver

Got 64,000 miles on my 93 SL500, driven once a week or every two weeks sometimes. I know that's not enough to keep everything lubed, but I wonder whether it's a good tradeoff between excess wear.

ASR light poked its head up the other day... I'm treading carefully and topping up my bank account!

Ken Silver
--------------
~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons, AMG facelift to 2002 style.
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate
~1999 Lexus LX470 SUV, sand/ivory leather.
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver.
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5, Jaguar Daimler and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.

blueSL

It's more that the 911 is unbearably crude - a real "hair-shirt" experience to drive. I had always intended to replace the SL600 with an Aston Martin, but the decision to replace it with a 911 as a stop-gap was wrong. Owning the 911 for however long I will will turn out to be much more expensive than soldiering on with the SL600's maintenance issues ever would have been.

The SL55 is a fine car, but it doesn't have that "hewn from solid" feel which the R129 SL600 had. It's very quick and a more sporting drive, but I do wonder what the state of an average '55 will be when it's covered 80k miles. The comments relate more to the R230 than the SL55; I still think the SL55 is the car for me out of the range so no issues on that score.

ChrisB

I test drove a recent model SL55 a few months ago. It had about 18,000 miles on it.

I got the impression that this car is already thrashed. The consol bin did not latch, the sound from the mufflers seemed to be blown out, the suspension seemed mushy ... a bunch of things I did not expect.

It left me totaly wanting to drive a R230 SL600 for the feeling of luxury that I have become accustomed to

MeAndMySL

Your comments re: the 911 and SL55 make a lot of sense, blue SL. You do have a VERY nice line up in your garage, though! It must be fun! I have to say that I agree completely about the R230. I know there are many improvements, but it just doesn't feel as solid... and I also get the feeling it just will not age as well. I do hope Mercedes is serious about returning to some of their traditional values and characteristics... I recently drove a brand new C class for a weekend while one of my cars was being serviced. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it felt very similar to a friend's new Honda Accord. And, while it doesn't handle anywhere near as well, I think even my 16 year old 190e has an overall more solid, well-built feeling.

blueSL

Chris, I think that was a bad SL55 you were driving. To me, the SL55 is plenty soft enough, a quiet luxury cruiser when I want it to be. The issue with the 911 is that it was a flawed design from Day 1, made good by talented engineers but I dislike the way the weight of the engine out back makes the car bob up and down. As for Mercedes build quality, the R230 was meant to turn the tide. Time will tell!

nickg

Blue SL - Hard riding those Porsches I would imagine, especially compared to an sl600! My dad's got a C4 which feels to me like a go kart compared to the SL60.
I can understand why you got rid of the SL600, particularly as you clearly have a bigger budget to play with than many of us, but it probably cost you much more to part-ex it for the C4S than it would have done to continue to maintain the SL. The depn on the porsche in the next 12 months will be a good few quid!
I can't see myself ever selling my sl60 to replace it with a direct comparison - there is nothing to compare that costs less than 70 grand.

blueSL

My 911 was £76k new, spec'ed up. 20 months later, I paid £56k, in 12 months time, I might get low 40's if I am lucky. Depends on how generous the AM dealer is in part exchange. With the demand for the AM V8 being what it is, they don't need to be generous! The problem is, with the increasing publicity over 911 oil leaks and engine failures, their reputation for rock solid build quality is vapourising...

bwheitman

My SL320 has 130,000 miles on it so far. It is all original with the exception of a few gaskets and seals that were replaced. I drive the car nearly every day. Sometimes on weekends I don't need to go anywhere. At 100,000 it needed the usual things that all my MB's have needed at that mileage, a water pump, belts, hoses, brake lines, purge valve, things like that. I love the car and it sure seems like I will get another 100k out of it. I always follow the maintenance guidlines with every Mercedes I have ever owned and I can honestly say I have never had any fauilures except with my first MB, 1973 280C, I had the brakes done at an independant shop and they failed on me. I learned my lesson there. Happy Benzing! and check out our website at www.mbca.org/northtexas for lots of tech info on the 129!
Best Regards,
Brian

blueSL

Thanks Brian, interesting pictures of 129 production.

Pigzmickey

I have a 1997 SL 320 with 60k, it's got a knocking sound that's recently started & a 1998 SL 600 with 84k that's perfect. 2 of my friends have 1995 SL 320's, one with 119k on it and it's perfect. No one can tell you when a car will go pop and be correct, it's all just guess work. My MB dealership tells me "it's all in the servicing not the mileage". My advice is to keep that oil clean! Christ! 84k is just running in a V12...

blueSL

It's interesting that servicing of the car is mostly focussed at the engine (apart from routine wear and tear items like brakes, rotors, tyres) and the track record is that Mercedes engines do not give trouble. It's all the other stuff which seems to give trouble - electronics, hydraulics, air con - none of which receives any maintenance activity aside perhaps from an error code read-out. If your ABS controller's time is up, normal servicing isn't going to help.

Bigdot

i just clicked 70k on my SL. i have had the tranny repared because i got a cheap preformance chip put in that was WAY to hard on the car, so the cheap chip ended up putting my back 3k.

Pigzmickey

I find it best to buy any spares required in Germany, I buy a lot off eBay's German site. The Germans don't always advertise that they will deal with people outside Germany, but if you Email them they are usually cool! Luckily I have access to a German address, so if anyone wants parts I can collect them when I visit (approx every 3 months).

ChrisB

Who out there has an electronics background and can explain why sophisticated electonics in an SL would tend to break down. Would storeage, frequency or type of use have any part in the failures you predict? I've heard of wiring loom shorts from vibration and the resulting friction. I've heard of heat in the SL600 breaking down the wire insulation and causing shorts. But I would think that solid state circuitry itself would not be prone to failure.

It was good to hear Jeremy say that the hydraulics are tough. I sometimes drop the top for a ten minute jaunt between store locations and often wonder if I am asking for premature top failure.

It is also reassuring to hear that MB motors ... including the R129 have an excelent reputation of going on forever. I would imagine the transmissions are well built as well.