Marylandm3

Hi all - I have done a ton of reading regarding these cars. I'm buying sight unseen, but with full money back guarantee from a dealer.

The car is a 2011 SL63 (35K miles) - I have read that some have had some serious reliability issues and recommend older SL65 or SL55.

I would love to hear some opinions on that year SL63? Keep in mind I know maintenance is expensive on these. I just do not want to be at the dealer every week.

Not driving everyday, probably just 5000 miles a year in the summer. I'm up in Baltimore.

Thx in advance!

okbarnett

First, this is no way to buy a car. You need to look at carfax, take the car to a MB dealer and have a complete cpo inspection, and look at the complete MB service history.
Could cost you thousands of dollars if theres some little problem.
Its a great car if theres nothing wrong with it.

Marylandm3

Clean carfax, one owner. and if they ship it out here and I take it for inspection and it fails they will ship it back free. It also has all of its service records which are up to date.

So I was just curious about overall build quality / reliability as it is out of warranty.

carguyshu

all of the common problems related to the convertible top mechanism, ABC suspension, etc. are going to be the same with an SL63 as they were with the SL55 and SL65. There are tons of seals both in the vert top and ABC suspension that don't like sitting from lack of use. The car should be driven at least weekly if possible. Earlier build date 63 motors also had different designed head bolts that are prone to failure and should be replaced as preventative maintenance prior to there being catastrophic failure that could possibly ruin the engine. Look to spend a grand or two getting the head bolts updated.

Marylandm3

Thank you for the insight!!

okbarnett

as I understand it these 11s were updated bolts and no common problems. When you get a 11 car its far better condition than getting a 03 or 07 car that has aged .
But I have been around cars for along time, and i wouldnt entertain playing around with a car dealer, across the country, that says ship, returns %100 guarantee. If he doesnt have any problem shipping and refunding a car, he wouldnt have any problem taking it to a dealer a few miles away and letting you have inspection and advice from them

mcguirja

Agree with okbarnett. I have a 2009 and have had no issues with it. Almost 50,000 miles at this point. I did proactively change head bolts and valve buckets but was my choice. Only other work I had done was replacement of pulsation dampener, but relatively small repair in the bigger picture. All M156 engines had new head bolt design and valve buckets towards the end of model year 2010 so your 2011 should be good, but you can check manufacturer date just to be sure. There is a good thread on the C63 board that provides the serial number of the change over to the new parts.