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well, its go time and my dad is going to be buying one of these cars before the yr is up. either an 03 SL55 or an 04' SL600... now heres the questions..

What are the key things i should look for in both cars?

Whats the difference between the two, obviously the motor, but as far as drivetrain, suspension, brakes, etc...

please, everyone, any thoughts, give them all to me. i can't tell ya'll what the 600 has as far as packages b/c i haven't seen it, but the 55 has:
Alcantra headliner
Navi
V60 phone adapter deal
Xenon
Parktronic

55 is silver, 4700 miles, dark charcoal interior, will be gettin it for $95K
600 is black, few thousand miles, guy is willing to sell for mid $80K

thoughts, comments, suggestions..let me hear it all!!!
Thank you all..
Aj

vraa

Both have navi
and both have phone
both have xenon

parktronic is an option

get the 600, it's faster

plus v12's rock

but then again, the AMG is a beast, but it has no special spot in my heart.

Lexino

go with the SL55 AMG its as fast as the S600, slightly cheaper, better on gas compared to the V-12

Iron Sheik

off the start, they are equal in speed b/c traction is a big factor. But once they get rolling, the 600 will beat the 55. If they go from a roll-on, lets say 60 mph or 100 km/h, the 600 will walk away slowly since traction will not be a factor anymore.

IanSL55

Both are beasts on the road - you can't go wrong with either. Silver is much easier to keep clean, but nothing looks better when spotless than a black car (I had a black '03 SL500 before my silver SL55)...

Personally, I'd go w/ the SL55. Not as rare as the SL600, however the SL55 drives more like a sports car and that's why I chose it... The SL600 had the same ride quality as the SL500, which is great if you're into that smooth as butter feeling. Personally, I like to feel a little road under my seat and felt the AMG was more quick and responsive in the turns.

Now if you're worried about gas mileage get a Camry, both these cars chug it down it...

Your Dad need any new sons?

~Ian

IngenereAMG

I have driven both cars on the road as well as the track and here's my .02cents:

If you want a sports car...get the 55. The 600 is a sled...that motor is very heavy and the car's set up is for cruising...not handling. The 600 understeers like a pig.

The 55 is a better all rounder. Get the 55 and put some 19's on the car and you will run away from Ferrari's and Porsche's on twisty roads. The 55 is even better when you de-restrict it and do a little ECU work. If you want a fast poser car, get the 600...and if gas milage is a concern, get a Prius!! If you want to go faster in either car.....take a driver's school!

MBE55AMG

Sl600

moa4r

I'd get the 600 bcs:
1. its black
2. its $10K less (but who would sell an 04 sl600 for 85K, sounds like a great deal, actually)
3. its newer (03 vs 04, 03 = first year of new sl)
4. v12
5. twin turbo
if the 600 has sport package, then its a no brainer imo

SL65amg

Definitely the SL 600

It's so much easier to get monster power out of the car, and that V-12 exclusivity ...

Renntech ECU upgrade with exhaust and you'll have 650 horsepower and 745 lb/ft of torque ... and ofcourse Renntech trans upgrade for faster shifts, etc..

all for what? maybe 5k or so? maybe 6k?


It would take alot more money to upgrade an SL 55 to 650 horsepower and 745 torque ... alot more.

mjc123

He should definitely get the 55 and please put me in touch with the seller of the 600.

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well guys..turns out the SL600 he thought he had a deal on was actually a 500... soo thats a no brainer. the 55 is the best option we have right now and i think the dealer has accepte our trade in, a harley bike for 20K, soo we'll be spending 78,300 for the 55. that includes Certification, and extended warranty...

soo with that said, i appreciate all the commentry given...

and i will back results as we shall most likely be buying it tommorow.

thanks again guys...
Aj

IngenereAMG

You will love the SL55!! Best of luck!

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well, turns out, they rejected our trade...i think they are playing games with us now...they know we want the car, but my pops is not going to succomb to that price difference... if they give us the car for 90K, we most likly will take it. but we'll see...

hopefully..if not that 55, he may go for the MAserati Spyder...im praying to god we get the 55...

Aj

vraa

Nah man, the Maser is so much cooler then the SL.

They might or might not be playing mind games, just shrug it off, remember, don't do something that you might regret later on. SL's are a dime a dozen, paying for one at a high price is something that'll bite you in the end.

Mr.PS

600 hands down, Its newer its black and the bi-turbo v12 has enough torque to make the world spin faster. + there is many more mods for the v12.

vraa

Haha, yall, there is no 600, it was confused with a 500.

marcC55miami

Suprised no one figured that out I did after reading the post a new 600 is $135k there is no way it went down that much in less then a year...get the 55 anwyay!!

blueSL

Let me give you a flavour of what the SL55 has to offer.

The main benefit of a fast car in the UK is overtaking ability on a road providing just a single lane in each direction. If you're on a divided highway, you can cruise at whatever speed you feel comfortable with (including taking account of the speed limit) so outright performance counts for less. But when you're overtaking and aiming to minimise what we call here TETD (time exposed to danger), acceleration is all.

Last night, I came up behind a queue of 13 cars trailing a truck travelling at about 50 mph. Wait for the road to clear, full xenon beam to tell them I'm coming on through, drop a gear, foot down. Past all 13 cars and the truck in an instant. I was doing 95 as I passed the truck and pull back into the left hand lane, no problem, drop back to a relaxed cruise. Completely stable, no stress. That's the measure of the SL55 for me, effortless performance. My 911 and 355 would do similar but the difference with the SL55 is that is it so effortless. Maybe the SL600 or SL65 would do better still and reduce the time for such a manoeuvre by a few tenths, seconds at best.

I daresay too that those 14 drivers asked themselves "what the heck?" as the SL55, all four tailpipes sounding off in glorious unison, powered on past. Great stuff.

Get the SL55. You will not be disappointed.

Trimmer2

Drivetrain and brakes are physically same between the 600 and 55 save for the final drive ratio. The 500 on the other hand isn't the same. The suspension on the 55 is tuned stiffer and more sporty.

mustang

I wanted a daily driver a little while ago so I went for an SL500. I didn't see the need for a 6.0 (and I dont think they had the 600 as a twin turbo back then). Since then the SL500 has gone and has been replaced with an SL55. I didn't even think about an SL600 because I wanted some decent noise coming from my car which the non-AMG cars dont provide. The AMG's exhaust note is truly awesome.

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hey guys
well, im sorry to say, the dealership did not entertain our offer. We had to walk...but i have a few dealers friends looking for me at the auctions...we'll not be buying till late March or so.

the other car is the MAserati Gransport. i don't know if u uys have seen that, but it is truly a gorgeous car...sounds great too...so if we can't find the 55, it may just be the Maserati...

but we'll see...

also, with that other deal i was speakin of, with the SL600 being a 500, im still not sure, but the thing is the guy who owns it has a ton of other sports cars and really doesn't care what price he can sell it for. he's waitin for some porsche... but i'll find out specifics tommorow when i meet with a friend of his..

thanks guys for all the tips! i truly appreciate it..
Aj

Messerchmidt

the SL55 is much cheaper to fix when something breaks

the v12 is an expensive #$@#$%! to fix

v12s allow you to say that your the big

but as long as you can afford to fix it later, by all means get the 600

blueSL

I'm always surprised that people get so concerned about the supposedly high cost of fixing the V12. There's a huge amount of common stuff between the cars and things like the brakes, the roof, the hydraulics, the electronics, all the stuff which are most likely to fail are common to both cars. Remember the cars are all built on the same line.

Sure, the V12 has more spark plugs and more engine oil is required but it's noise level. A failed turbo is going to be less than a failed supercharger. So you cannot say the SL600 is expensive to fix, the SL55 is not. They're both very expensive and you should not base your buying decision on what might or might not happen. What might put you off the SL600 is the certainty of very high depreciation. There's isn't a V12 anywhere which doesn't depreciate like a stone in free-fall. Mind you, the SL55 depreciation is not far behind and this is by far the biggest component of running costs. My three cars are depreciating by more than $1000 a week...

Also worth pointing out that in all the quality concerns levelled at Mercedes, I've never seen one which says the engines are unreliable. Most quality concerns are over electronics and electro-hydraulics, trim issues (rattles, squeaks, fit and finish) and things of a system nature, how well does everything work together.

I had a previous generation SL600 and the engine was a marvel, never used any oil or gave any trouble. The three strikes which put the car out were a failed gearbox, a shorted wiring loom and a failed airbag controller, nothing to do with the fact the car was an SL600 and not another model in the range.

Bilal

How does warranty work in the UK for cars after the first 4 years? Especially for cars like the AMG's and 600's?

blueSL

Warranties in the UK a 3 years, unlimited miles. After that, there's a goodwill programme, so if you had a major failure, MB might pay for some of it but after about 5 years, all bets are off. US buyers have the advantage of an extra year, presumably to compete with the likes of Lexus.

The classic bath-tub curve of reliability suggests that most warranty claims will be early in the car's life, followed by a long (hopefully) period of operational life and then by an increasing failure rate as things age.

This is exactly what happened to my old SL600 and I don't think the SL55 will be any different, except of course it's a much more complex car and expensive to diagnose and fix and not as solidly constructed. New hydraulic pump or SBC control unit? No problem, sir! New roof controller? New Xenon headlight ($1500)? Step right this way!