hey everyone,

please excuse formatting as I am on mobile.


I have been interested in purchasing an SL55 for a while and came across an 07 with 92k miles. Plenty of service records, checked the ABC and seemed to work properly (checked the fluid on and off to watch for level to increase). Overall, engine is in great shape and has had pretty much everything replaced.

eventually it would need:
valve cover gaskets (very slightly leak)
new spark plugs (I usually swap them out around 75k mark but no service record for it)
transmission service(I would have done it at 60k but no record of it)

now for the small things:
keyless go on passenger side does not work (assume it’s the handle which is pretty common)
trunk assist/soft close does not work( google search shows this is common) It is also hard to close the trunk
headliner is not fully clipped in and the back end of it is sagging(assuming broken clips?)
the upholstery around the convertible top (with top down) is loose in some areas and needs to be glued down
Sometimes the car thinks the trunk is open and the convertible top will not operate (I assume this has to do with the trunk assist not properly closing the trunk all the way)
low tire pressure is on (owner says it comes and goes) I assume a TPMS is bad?
broken side mirror adjustment switch (it works but the actual top button is loose)
ashtray does not properly open/close
to me it was a slow crank to turn on the car. It was like this every time and owner states it’s been like that throughout four years of ownership.

One thing that concerns me: when driving in manual mode and accelerating hard and letting go of the gas, I would feel some very slight vibration coming from under the car, in every other mode this does not occur. Any ideas?

what are your thoughts on all these issues? Am I correct with my assumptions on most of these?

many input is greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time.

 

I think this car will cost you about $4K to make it right. So depend on purchase price.
The engine and tranny should be good and reliable. Its 12 years old car so need to invest some $$$

 

I think so.

And I agree you may spend $4K correcting everything you noted if you pay a dealer for all of the repairs. But if you invest $300 in a Chinese-cloned Star Diagnosis system and do the repairs yourself, you may spend a small fraction of that amount.

 

I would also do a PPI at the dealer. It's definitely worth $200 investing in to one.

 

I am going to go for it. Feels like it will be a nice project to work on. I am going to trade my car valued at around 16.5k private party +$500 cash on my end. I figure even if I dump 3k into it to make it right, I would be at around 20k total

 

Amir, I was looking at the same one online. The car looks great. More problems than I expected but the price isn't that bad. However I personally wouldn't have gone for it knowing those issues. Consider the cost and time to repair (doing it yourself of course!) Still maybe worth to pay 2k more or so for a nicer one. Or negotiate it with him a bit more.

 

the reason I prefer to go with this one is the easy swap for my GLK. If I were to buy an SL outright I would have to sell my car later and we already have 3 other cars. I figure most of the problems are hopefully easy fixes. I’ll keep everyone posted

 

If it is any consolation to you. I have had 72 cars and still have 6 of them and my SL55 is my all time favorite car. Mine is a 2005 that now has just over 9000 miles and has never been in the rain. It still looks and drives as new. The only thing I had to replace was one rear strut.