SL/R230: SL500 Reliability
The real guestion is what leather do you get when you go with the X11 black leather upgrade for the $3.750. That is the only way you could upgrade the leather is with the black and then again, I am not sure it gets you the improved leather, although...it might. It could also be the same leather, but with the different trim upgrades. That question, I do not know the answer to.
Some of the problems are because of 1st model year kinks (they finally figured out that the large MB front license plate bracket caused the erratic parktronic operation and they replaced it with an "improved" smaller bracket after several previous attempts to fix.) It's from Keyes European -- No problems with the dealership. In fact, I have been getting "special" treatment perhaps because I bought an SL from them, or because of the number of problems. (Free detail, no waiting in line, same technician, no appointments, etc.) The top still rattles when it's lowered which is annoying since they cannot fix it. I had a similar problem with my '03 330ci convertible, which was a main reason I traded it very early on the SL.







