zheka

I'm still trying to find a mercedes for my self, this forum helped me alot on which ones to buy, and which ones to stay away. I came across this car 2001 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG, with 108K miles, $12K.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

Can I get a green light on buying this car? Will I regret buying it?

Interplexor

You do not have my blessing. You will regret it. That car looks like it was beaten on. For my money, I wouldn't touch anything not completely 100% factory stock. Smoked lights, AMG badges all over the place, blacked out grille, and nonfunctional city lights are all warning signs that the owner may not have been gentle with the car... Avoid! RUN LIKE MAD!

desired_speeds

^ +1

This man know's his stuff.

Fabio D

Hooooooooooo Comeeee ooooonnnn!!! Guys! (i have no afiliation with the seller) but this is not the way to help anything when some people try to buy a car!!

Are you dont customise anything in your car??? smoked tails, caliper maddnes painted (i don't like it) or so is not advertissing a maddnes running, Come on..

Zheka: The best way is go to see the car in person, stand up in a bridge, check all the car down, check the fenders "Front/Rear" joints (to see some previeus crash repair), check with a scanner to see some faulty codes.. Seems to me it have a new rotors (very expensive in this car with pads), check the control arms too & some oil leakage... If you dont like the smoked tails amg emblems & this miscs you can return to stock very easly (the interior looks pretty clean & conserved) No suspension mods, no brake mods (take apart the paint), no engine mods apart K&N's "pretty comomn mod"

Seems to my eye the car has some repair in the drivers door.. but is hard to tell you with only one pic.

Check the car first buddy, maybe is a good exemplar & maybe not.. but you need to check first before buy

Fabio Daniel

zheka

When I opened that ad, thats exactly what came up to my mind, some kind of ricer, riced out the mercedes, and its probably 90% beat to death. Thanx for the backup

Interplexor

Fabio: I'm all for customization, but when a dude has his phone number in stickers on his car, that's an indication that he might not have the cash flow to properly support an AMG...

That's just my two cents.

Fabio D

Well i understand your point, but some customers in our workshop buy a new amg & love it, but no have the cash to support it & finaly selled it.. but the time they owned the car try to conserve it very very very well.. we have lots of this cases in our workshop.. the good stuff is go to see the car in person & check all first (Ricer?? YES, i don't like the costomization maded by this guy in the cr.. But are simple & revertible)

Fabio Daniel

Esh

You guys are just plain ignorant if you're trying to stereotype the owner of this car. So what, he blacked it out Darth Vader style. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the AMG badge on the steering wheel. Other than that, it looks like a pretty clean car.

At $12k on 108k miles, I think this gives you a good opportunity to go test drive the car, meet the owner, get a PPI done, and possibly negotiate on a car.

This car is not rice. Almost everything is factory, just blacked out in some places. Even the wheels are OEM. The stickers appear to be a way for this person to try to sell the car.

zheka

How about long term? Do these models, have high failure parts? Will be a pain to repair and do maintenance on this car? (money wise)

Interplexor

Well, these cars, as far as high performance exotics go, are cheap. That being said, don't have unreasonable expectations when you go into the deal. The car will be much more expensive to run and operate than any Japanese piece of machinery short of a GT-R or NSX. They will require some expensive parts on occasion, but they tend to be very stout and robust vehicles.

They are well built, well engineered, and fairly well designed. The engines are a work of art in simplicity and stoutness. Common issues will be oil leaks, transmission failures and problems, etc. Catalytic converters are common. Plug wires are very expensive. Crank position sensors, etc etc... but these are issues common across any vehicle, really. Parts are going to be more expensive, but more often than not, you're just dealing with wear items...

zheka

Ok thank you for the good news.... Because I wanted to buy 2003 E500, i was told to stay away from that car..... Just don't want to buy a car, that breaks a lot... Normal wear and tear I understand, as well as expensive Mercedes parts

nicobaires

I agree with Esh
Car looks clean.

MBFLO

Car doesnt seem bad .. first i would ask him for Car-Fax . Second ask for any and all service records . If he dont have a carfax then maybe its best if you purchase one if your really serious .. He's a private seller so if you guys are close you could ask him to meet you at a local Indi shop have the car looked over , test drive it for yourself .. Take 10k Cash i wouldn't offer anymore then that . IMHO wouldnt give him that much but thats just me .Only bcuz most of those mod's really devalue the car IMO. But really all those mod's are somthing i would consider doing to mine , smokes tails,painted calipers ,even considered the AMG steering wheel emblem lol. But i can also feel what others saying about Riced out , probably been Ragged because all he stated was mod's and that it runs perfect .No paperwork or records other then manuals n keys ..That right there would have me thinkin suspect towards it .. But like Fab said go see it, drive it and have cash NOT MORE then 10k lol he will take it if you really want it ..

actually after looking at big pics of it .. Thanks god i didnt get that sterring wheel emblem and i was close to gettin one just wanted to see what it looked like actually in the steering wheel .. THink the grille is crappy paint job , dunno if i care for those lids over the headlights , but i love the blacked out emblems ..

zheka

The price is actually 14K, he accidentally put 12 when he listed, and over the phone he said he wont go a penny lower than 12.5K, and he does have the carfax. Plus he's gona send me more pics of the car later on today.

armaniE55

If he sends you more pics post them here..... 10k is a great price only if the car is well maintained. Remember just because your buying used doesn't mean she will be ready to rock n roll. You will need to set aside at least 2k probably a little less for some TLC. (tires,brakes, front end work, MAF, spark plugs, spark plug wires, links, maybe shocks, bushings, wheel bearings etc. etc)

That's just me .. I always make sure the car is solid before hitting speeds around 150 and everything is a GO!

Hell I even have her checked out every 6 months. (Peace Of Mind)

Either way GL

Edit: I do like this car..Looks clean.. If it's close enough I would grab a buddy who knows hit stuff and check it out.

Fabio D

1+ i said before..

Go to see it, looks clean to me, but realy i would remove the paint of the calipers, airbag emblem & looowered the suspension

Any can get a driver profile only by words.. you need to check the car to know if a good opportunity or not

Fabio Daniel

zheka

I'm planning to go see it on Saturday, its quite from from here, about 4 hour drive

Fabio D

take lots of pics & post here! take some close pic by the driver's door & pillar to check some issue

Good luck & drive safe!

Fabio Daniel

zheka

zheka

MR888

looks clean

zheka

"VIN # WDBJF74J91B321067
THE CARFAX WILL SHOW AN ACCIDENT WITH FRONT END DAMAGE ( ONLY THE BUMPER AND GRILLE ) NO FRAME DAMAGE AT ALL , IT WAS FIXED AT SARASOTA MERCEDES BENZ DEALER WITH BRAND NEW BUMPER , HOOD AND GRILLE . ONE MORE TIME MY LAST CASH PRICE IS $$ 12,500 , THANKS ."

I didnt ran carfax on it though.

MR888

Take mine for 12.5 no accidents

Interplexor

Don't do it. Regardless of those who may lambaste me for my automotive preferences when searching for a good used car - I've been doing this a long time, proportionally speaking. I'm 26, and I've owned 18 cars in the last 8 years since I got my license...

The only used cars which have been consistently good for me are completely stock ones that have not been through more than two prior owners, have the original license plates (not applicable outside of CA, but an original plate used car bought from the second owner indicates that it was a private party sale the first time - dealer sales strip the old plates off and issue new ones), and those which haven't been extensively modified.

The cars that are modified, while they have a ton of new parts, have a lot wrong with them - usually things like suspension components that have been neglected, etc. You can also infer the priority of the owner by the mods they do. Clearly, with this particular car, the prior owner cared a great deal for looks and cosmetics...

I am not being elitist when I say this, but, for a good amount of time in my life I had cars well beyond my pay grade. I'd bend over backwards to keep them functional, at the expense of my other 'expenses'. That being said, during my times of financial hardship, I've often deferred a great deal of required work because the car would still start up and get me from Point A to Point B. Usually then, after being rode hard and put away wet, I'd give them a proper detailing and sell them, knowing full well I'd just unloaded a ticking time bomb. This car makes my automotive spidey sense tingle, and not in a good way. Stay away.

Peter_02AMG

Car look clean, inside and out and engine bay look clean too. My only concern is the price. Keep in mind that I had a hard time trying to sell my 02, 2nd owner, no accident with 83K mile and over 30K in mod for $14K.

The questions should be how much does it worth to you and how bad do you want it? GL