valium

Hi, Anyone here recently purchased or looking to buy a new 2008 sl 550? I am planning to buy one soon and was wondering what discounts are you guys getting? Please let me know what you think of this deal. I was offered a fully loaded 08 model for $87. MSRP is 109600. Any info/advices would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

EX-BEEMER

That's very close to the deal I made about a month ago on a car with a neal identical MSRP. I've loved every minute of ownership since.

Yesterday at the grocery store some guy was having his girlfriend take his picture beside my SL so he could bragg to his friends about his "new ride". Not a day goes by without a compliment. I've got to stay grounded because if you're not careful it can become an ego trip.

SL2003driver

Anything around $20K off MSRP is a good deal.

Nevada Jack

That is consistent with most deals listed here. Mine was similar to EX-BEEMER's deal a little over 2 weeks ago. $19-20K off a $107-109K package seems the norm.

velvet fog

Bay area dealer tried to get me into an 08 demo with 2k miles, 109k sticker. He was down to 84k with 2yr warranty extension.

Nimbus

Local dealer near me is offering $20k off sticker on remaining 2008 SL550 and SL55.

LovinMercedes

What are the discounts off the 2009's?

Nimbus

Between $0-$3000 off.

SL2003driver

Wow, for a car that is a step in the wrong direction in looks and they are not even discounting them

velvet fog

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like the 09 restyle.

SL2003driver

The way I look at the 09's is a must do restyle because of europe laws. Instead of doing what they should of done they slapped a new front on the old girl, kind of an extreme boob job and made her unbalanced. Mercedes owners are normally people that want to be seen with the latest model. So Mercedes is able to sell the new ones for limited discounts. I will tell you that if you had a 2008 next to a 2009 and asked a design student what was the best design the 2008 would win out.

Nevada Jack

I too do not favor the '09 model front end design. An '09 was not in my budget at this time due to the introduction MSRP game, and the large discount on the '08 was a no brainer for me.

I think the '08 is more classic SL. The new '09 is a bit heavy in the front and looks a little like a NASCAR competitor from head on. I do not like the single wing with the large tri-star even though my 1979 450 SL had a similar design. I don't know if I like the L shaped headlight treatment either. The improvements in the interior and COMAND are a big improvement. I am sure the '09's will be accepted by most but I think the next major variant in 2012 or so should be a winner if they stick to the classic SL design features.

velvet fog

I don't care for the headlight treatment. Looks like a cheap attempt to adopt the new corporate look of the S, CL and C class. The cut lines on the hood and fender around the light look clumsy and not well integrated, almost like they didn't want to spring for a new design and tooling for the fender.

The hood also looks like the previous generation SLK with the twin "power bulges".

On the other hand, I do like the Saddle/Black interior color combo. My wife has that on her BMW and I think it looks really sharp.

kokanee

I would take an 08 over the 09 any day even dollar for dollar. The 09 just doesn't do it for me. If I were in the market today I would pick an 08 SL if available, another car if not. I kind of wonder what MB is doing. It's lost too much of the SL look. Look at the grills in all the 09's- cheap plastic cross hatch. Even on 100 k vehicles. Time will fix it I'm sure.