sammy1

Looking to replace my recently sold CaymanS. I was thinking about a 04-05 SL or maybe an 04 AMG SL. I'm concerned about the cost of repairs since these cars are either out of warranty or soon will be. I'm not much of a believer in third party warranty providers.
How reliable are these cars, what are the issues to be concerened about before the purchase and would you recommend the AMG especially with the soaring gas prices, costlier repairs and likely faster depreciation?
The Mini is going to my son within the next few months, so the SL will be my daily driver. Thank you in advance for your opinions.

SDSL

I think you'll find the SL to be a more enjoyable daily driver than the C7S. The Cayman is a fine car but in terms of "livability":

* The SL's power is more usable

* The SL braking and handling while not as good as the Porsche are not as far off that mark as you might think

* The roar of the Cayman's mid-engine flat-six behind your head can be exciting, but if you're honest, sometimes a little peace and quiet is nice

* You might miss rowing the six-speed, but if your Cayman was auto I'd rate the Porsche tiptronic only slightly better than the Merc 7 speed, specifically in "manual" mode

* Both Porsche's current standard stereo and Porsche's Bose version are adequate at best; Porsche's Bose is not as good as the SL 03-04 and about on par with the SL 05 +, Porsche's current NAV (if your Cayman was so equipped) is better than the SL 03-04 but about the same as the SL 05+

* Tires are the same (expensive) but the Porsche's will definitely wear out more quickly than the SL, particularly the rears

* Porsche's mileage estimates are a bit of a joke, plus the Cayman's small tank gives poor range. I think your gas expenditures will be about the same. The 500/550 is just OK in this area and the AMG models are worse.

* The Cayman is inexpensive to insure, so your insurance will definitely go up with the SL500 which is in a higher group. The SL600 or SL55 will be even more expensive.

* The Cayman is pretty much the poster-child for fast depreciation

* Your routine maintenance will be about the same I'd think; Porsches service I and II intervals are twice as long as the Merc's and cost about the same for each but I think this would be largely offset by increased tire expenditures on the Porsche

* Early reliability returns on 9X7s have been very good and the SL not as, but I wouldn't say the SLs are unreliable save for some problematic early 03s. You don't have widely prevalent "known" issues on the SL like RMS but stuff can go wrong and isn't cheap to fix.

It's only anecdotal, but as a daily driver I think you'll see alot fewer issues on the SL (and Porsches for that matter) than you would on a car that is a seldom-driven garage-queen as many premium autos end up being.

That being said, I'd be more concerned owning an unwarranteed SL than I would an unwarranteed Cayman.

sammy1

SDSL, thank you for a very informative reply.

If I may ask you another question; I do realize it is impossible to predict what could go wrong, but based on your experience and knowledge; how much do you ESTIMATE the annual repair costs to be?

Sam

bltserv

On my 05 AMG.
Its just running out of warranty at the end of the year.
Miles over 50K. I drive it more than I should. I am at 44K now.

Brakes. Every 20K. Front pads $ 400.00.
Rotors Coming @ 50K Miles $ 1000.00
A or B every 10K. $ 200-300
Tires Every 20K. $ 2000.00 for the good 19`s. PS2`s.

But my only warranty reapirs were a window not sealing.
And the 3-4 Recalls. No Charge.
So overall my car has been blessed.
Get an 05 or later. And go for the AMG if you can find one at a good price.

The big cost items are anything ABC related. Struts and the pump.
But so far no issues with this car. My CL ate a pump. Thats 3K without warranty.

Every couple months I have a little stereo issue. Its just comes back next start up. Very common in talking to other SL55 owners.

Get the history report before you buy. Avoid cars with multiple ABC or electrical issues.

Overall not an expensive car to maintain if you can get one thats not cursed.

SDSL

Although it will sound like something of a cop-out, in my opinion it's difficult to put repair numbers on the R230 for the following reasons:

* The first SLs are only coming out of warranty now (03-04s) and most owners are unable to put dollar figures to previous warranty repairs. My service experience has been similar to Biltserv's (I'm at 42k with Starmark warranty to 100k). I'd say the SL numbers are a little lower than his SL55 numbers, with longer intervals on tires and brakes, but that could just be differences in driving style.

* The vast majority of R230s have relatively low mileage. My experience is that at about the 60,000 mile mark is when late-model german imports start needing to have things replaced/fixed. So while there hasn't been much information sharing in that regard, it's my opinion that these types of repairs won't cost more than 10% higher than it would on a BMW or Porsche, if that much.

Rather than estimating an annual budget for repairs I think it's best to consider worse case scenario, so in my opinion I'd want to have and be mentally prepared to drop 3-6,000 to fix something at any point in time. Not saying you'll definitely have to, but just in case. Kind of like a Porsche owner needing an extra 10-15K on hand if the flat-six grenades

I base this on what I have read from catastrophe posts, for example the suspension failure that Bltserv points out, but also on the premiums that aftermarket warranty companies charge for extended contracts on the SL. For example Starmark charges 3-3500 for two years 100K extended warranty on the SL. Obviously, Mercedes knows better than anyone what could go wrong and cost to repair and have put that amount on it and are also in the business of making mucho dollars on warranty contracts. While actuarial tables are more complicated than that, I think you get the point.

One last piece of advice is take a look at the R129 (previous SL gen) board. This will give you a feel for what kind and cost of maintenance work needs to be performed to maintain an SL. The engine is pretty much the same between the two models and wasn't significantly reworked till the 550.

sammy1

Of course I would prefer the later SL 55, but they are going in the $60s, don't want to spend that kind of money, kid going to college soon!
Not planning on hanging on to the car for more than a year or two max. I do appreciate the advice in regards to checking service records on the suspension issues, bottom line when buying a used expensive car is luck I guess!

sammy1

SDSL & bltsrv, thank you both for some great advice

lucky6600

I think this is the best detail answers that I have ever seen. thanks for sharing the wisdom.