Earlier this month I made a 3144-mile trip in my '07 R230. The car drove beautifully. There were a few places I've long wanted to visit, so I visited them:

Black Kettle National Monument (and killing ground), Cheyenne OK
Adobe Walls battle site, Texas Panhandle (near nothing, and nothing there, but I wanted to see it)
Very Large Array astronomical dishes, 50 mi. W of Socorro, NM
Trinity Site, White Sands Missile Range, NM
White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo NM
Carlsbad Caverns, NM
Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

Crossing the Sangre de Cristo mountains on US 82 E out of Alamogordo was a treat. The car handled perfectly up and down the range. I first thought I should manually drop the transmission into lower gears to maintain speed descending the mountains, but decided it was even easier to engage cruise control and just let the car do its own gear shifting. The only times I touched the brakes were for slower traffic.

US 82 straightens out crossing eastern New Mexico. There was almost no other traffic and visibility was unlimited. I stuck the Escort fuzzbuster on the windshield and eased the cruise control up to 100 then on to 130. Seemed like the faster I went the lower the car squatted and the more stable it became. I envy the Germans their autobahns.

I had to wait until I was an old man to get the R230. If only I had had this car when I was 18 ....

 

So nice to hear good reports as yours on the forum!!

moretech

 

Thanks for sharing! These cars are amazing at high speeds. Do you have any pics from the trip? How many miles have you logged so far?

 

Sounds like a great trip. Like you, I had to wait until I was older to get an SL. It's a shame because the older I get, the harder it is to get in an out of the thing! I would say it's a good thin I didn't have this car at age 18, but I did have a few muscle cars that I probably shouldn't have!

 

Desired Speeds: You ask, "How many miles have you logged so far?"

Answer: 55,866 miles.

 

I don't have too much trouble falling into the car but getting out can be a ***** especially if you can't swing the door all the way open. Sometimes I have to look around to make sure no one saw me trying to get myself out

 

LOL! Yep - getting out is not a graceful maneuver. You should see me in my garage. We have 20ft-by-20ft garage and put both cars (the SL and wife's Grand Cherokee) plus a full complement of tools, lawn equipment, and misc. other junk. I park on the right side, so when I get out, I have a few feet between my car then Jeep. It's a real contortionist act.

 

EJbrock

Life is an amazing journey! How fortunate you are to have an SL and the time to enjoy it.

 

I've driven my lil sl600 from Miami to Omaha (son lives in Norfolk) & Houston, love driving in fall temps.. For the record it's sitting on 187K

 

I love to hear about high mileage SL's. I struggle with drive SL, drive SUV every day. Since the SL is new in my garage it usually wins and hearing about those fortunate enough to have driven their SL's to high mileage reinforces my decision to continue driving it until the snow starts falling here in Maine. Actually had the top down yesterday which is unheard of in October. I too struggle with getting in and out , my wife insists that by putting the suspension in its highest setting before exiting helps. She is probably right but I hate the appearance when I turn to admire it in my garage.

 

So 93K is not high miles for these cars, but to some it is. I can't drive it every day, as the snow is about to fly here too.

I have to say I did a couple long trips in mine, both without issue.
First was Philly to Denver when I bought it, about 1300 miles.
Second was 2000 miles, Denver to Yellowstone to Jackson, WY to Denver over a 9 day span. That trip also had the cruise set at 110 for stretches in Wyoming.
Both had zero issues, but I chickened out and got towing coverage on insurance 'just in case'.

Bottom line - get an SDS, fix the current, known, and potential issues, maintain it by the book, enjoy the heck out of it.

 

This thread just gets better and better.
moretech

 

How old do you feel? There's a owner with an SL500 on another forum who is 81. These cars keep us young!

 

The R230 is a great highway car. Sometimes I really wish I still had mine.

 

Ejbrock,

Any car that puts a smile on your face when you drive it keeps you young!

 

Ken Silver ... you ask, "How old do you feel?"

My answer is a bit mixed: chronologically I'll be 72 in December. But inside this old worn out body there's still a 26-year old Navy lieutenant who's just counting the days until the ship hits the next liberty port.

I know I'm just an old geezer driving around in my red SL550, but it makes me feel good, it sorta makes me feel young ... or maybe that's just an illusion. Come to think of it ... of course it's an illusion. I know that nearly all of Life's significant events and challenges are behind me and ... unlike many of my shipmates ... I met them square-on and survived to tell about it.

Every day I step into the garage and spend a moment just staring at my car. It took me 70 years to have something this nice that's all mine. This past weekend I washed, clay barred, waxed, and machine-polished my car and my wife's E350 (also a 2007). There wasn't a moment of "work" in any of it ... it was the kid in me having fun. I'm at least a "moderately" decent mechanic ... I had motorcycles all my life, so I've accumulated a lotta tools and a bit of wrench-turning experience ... so I can do the simple stuff. And I have a good friend who is our local MB guru ... he works only on MBs and he knows his stuff. I feel confident I can drive this car until the state takes away my license or USAA quits insuring me.

And I hope everybody else who has an R230 feels pretty much the same way.

You ask, "How old do you feel?" Let's hit the beach and I'll show you, Mate. First round's on me.

 

In 1971 I was a freshman in dental school and one of the professors had a new Mercedes SL 280. I told myself that some day I was going to have one. Well life , children , college tuition, children's weddings etc got in the way. Don't get me wrong , I had some fun cars but never thought about the SL again until this past summer when I saw a silver 03 at a car show and the wheels started spinning in my head. I had sold my business, the kids were off my payroll, maybe it was finally My time. One month later I parked a silver 07 SL 550 in my garage and a dream finally realized 45 years later. I cannot believe how much I enjoy driving this car. Yes my 67 year old body struggles getting in and out but I wear a smile the whole time.

 

I'm just a couple and a bit years younger than you but I have a feeling I won't be taking you up on it

I love the stories here, because it shows that this model transcends all age groups. My SL350 is my fifth SL, after having had a succession of R230 500's and a 600 in the mix, and lately 3 Aston Martins and a couple Bentley GT's.

But I keep coming back to the R230 because of it's relatively timeless looks, reasonable running costs, and more importantly the luxury of a folding hardtop. After paying out $8000 for repairs to the roof of my Vantage Roadster last year, I like the dependability of MB. I say that with my fingers crossed!

So with retirement looming and my driving area reducing, I decided to quit the high expenses of luxury sports cars, and a few weeks ago I got a cheap runaround, the SL350.

But it is an old platform and harder to drive than what I've been used to, and already I'm regretting in my decision. So I'm looking round for a newer version. My age doesn't come into it... I can see myself driving top down until they drag me away from it.

Heatwave, your trip sounded like a lot of fun and I hope to hear the next instalment of travelin' stories from you soon!

 

I too can relate to exiting without the door fully open! I'm closer to the 80th birthday than the 79th right now, and the old knees, hips, and most other joints are less flexible than they were 30 years ago!

Drove my '03 SL55 from Provo Utah to eastern PA 2 1/2 years ago when I bought it. The mountain driving, in UT, WY, and WV, along with some pretty high speeds in eastern WY, western NE (my original home state) kept the smile on my face all the way home. I'd just sold my Porsche track car, and this SL was so amazing that I took it to Watkins Glen about 2 months after getting it home and spent 2 days driving that amazing track. I then 'retired' from that 'fun' permanently.

Every time I drive the SL55, and take a curve at good speed with the car staying flat, or accelerate to pass another car and the supercharger pushes me back into the seat I smile from ear to ear. Great cars - enjoy them to the max. Even though I'm retired, can't get enough time to drive the car as much as I should. About 6K miles in 2 1/2 years, now up to 52K on the odo.

Gut Fahren

 

I'm 71 yrs. old, overweight (which I'm trying to do something about this year) and bad knees (caused by the weight, of course). We have two single-car garages and, naturally, my SLs stay inside while my wife's R350 and my 400E (always covered) live outside. Although it's a tight squeeze getting in and out and there's no graceful way to do it, I didn't buy the cars for ease of access and I love to drive them. Perhaps in the future, I'll need a forklift or hoist to get me in and out, but so be it.

 

Well, I feel like a youngster in this crowd, still being in my 50's! Even with the door open fully, getting out of the R230 is just not a graceful maneuver. But it's a heck of a lot easier than some cars. If you ever have the chance to sit in an old gull wing model SL, you'll think the R230 is like sliding out of power-assist Barcalounger.

 

About the gullwing SL: summer of 1957 ... I was 12 years old. I remember it well for a coupla reasons:

1. Hurricane Audrey ravaged parts of south Louisiana from which my family had recently moved ... it was difficult for me to accept and understand what had happened to places and people we had known.

2. Mercedes Benz ... the first time I heard those words. And 300SL. And all together ... Mercedes Benz 300SL.

Couple who lived across the street from us ... their oldest son was a Captain in the airforce. He had flown the F86 and was en route to joining an F100 squadron in Texas. How cool izzat?! Look ... I'm only 12 ... very impressionable.

Anyhow, the young Captain comes home for a coupla weeks leave in the summer of '57. He drives up in the most gorgeous car I had ever seen: a red Mercedes Benz 300SL. I didn't know cars like that even existed. I had never seen one, had never heard of one, didn't know what a Mercedes Benz was or where it came from. Fords and Chevrolets and Plymouths and Dodges ... I knew all those. But Mercedes Benz ... it just sounds cool. I've never done drugs and don't have firsthand knowledge of how they affect one's brain, but I have to guess it's sorta like the effect that red Mercedes Benz 300SL had on me.

The Captain took time to show off his car to us boys. We had never seen doors like that, of course. How cool are gullwing doors?! And a white steering wheel on a hinge that makes it easier to get in/out! When you get in and lower the door, there's a ledge where you can rest your arm ... you gotta drag your butt over the ledge getting in and out. Captain told us he drove with his beer sitting on the ledge. And those flares over the front wheels and rear wheels ... we'd never seen anything like that. Captain opened the hood to show us the engine. I was a bit non-plussed that it was a 6 cyl engine and it leaned over to one side ... seemed like an odd way to put an engine in a car. I thought everything had to be V8. He drove each of us boys around the 'hood with the doors opened up ... it was summertime in south Mississippi and it was hot, but here I was in a Mercedes Benz 300SL riding around with the doors not "open," but "up." Big difference.

Hot damn. I remember that 12-year old lad ... he was a good kid. I hate getting old.

 

Great story and prose, Heatwave. You should consider writing your memoirs. I bet you have a lot of good stories to tell.

 

Ejbrock
This thread is really demonstrating how these cars enrich our lives! Thanks to all that have shared a little bit of their lives with us!!!

 

Tell us about your maintenance experience on such a high mileage V12TT.

By the way, I just turned 73 in June and can still get in and out of my car fairly easily. It's the crawling under it that is getting more difficult.

My two Merc's keep me dedicated to staying trim for the required maintenance.

Bob