Hi all, I m looking at buying a sls amg. Is there anything easy to look out for prior to buying one? I know that the dct has potential issues and could be problematic but is there anything else to note? I have been looking at a 2010 unit with 35 k km. the interior and exterior conditions has been kept really well despite its age.
please let me know if there is anything for the mechanic to check prior to deciding

TIA

 

Hello hcl, I bought my 1st collector MB in 1987, a 300SL roadster. I owned a 300SL until 2018, when I sold it at auction & replaced it with a 2012 SLS Roadster. Prior to my SLS purchase I drove an SLS GW & SLS RO, & determined that I preferred the RO. I read all articles about the SLS which I felt were relevant. I watched all relevant You Tube videos. Best/most useful articles were the buyers guides by Exotic Auto Hacks & Roman .Best book was the coffee table one delivered with each SLS when new. I studied all of the available options listed in factory sales literature including paint, upholstery, wheels, carbon fiber, brakes, stereo, etc. I tried to determine how milage affected value. I did prefer to purchase car without prior paint work or any accident history. I then created a priority list as if I were ordering an SLS new. After looking at all available SLS's offered o line, I narrowed my choice to 2 or 3 examples. The most important thing was to find an experienced person to do the PPI. Membership in the 300SL owners club , called the Gull Wing Group, was MOST helpful. I worked with Paul Devers, owner of Vin Devers, Inc, of Sylvania Ohio, (a MB dealership), who is an old friend. He went & inspected the SLS, found it to be perfect, then had it shipped to his dealership for more detailed inspection & testing. I purchased car from him as well as an extended warranty. I have owned it for 28 months & driven it 9000 miles with no significant issues. Service is done at my neighborhood MB dealership, Euro Motors here in Maryland.Transmission upgrade had been done prior to my purchase. Airbag recall was done without incident at Euro motors. At PPI, have EVERYTHING checked very carefully. If you are satisfied with car definitely get extended warranty & hope that it is never needed. Good luck.

 

@hcl
congrats on making the choice to grab an SLS. If you have access to a Mercedes Dealer have them do the pre-purchase inspection it will be worth every penny. If that’s clear ... drive and enjoy then repeat! 😄 check me out @newportslsamg @supercarsbythesea on Instagram

 

Thanks for the input gents. In south east Asia where I m located most of the cars are pre owned from the UK. Most of which has been driven and registered before locally. However I found something odd in which both units that I looked at at had a vin which showed a year older than what was registered as. For example on the local car registration it mentions 2011 made but after checking with vin decoding sites all had the vin as a 2010 build. So I m not sure how it was done, who knows what could have been done. But the unit I looked at had a beautifully maintained interior which showed little signs of wear which ticked my boxes. Since all units were non locally delivered I m not sure how keen the local Merc dealerships would be if I asked them to do an inspection. It has always been a dream of mine and finally I’m at a position where I am potentially own one, just worried what I might get my self into if I wasn’t careful or not doing proper research.
Also would the year and mileage have a significant impact on the potential value retention? Or is this going to hold its value no matter what as it is likely nothing like this could be made in the near future, IE engine size reductions etc

 

@hcl
The local Mercedes would be happy to do it (PPI) as they are there to make money. period. I couldn’t see them turning it away. They would have the latest software to do the check up. As to build years it’s is very possible for a car to be built at the end of 2010 and not registered until 2011. Mercedes just sold two brand new/untitled ones this year! As far as value... it really depends on what you want to get out of the SLS ownership experience. If you want to collect it will still be years 10-20 before there will be a significant increase in $. There were 10,000+ made worldwide, so... Some markets will fair better then others. Supply is finally dropping in the US over the last year so there has been a slight $ bump. The Gullwing will be more collectible because of those silly doors 😉. The Roadster is by FAR the better car to drive. Nothing like the sound it last great NA motor ever built with the top down. At the end of the day, life is too short to let it sit in the garage. Get the car that looks best to you... don’t worry about what others think about which colors/options you should or shouldn’t have. Drive it like you stole it .... that’s the true SLS experience.

 

ymmv.....ive heard quite a few MB dealerships wont do PPI's anymore due to liability....even Fletcher Jones near Newport Beach wouldnt do my SLS BS ppi

 

congrats on your SLS BS, what color did you get?

 

Here is a good example of a MB PPI in the comments of this auction

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...es-benz-sls-7/