str8up70

As the title says guys, just wondering if there is anything I should look out for when buying an 05/06 SL65? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Keep 2k aside for coil pack because they will eventually go bad.
You will like the car!

carlsturm

Buy a CPO vehicle if possible or get after market warranty.

I got my '05 as CPO a year ago and think you might still find '06 CPO's.

ABC or convertible top issues will cost lots. Ignition coils will fail as said above.

WHTEVO

Get a good PPI done, pull the maintenance history, and have some money set aside for any repairs that might come up and for replacement tires maybe every year depending on how you drive. It likes to eat the rear tires for some reason :P

I love my SL65, and i'm sure you will too. Good luck.

Aaron

Slick997

If you do get one, don't ever put 20" wheels on it, the car is a wheel breaker!! The heavy weight of the V12 and the hydraulic suspension bends wheels like crazy! You need as much tire as possible, stick with 19' wheels and some good michelin super sports. And don't get a super light wheels either, I went from 20" HRE monolites and destroyed them, then fixed them and destroyed them again 6 times like that until i stopped driving the car because the wheel shake was ext rely annoying. than went to HRE 1 piece mono blocks and i figured they would be fine, i went with the P43s in 20", which is the lighter version of the P43, now i wish i would have went with a 19" P43 or something stronger. Im going to try to get 2, 19" front s and run them staggered with 19"s in front and 20:;s in back to save me from having to buy all 4 wheels, these things are brand new. suspension is nothing like the airbags in the SL55

kena

I acquired a mint 2006 SL 65 about a month ago. It had 48K miles and appeared to be perfect. I had the car thoroughly inspected here in Dallas before I bought it. It needed front rotors and pads. That was $3K so I negotiated that into the price with the seller. Car has been a hoot to drive. I bought a Platinum warranty from LaSalle. It was expensive but then again everything on this car is costly to fix.

Nothing against the 55 guys. I know their car drives better, turns better, goes around corners better, yada yada but there ain't no substitute for the V12 torque. On paper the two cars may look very similar in a drag race but line em up at a 50 mph roll and see what happens. LOL

Bye Bye 55......

rlh23

I think I might be able to keep up

sl65_rockford

Buy an extented warranty from reputable company..contact me for details...coil pack go out about 60k miles on my 2006 sl65.

All covered...well worth it....

Unbeatable super car..sl55 cant compare its torque

kena

No doubt your car would be a good race for my stocker in a race from 50 to 150.

My question would be how much $$$ did you spend to get "almost" to the power output of a stock 65??

I have been trying to justify spending the money to do the ECU upgrade that would push the power to 670 hp/840 torque. If your 55 ran close it would probably persuade me to spend the money.

rlh23

The guy that previously owned the car spent ~$15k on Kleemann upgrades. He didn't recapture any of those costs from me though, so I'm not complaining.

kena

Thats the best way to buy em!

alx

Abc Suspension is identical to the sl55. No air bags.

Tranqfx

I just purchased an '06 Sl65 with 46k on it and it is a dream! I had a CL55 and I can say first hand the 65 just stomps all over the 55 in every driving scene. I would advise you to be sure you get the complete service history. Look to see how many times the puppy has been in the shop.

I'm sure after doing some searching, you have noticed how pricey wear items such as rotors can be, etc. Check those thoroughly. And for the love of god have a mechanic check for engine faults with misfires.


I think I got insanely lucky with mine. After really digging on the history, mine HAD a misfire problem on cylinder 10 and 3k miles before I purchased. The extended MB warranty replaced all 12 pistons because they found that cylinder 10 had a very small nick, but they couldn't find anything wrong with the compression etc, but they did the replacement anyway. 18k repair job.

jett3jett

+1 im in the same boat
idk how long u keep your cars but it looks like we are going be spending about 6-7k on a good warranty

SL65amg

i cant even imagine how much a good extended warranty for a 65 is, cuz on my sl 55 it cost me almost $6,000 for a 3 year warranty....

rlh23

+1. Mine was around $4k for my SL55.

jett3jett

Well it also depends on how many miles and months it is warrantied for.
Typically speaking at this stage in the game i don't like keeping cars for more than 18 months. I have grown to find it gives you a nice amount of time to get to know the car and have your share of fun with it before the number on the speedo starts to add up and before the value of the car significantly drops.
If you guys have to "imagine" what a warranty for a yr or 2 is going to cost then i think i should switch over to the toyota forum. LOL

sf65

I just paid $4,500 for 3 yrs warranty on my '05 Sl65 but I only have 37K miles

Max.H

Get it

GeorgeJ

I got a 5 year 60,000 warranty on my SL65 with 33,000 miles for about $7000 and I'm happy. Don't need to worry about to much the next 5 years now. Through a member of this board with Fidelity. Enjoy.

abiazis

I paid $ 4K for 4 years and have had this coverage pay for over $ 4,500 worth of repairs in 3 years so far...