NHSl550

I was looking at some older (2004-2007) R230 cars with very low mileage (2500-10000) . Are there any concerns about buying a basically unused car? Can things go bad from non use? These were V12's

kbob999

Fuel can go bad, seals can dry up and get hard then leak, tires will need replacing due to age, may be corrosion in areas.
Other than that...it won't be worn out.

BlownV8

Leather can peel, hoses/rubber bits will deteriorate and fluids will need to be flushed for good measure.

KennyK

If it has been serviced, it should be fine.

I bought a 2005 SL500 with 25K miles in March 2019 and it has been flawless

Good luck

Dudeman

Before you go and fall in love with these things, the one thing I would caution you about is the choice of engine, specifically v12's

The reason those are easier to find, is becuase people usually stay away from them due to high cost of maintenance and repairs. It has been repeated many times here and on other forms, unless you're a DIY type person, or have a friend that happens to be a mechanic, those cars are not usually recommended, especially older ones.

The reason you usually find these cars 10 years down the road at attractive prices, is because the warranty has expired and original owner either has had some repairs quoted that wee simply exorbitant, or because they know that out of warranty expenses can be very high.

The V8 on the other hand costs a lot less to fix and are a lot easier to work on.

Just something to consider before you go looking at these wonderful machines.

poppyboy

No matter what you do, get a PPI. Just this week, I was looking at an SL 55 AMG. Got a PPI done. Even though the car was an ‘05 with only 54k miles, it needed over 3K of work done (S/C pulley, RMS, VC gaskets, filthy ABC fluid, etc.) Seller wouldn’t budge on the price despite the issues. I walked. Best $150 I’ve spent in a long time. It’s imperative, prior to doing a deal, to know as much as possible.

Ghostty

A PPI is definitely the way to go with any car, especially older ones. Same time pay attention at the work required, not the prices quoted. I did same thing when I bought it, dealer quoted me same amount. All I ended spending was about $400 at my indy.
Poppyboy, I would have done same thing. Even if the required investment would be $1k, I still would have tried to negotiated the price. The car is not that rare for him to hold the price.

BlownV8

Interesting, I just did a search for R230 SL600's on Autotrader and did the same search for R230 SL55's. There are 23 listings for SL600's and 75 SL55's. I'm no mathematician but isn't that over 300% more SL55's for sale than SL600's? If I expand that to include SL65's and the ultra rare SL65 Black Series, there are still only 45 R230 SL's with the bi-turbo V12. If I expand the search to include R230 SL63's, there are 109 V8 AMG's.

I do not believe it is correct that the V12 is more expense to operate. From my experience, the engines are very low maintenance and extremely reliable. The 55 kompressor engines require much more maintenance with supercharger belt changes, supercharger bearing failures, supercharger clutch failures, and supercharger tensioner failures. The only thing I can think of that is expensive on the V12 is the older coil packs were crap. Once updated, I've never had an issue. My experience may be limited since I've only had 2 of the bi-turbo V12's with a total of 200k+ miles and 10+ years of ownership. Both of my bi-turbo V12's had ECU tunes and my current one has a crap ton more mods so the hp levels are pushed much higher than the stock vehicles.

Speed750

I went the opposite direction. I looked for one with 100k on the clock. I looked at a couple that had less than 50k and it seemed like a risky deal. Everybody agrees the drivetrain on the V8 will last forever, it's the top and abc system that give the most issues. High dollar issues! My car ( 05 with 103k) runs great and has had those issues already fixed by the previous owner. That "less than 50k miles" feeling will fade real fast if you get stuck with a 3k dollar repair bill.

IMHO look for one that has had major repairs or at least preventive maintenance done by the dealer. ABC flush etc.

Make sure the "flaps" in the trunk are high and tight. Check the color of the abc fluid.

YMMV

cjhazard

I believe these cars were very well built, and were intended to be daily drivers. Almost all of the main "problem areas" of the SL are rubberized/flexible fluid seals that stop sealing. Any car that has sat for too long has the potential for such seal problems.

Test drive the car like a bat-out-of-hell (that's what I did when I bought mine just to be sure - the poor seller almost had a heart attack). Chances are good that if there are any issues from sitting too long, they will surface pretty quickly after getting the car back on the road and putting it through some stress tests. If you get ANY ABC warnings, walk away (or prepare to pay).

If the car performs flawlessly, get it inspected. Motor mounts are a major concern on the V12 model because the engine needs to come out for them to be replaced, and replace them you will, probably before 100k miles.

If it passes inspection, I'd say you done real good; buy the car, flush and replace ALL fluids, especially ABC fluid. Also, think about replacing aged rubberized parts (front suspension components, engine mounts, etc...); this will give you a closer experience to buying the car new. If you do pull the trigger, get ready to drive one of the greatest road cars of all time, IMHO of course ;-P

Rudeney

That's a good point. MBZ cars with very lows miles never had the opportunity for adjustments to made by the original owner(s) under warranty. Now you buy it and you have to fix all those things that should have been handled years ago.

cjhazard

Very true - I bought my car with 70,000 miles. That was actually a good spot - the car was driven lightly, but most of the failure points had already been sorted by that time.

BlownV8

This! I have never owned an MB that was not more reliable in the second 100k than the first 100k miles. The weak stuff breaks early and is fixed under warranty or extended warranty.

Dudeman

But by you own admission you've only had those 2 v12's for about 200K total, so about 100K each, therefore you can't really make that statement as your cars are just now getting the second 100K stage of their life.

I've owned lots of cars over my 63 years, everything from English and German made Mercury Capris (great cars), to American cars, Pontiac and Chevrolet (sucked), A bunch of Toyotas, including 3 Supras (awesome cars), an Infinity and even a Volvo (piece of crap). And I can tell you that if you really want a car that will last you 200K or more, you should buy an old school Toyota, pre 2000.

But I digress. I've now had 5 Mercs over the last 15 years, A 99 ML320, and 98 SLK230, a 05 SL500, a 06 ML350 and now a 07 SL550. I can say with fairly good certainty, that as the car starts going over the 120K mark, things just start to fail more and more often. First little things, then bigger ones. It seems that every year the cost of maintenance and frequency of repairs increases. On my old SL500 I had 160K on it when it ended its run, but it seems that in the last 2-3 years, the most I could drive that car without visiting the shop for some stuff or another was about 6 months. My old ML320 was great, that would have probably last 200K, but my wife wanted a newer one, the 06 ML350 currently has 135K, and in the last year it too had to have the tranny conductor plate replaced, and the magneto timing sensors on the front of the engine replaced as well. My 07 SL550 with only 75K has already had to have the SBC replaced (luckily no cost), and now I need to replace the engine mounts.

On the other hand, the last Mercury Capri I had, a '76 2800 V6, I bought with 140K on it for $500 off some guy, drove it until it hit about 200K with nothing more than maintenance (oil changes, brakes, tires), and sold it 5 years later for $1000. A few years later I bumped into it again, the owner had gotten it up to 250K and it was still running great.

BTW, all my cars are daily drivers. There's no garage queen here, so they must be able to perform this simple task, drive me back and forth to work or wherever else I need to go. And the reality is that most newer cars are just not that good at it like the old cars were.

BlownV8

I sold the CL while it still had value. I still own the SL. I have around 700k miles on the 4 MB's in my driveway. I drive quite a bit and stick to my statement about the second 100k being better than the first 100k in all the vehicles.

Dudeman

OK, so how many of the cars you've owned have 120K or more miles. I'm not asking for aggregate miles between all your cars, I'm asking specifically if any of your cars have actually seen any serious miles past 100K

tonylinc

MY 2004 Sl600 V12 twin turbo, with almost 700HP (which is really too much) with RennTech ECU, updated intercooler pump and exhaust mad, looks like it was made last year, and runs like it was made last week. Always garaged, never left out in the weather of any kind. 89K miles and the only issue it's ever had was one coil pack went bad last year, well after 89K miles no big deal! It was time for spark plugs anyhow, any ignition system has parts that are supposed to wear out one day. My 2008 GL450 SUV needed one or more ignition coils to fix a misfire and my 2008 S550 is getting new coils in a week or two. Ignition is like the most important thing, unless your tranny is falling out. After 14 years one of the hoses for the intercooler system started a leak so I got that system all new hoses. Bulletproof? Seems that way to me. Just buy what you like, in good condition, if anything needs fixing, fix it, and keep on driving! For the money I have in this car, I couldn't get anything else that is faster, more beautiful, or nearly as cool and comfortable. Depreciation can be a wonderful thing.

BlownV8

Current driveway: GL450 250k+- miles, E55 250k+- miles, SL600 100k+ miles, GL63 80k+- miles. I do around 40k to 60k miles a year and my wife drives quite a bit too. I think the only car I didn't drive much past 100k was the CL600 and I sold it to buy the GL. Needed a family hauler and the CL was depreciating like a rock. The GL and the E needed nothing between 100k and 200k miles. Around 225k miles both needed some work. The E's tranny went out and the GL's AC compressor went out. Both cars on the road, registered, and run with no oil needed to be added between oil changes.