It's subjective of course, but I personally think the 2017+ SL450 and SL550 look much better with those chrome trim pieces on the front end lower grille fascia.

Perhaps those chrome trim parts are available from MB Dealers for anyone who likes the look, and wants to add that trim to their 2017+ SL Class 450 or 550.

(Click below to view this chrome trim on the car)

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing


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Yeah, OK, you got me. They look great on that blue car.

 

If I dont take it , you probably wont want it? I will report Thursday on what I found out.

 

Yes I have looked at this one many times and it is a "Designo" Edition that only came in Blue and red- Some are 450 and I have seen a couple in 550 - I have seen NONE with ABC however. That said, I really like this one (and I think I will) I would LOVE to "Chrome" out the blue one that I am probably getting.
I think that the chrome pieces look great on the front and sides, with the 19" and 20" rear AMG wheels looks fantastic IMO without "Over-blinging" it up.

Maybe not the front Facia "whiskers" but the left and right running boards and the bottom lip spoiler but NOT with those wheels in the picture- The Highly polished 19"F 20" R dont know the model # but will find it.

https://www.loebermotors.com/blog/20...-release-date/

 

Looks awesome in black too but I just cant have a black car- looks great in red but maybe a BIT too blingy? But looks fantastic with Blue IMO. If I really like the car- I will probably be adding the chrome pieces except for the whiskers" Or whatever those things are- I dont like them but I love the bottom ringed in Chrome as these are. And getting the AMG polished wheels. I will be adding the rear lip as soon as I get it. This would be my perfect SL. AMG too much power too much maintenance- not needed- 550 is enough. Id rather have the 450 honestly but getting Blue with ABC would be SUCH a unicorn...

 

I am pretty sure this is my absolute favorite flavor of the SL- and the 450 or 550 can be made to look exactly like this- not a poseur- just a trim. I find the 450 and 550 more desirable to me than the AMG versions. But I absolutely love the look- transforms a very handsome car to a FANTASTIC looking car. All subjective of course. The TOTAL Mac Daddy- But I like the blue almost as much and simply wont show dust of black. I couldnt keep black clean for an hour... Notice NO "whisker" chrome trim that just makes the front look so much cooler.

 

Well (a) I really would prefer a 450 over a 550; I've driven both and just prefer the "feel" of the lighter car. That said, I'll never find ABC on a 450...

And (b) I can't imagine after reading your whole saga that I wouldn't be in agreement with any logical (non-subjective) reason you would have for passing it by. You should have excellent Spidey sense by now. :-)

 

Dino - safe travels Thursday ... am looking forward to read your outcome. I shuddered when I read your story ... in April I purchased a MY17 CPO from a MB dealer in Kentucky, and I chose NOT to fly up to view. Fortunately it was 99.5% of how it was presented in the photos and write-ups. I now know I will NEVER do that again.
Best of luck, enjoy the hunt and hoping for a great outcome for you. BTW, that Blue is awesome on the R231. Steve

 

I am in agreement with you on the 450 over the 550 and ABC is available on the 450 but so very rare and I dont want to spend elndless hours searching. And you know it on the inspection. I have a list that includes internal smell (The 'German Crayon" smell means that it has sat in the sun too long), not only check wheels for road rash but to make sure they haven't been repaired- easy to tell RARELY can those fan wheels have the same finish on them after 3rd party repair. Swirl marks from different light angles, obviously rock chips and dents and finally Will want to drive it at speed to see if alignment drift etc... Thats just part of the list. Blue is not my first choice but a close 2 (Behind Silver) but I do love the interior. Again i will let the forum know what happens tomorrow

 

I will say, I used to be pretty staunchly Team Selenite, but this Alexandria turn of events has been pulling me toward Team Brilliant Blue. That's just a gorgeous car.

Very curious to see how you'll do on the negotiations with them. You probably saw that they have a 450 in Selenite/Saddle Brown for $70K, and a month or so ago I tried valiantly to squeeze a few dollars out of that one to no avail. ("We just don't have a dollar to budge, I'm sorry.") I don't think it's terribly overpriced, really, but it has the B&O — which I really couldn't care less about, so it was painful to think of paying a premium for it.

 

I personally think that Selenite Gray is the BEST Mercedes color- LOVE it on the C and the E especially the E- however it looks a little bland to me on the SL- not bad at all and totally acceptable. But to me the Blue and Red just pop and I really love the Blue. If you read a bit of my long rant, I did have the B&O in the SL that I just sent back- TOTALLY unimpressed. I have an S550 Coupe with the Burmester and it kicks ***- the B&O was so thin sounding and I fiddled with it at every setting for a couple of hours. I think Mercedes just screwed up the sound system on the SL. With its limited space, they should have had a VERY kick *** sound system- standard- integrated, no options. But no such luck- the BMWs I have had had the HK L7- meh.

 

My feeling is that Selenite is a nice color. Unfortunately, it replaced Palladium Silver, which IMO, was one of “THE” all time best colors offered my MB in recent years. Don’t even get me started with the fact that you cannot get a REAL red SL anymore. Bottom line for me, is that for a sporty, top line convertible like the SL, the color palette has been sorely lacking in number of choices for many years. The SL should have 10 to 12 regular color options, with another 10 or 12 “Special Order” colors and then a reasonably priced “Paint to Sample” program with a reasonable lead time. There should be several shades of blues & greens. Can you even imagine a Maple Yellow SL with “Bamboo” interior? I can.

 

That would be awesome!

 

Sooo true on the color options- I guess with the EOL of the 231 they didnt see the need to up the color ante. LOVE the old "Pointy" Merc headrests. My Golf R is blue (I do really like it) but only by default as the R came in 5 colors only. Now you have 60 choices (For $ 3000 and 4 months of waiting) but a car like the SL should have had some unique color choices- Guaranteed the next model will. And your talking about Mars Red as the "Real Red"?

 

My mother in law had this very color combination! It was beautiful, and looked great when she traded it with 225,000 miles on it. Great cruiser.

 

My first MB was a '14 E 350 Cabriolet in Selenite Gray! It was a very handsome car, but I had to have an SL. So, I ordered an '18 SL 550 in August '17. During the ordering process, I almost chose Brilliant Blue, and then Selenite Gray, before ultimately deciding on designo Cardinal Red! I also went from ordering black interior to Porcelain. I could not be happier!

 

Simply beautiful! And that kids smile behind the wheel!

 

OK - Its finally over- I bought the Blue SL 50 and (So Far) couldnt be happier. The car hasn't been run by me, but for the condition that it is in. I feel I got a better than decent deal (Not perfect) If the car performs and lasts as well as it looks and as the 5 minute test drive showed me (Not much and we were even going 5 MPH though a school zone- what a "test drive").

But Any CPO (Or used car in general) will have some compromises in color choices, condition of car etc.. In this case it was a few minor rock chips, and the car having 9000 miles on it when it was advertised with 8000- The Sales manager put 1000 miles on it after they placed the ad. Kinda crappy but oh well. And no price break on it- they just lowered it from 81.5k down to 79.9k - and I got quoted $4450 for the 2 year extended warranty ($ 4995 list0 but I thought flying from Texas I should have had a better discount Me thinks.

But in the bright sunshine the Blue is just really stunning. And i know that is an overused word. But looking for a CPO I picked three colors that I would have been very happy with - Iridium Silver, Selenite Gray and Blue metallic. And the interior kinda didnt care- but preferred platinum or Brown. The deciding condition would be the condition of the exterior- scrapes, excessive rock chips road rash etc... If too much and needed repainting, I would move on. That said i dont have the money to just fly around the country to look at SL's. So i was kind of apprehensive going to Alexandria from San Antonio - So i really wanted this to work out- and it went very smooth. Well this Blue 550 was 95% exterior and 100% interior. Extremely happy. Everything seemed to work fine- and if not warranty will cover it.

I didnt get to drive it as speed to see about wind noise etc. Just went around their little "Block" - So glad I got the V8- I have no illusions that this is a Porsche for canyon carving. But its not bad and while the 450 maybe slightly better for "spirited" driving in the twisties. The V8 with ABC has to be close- and I just love the V8 sound (Although somewhat muted- but in Sport- perfect- don't want it too loud.)

As most of you noted, this is fully loaded except for the (below average IMO) B&O sound system.

This was a 9 month search but let me also say this. I am SO NOT a public person like this. Completely opposite. I do not post personal stuff on Facebook/IG ever - its mostly cars, Hockey and Judas Priest- in that order. But when the original deal went so bad, i decided to elicit some suggestions from this forum. And Thankfully many gave me some real good advice that I used in buying this car and getting out from under the last one. Thank you all again. Greatly appreciated.

Now I have to arrange transportation and weigh the price of covered vs not- I havent gotten bids yet and then it is going straight to Xpel film to have it claybared, Prepped and Xpel'd. (Thats a verb now I guess) I understand those who lease these are in essence renting them and wont put any protective film on them - Happens all the time with 120k+ cars. My S550 that I'm selling, was the same - Dr. just ended the 2 year lease and turned it it in - no PPF. But since I am keeping it, and live in Texas with the construction, I need to pay to have it covered w/ppf.

Thanks again everyone, I will post some pictures.

I will post some pictures when I get it in in a few weeks.

Dean

 

Congratulations!! What an odyssey. Hope you have many happy miles driving the roads and highways of Texas. You will be very happy with the V8. As for wind noise, even at highway speeds with the windows and windscreen up there is no trouble having a normal conversation. It’s great.

As others have advised, DO NOT skimp on the transport - insist on covered trailer door to door (some companies will truck it to some intermediate point, unload it, wait for another truck going your way to load it back onto and then complete the trip). An owner operated truck is even better. It will be expensive but considering what you have gone through to get to this point, it will be worth it to protect your investment.

 

And if you didn’t buy their extended warranty, do a search here on this and you will find some names - there are a few dealers around the country known for selling them at a significant discount, and you can probably get a better deal than Alexandria offered you.

 

I can only imagine that you are quite relieved that this entire process is reaching an end point. Rather a beginning point of having a car you want to drive, and enjoy. Here's to many miles and many smiles in your new SL! Welcome to our addiction!

 

Congratulations! Very happy for you! (And for "SO NOT a public person," it's an extra achievement to have birthed one of the longest and most entertaining threads on the site!) Don't forget to post some pictures in the bright Texas sun (post-Xpel!) so we can see that beautiful blue in your driveway!

 

And today, yet another of the special 'Designo Edition' Brilliant Blue 2017 SL450's has popped up in South Florida! This one is at MB of West Palm Beach and looks even better than the first listing above..

Fewer miles than the Coral Gables one mentioned above, (less than 11K), it has the very same options, and a clean CarFax as well. Furthermore, this one has only been driven within the state of Florida which is a huge plus!

While the color scheme doesn't fit with my personal 231 tastes, this is certainly a highly desirable, and very unique SL that will draw a lot of attention!

You can check it out today's 'brand new listing' by clicking on the link below!

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing


It's a 'stunner' for sure, and perhaps even the 'dream car' of some people here!....

 

That car is certainly beautiful but does it have ABC? One of the console buttons is a blank:

 

That’s where the ABC height control button goes. If it’s blank, like here, there is no ABC. This is the easiest way to tell if there is ABC or no ABC when looking at a car listing online.