DiamondKomp

Hi Folks,

Looking into an SLK55. Found one in the config I'm looking for, but it has 85mi on it, I guess from test driving. What are people's thoughts and experience on mileage on a new car? Is 85mi a red flag? My current C230K only had 14mi at the time of purchase. I'm also trying to find out the production date of the car, but I don't have that piece of info yet. How many miles did your SLK55 have when you bought it?

Thanks!

spnslc

It seems a bit high for a new car, but . . . It will be interesting to see what the concensus of the group is. In my case, I picked up my SL via European Delivery in Germany in February of this year. My car had 33 miles on it when it was introduced to me at the delivery center in Germany. I put 11 miles on it on the autobahn, and after shipment, when it arrived at the dealership, two more miles had been added for a total of 46 miles.

When I took the MB factory tour in Germany, we were told that every so many cars (and I can't remember the number) are pulled off the assembly line upon completion and taken to a test track to try them out. It is part of quality control.

________________________
Sue’s 2006 SL500
European Delivery February 2006

JBRhee

I had 44 miles on mine. The black one at the same dealership had 16, but I wanted silver. I'd be ok with up to 100 miles.

nishi

13! ideally, should be closer to 0... in germany all of our cars got delivered with 0 miles, untouched. over here in the US its quite ... different

Shinigami

At the factory, cars are randomly taken for a long test drive to scout for problems.

I've heard that these test drives could be as long as 100km's... so that's roughly 60-70 miles. Add in the other bits and pieces of moving the car around, and it slowly racks up.

I'd say, if it's got less then 100miles, go for it. It could be that the car was driven during test drives (very likely that this happened anyway, if it's a showroom car), and if you want some peace of mind, ask the dealer if they can change the oil prior to giving you delivery of the car for no extra cost, or just negotiate a thousand dollars off the total price. The AMG's are quite sturdy machines, and 80miles here or there won't have done a thing to it.

silk32

when i got mine in i had 14miles

LETO

i had 9 miles on my car. It probably has been on the lot for a bit. If the average test drive is 10 miles, it has likely seen a couple drivers that have given it some good throttle!

bradmg

I only had 3 miles on mine when I picked it up from the factory. During the tour, they did talk about the quality control of taking random cars out on their test track before delivering to a dealer or customer. However, when I offered to take mine out on the test track for them, they didn't take me up on the offer.

DiamondKomp

Everyone, thanks for the responses. I decided to pass on the car with 85mi on it, and have resumed the search for another one.

One other factoid about the car, it is an '06 model, but its Ent pkg does not include Sirius. Am I recalling correctly in saying that it was the earlier '06 models that did not have Sirius, and it became a standard part of all Ent pkgs later on? If that's the case, the fact that the car I was looking at did not have Sirius might mean it is a fairly old '06 that's been sitting around for a while...

bloflin

Look on the sticker label on the inside door jamb. It's show the month/year of manufacture.

DiamondKomp

Thanks, I'm familiar with the sticker. I can't look myself because the cars I'm looking for are not in my area (it needs to be trucked in). But I have asked my agent to look at that sticker and report back. Thanks for your reply, though.

JBSSLK55AMG

My 2006 SLK55 had 74 miles on it. When I test drove it, it had under 20, and when I was done, it had almost had 60. I asked about the 14+ miles added after I signed the purchase contract, and the dealer said they test drove it as part of the dealer prep. Sounded like BS to me.

DiamondKomp

You test drove it for 40 miles? Your salesman must be a pretty chill guy.

As for unaccounted for miles, I guess the more special or rare the car is, the more likely someone at the dealership is going to take it for a few "short spins".

Shinigami

Dealer prep in Switzerland is supposedly 20km's (13 or so miles). I think this is standard practice in some places... they test a lot of functions when it comes to the car in question, especially if it's new.

My car, when it came to the dealer, had something like 5km's on the clock. I drove it for approximately 10-15km's during my test drive, and when I received it, it had roughly 35km's on it in total. Dealer mentioned that the prep would add up to 20km's while they test all the functions prior to delivering the car, and I was aware of this...

Ynot

Good, I would pass too, if I were you unless they gave a decent discount, my 350 came with less than 10 miles at the factory (IIRC).

My SLK was build in July, so it's an earlier 06' model and it came with Sirius. Unless there's a change for the later model 06'. Sirius should be included.

Falco

I see absolutly no reason to pass on a car with so few miles...if anything just ask the dealer to extend the warrant by the number of miles on the car...

lennyr

Mine had 85 miles too. Many AMGs are spun around the track after assembly. Add several stages of transit, and it's easy to get to 85.

steve-p

I collected mine from the factory, and it had 12 miles on it. Normally it's about 2 I believe due to the rolling road tests on the production line, so mine must have been on the test track.

JBSSLK55AMG

It was a saleswoman and she was trying to be as supportive of my decision-making as possible. Most of the miles were highway miles and we covered them in a bit more than half an hour. Plus she didn't know where I was going when I got on the highway (just like that car commercial from a couple of years ago).

I have bought three vehicles from this dealership over three years and am a fairly decent customer in terms of bringing the cars only to them for service, body work, etc. I'm just wondering where the other miles went (I kidded her about taking it home for the night and she said once a car is sold, no one takes it home!!!). Right!!!

New car: 2006 SLK55AMG (all packages but 030)

Old cars: 2002 E55, 2002 E320 4Matic (sold), 2006 Honda CR-V SE (winter)