kcphuah

Thinking of buying a used one as value has really dropped on these gorgeous cars. However, want to get some feedbacks as to how reliable the 03 or 04 are. And exterior wise, are they any differences to the 06 and let say 04? Thanks.

Ken

jmf003

This topic comes up from time to time and you can probably find quite a bit of information if you search past postings. The short story is, the earlier years were more problematic than later years although that doesn't mean any particular car will be reliable or unreliable. There are several active forum members with very reliable 2003s.

As far as exterior differences go, there were definitely minor changes from year-to-year but nothing major until the 2009 redesign.

Sharkster

I upgraded my 04 SL55 to the 07 body style (see picture, left: before, right: after). There were quite a lot of minor bodystyle changes from 06-07 cars. There were also some changes at the rear: different tail-lights (clear glas) and the third brake light (also clear glas).

However, since all of these changes were really minor, it's relatively easy and inexpensive to upgrade a pre-07 SL to the 07 bodystyle.

sound 8

Don't buy a 2002, they were plagued by teething troubles, you should have seen all the warrant items replaced when it was new. I have also spent about 8k repairing various things. I would start at late 03 model.

LOVEMYBS

Yes, my soon to be repaired 06.

damian155

I want to upgrade my 03 also. The mesh on the 07 front bumper has larger holes, question is.. did you have to change the rear bumper mesh also to match or did that not change through the years?

Sharkster

The mesh on the rear bumper did not change IMO. Thus I stuck to the 04 bumper and the 04 mesh.

However I did notice a minor change in the turning signals in the external rear mirrors between the 04 and 05 models (do a direct comparism on pics of 04 and 05 cars to see what I mean). That change was really, really small, so I stuck to the 04 turning signals in the rear mirrors aswell.

damian155

ok thanks now the search is on for a 07 front bumber. My 03 is craked so i might as well upgrade rather than replace.

Sharkster

You'll also need the new grille, since the old grille doesn't fit exactly...