starbrite

Hey guys. I'm looking at a '06 SL55 AMG black/gray, 39k miles, 4 mo left on warranty. Price is $50k with these options :

Keyless go
Bi Xenons
Pano Roof
Parktronic
Heated/cooled seats
4 2 1 Headers
Borla exhaust

With the new body style out does this deal make sense ?

Also, for those of you in the know, does the 4-2-1 header make any sense. The car is already supercharged so it doesn't need any low end power I would imagine. The stock 4-1 header would be more free flowing on the top end. I felt this was a strange "upgrade", but would welcome comments. Thanks.

hdtv22

For that kind of car, you can get it at the auctions, after fees and reconditioning, for $44-45K. I'd say you can either negotiate with the guy, or find a dealer with access to wholesale numbers like these to get you one from the auctions.

And just FYI -- When deciding the price of a car, I would not even take into account the 4-2-1 headers and Borla exhaust -- If anything, they are listed as "Damages" on an auction report

PM Me if anything else

IngenereAMG

Everyone is always looking for 'the cheapest price'. This is extremely so in the Ferrari world right now. While I can appreciate wanting a good deal, there are other factors that far outweigh price. History, damage repair, care under the previous owner, etc., etc. Just as with Ferrari's, there are no cheap ones. The same is true for AMG's. I am sure that there are 'cheap' cars available, but if the car wasn't taken care of, it WILL turn into a money pit.

Never is this more true than with AMG's and Ferrari. I have had friends who got a 'deal' on a Ferrari.... that was $20-$30K under market, and they ended up with a car that was unreliable and cost $40K to make correct, and they stil have a car with a checkered past. I have also had clients who got a 'screaming deal' on various SC/turbo AMG's that had sketchy histories and ownership, and they ended up spending way more in the repairs getting the cars straight, as well as the pain of having a car that doesn't work right.

It is way better to spend a bit more and get a car that has been taken care of. It will put a big grin on your face, have fewer problems and not allot of continuous repairs. Sometimes the 'cheapest' car is a false economy.

starbrite

Thanks for both of your responses !

@ingenereamg -I'm certainly not looking for the "cheapest" or greatest deal. However, the way the prices on these models have plummeted, I just don't want to overpay and then take an enormous hit a few years down the road.

That's why this forum is so great....getting opinions/comments in advance.

Good point @hdtv22 re the exhaust. In fact , after my post yesterday, I contacted Borla and they don't even make exhausts for any Mercedes models. So someone did a custom install w/a "universal" Borla unit.

I'll definitely pass on this one and keep looking.

jagass

It looks good...Good luck...lol

Benz-O-Rama

HA! Riding my coat tails, I see. Who gets theirs first, me or you?

Actually, I'm zeroing in on an SL600.....

starbrite

I don't know Clayton, that's a lot of "extra" cylinders -

TimsSL65

I agree 100%

Tim

Sunir

sounds good...I just saw John Hefflin at VIR and he told me you were on the trail of a nice 600...can't wait to see it man! good luck

Benz-O-Rama

Small world....how'd John do? Keep his car out of the wall?

Just test drove an SL550 today at Euro-Germantown just to see what they're like. Felt slow....slower than my tuned E500, but loved the way it drove. Felt super tight with no wiggle, creaks, or pops. The brakes squealed like a M-F'er and was quite embarrassing when driving in traffic, but loved the car.

My wife was not so impressed. She fell in love with a CLS55 that was in the showroom. Great, super.

m_berman

Can't agree more with Dino. The best of the best are best found as lease returns CPOs at the dealer that it was leased from. This is true about 99% of the time with the other 1% hard to find at auctions or pp.

starbrite

My neighbor just picked up a SL55 like that. It was returned off lease the day before he bought it.

Plus, it had the rare 030 performance package, only 4,400 miles.

Sunir

yeah he did well...he was a student in the green group and I had two students, one in green and one in blue (beginner and intermediate respectively). John was having lots of fun and looked good out there, passed my green group student (SLK) a couple of times.

I'll have to give him a shout sometime if I need toi get some work done/service etc...