295k e55 purchase?
 

hi fellow e55 members how’s it going. This is my first post even tho I have been using the website for a long time. I have found this e55 amg for a very good price and the car was basically one owner and it has about 295k miles the only broken part on the car is the trans it has a 3-4 gear flare it doesn’t engage/ slips the gear when you get on it hard. So that’s one problem the other problem is the engine takes a 5-6 seconds to start up and at the first start there’s a squeak that is herd I have no clue what it is. That’s the few problems on the car besides that everything is good besides obvious ware and tear from being driven that much. Do you guys think it’s a good buy? Its going for 2k and I can do all the mechanical work in my shop. The only thing scaring me is that mileage on the engine.

No, I would not. For a few grand more, you can get something much nicer that will not need much, if any, work. I put in around $3.5k into my E55 less than a year ago and am about to sell for $5k.

for $2k that's not bad but it all depends the rest of the cars condition, my car has almost 200k miles and runs like NEW but i changed everything (complete suspension, tranny service, complete engine tune up with mounts ect...) so you know it needs a tranny and possibly something else related to the engine what about the rest of the car? if you have a shop and are doing the work yourself that's a huge Plus because labor can be a killer and for only that reason i guess it would be ok for you to buy this car, otherwise i would tell you to just walk away from it

I wouldn't be scared about mileage. It's deferred maintenance or repairs that can eat you up. I have over 220k on mine and I would drive it cross country tomorrow without worry.

Close to $300K is too risky. To rebuild the tranny will cost about $3K. At this mileage will need a lot of maintenance.
Engine/Tranny mount, radiator, water pump, plugs, suspension at least other $2500. I suggest find a lower 200K miles car with service documentation.

It's foolish to rebuild a tranny or engine when you can buy a low mileage used one much more affordably. I replaced my tranny at 200k miles and a bunch of other items - pretty much everything you mentioned except radiator and water pump. Both of those are fine but yes on everything else.

Why would one buy such a high mileage car (tired everything from exterior to interior) that requires several thousand dollars to get it where it becomes desirable again rather than paying bit more and getting a better car to begin with? Is it the charm of saying " Hey, look how much I paid for mine" but they forget to mention " Hey don't ask me how much I have spent so far"?

A low mileage car does not guarantee you won't have issues and could lead to more issues if the car was not driven on a regular basis. These cars like to be driven. With that said, if you know there are issues and the car has high mileage, I would not consider that a deal.

I spent around $3.5k on my around the 200k mileage mark but the car is now amazing. The suspension bits were changed along with all the rubber components in the engine bay, new plugs and wires, ignition coils, cam cover gaskets, oil cooler, timing cover test seal, tranny, redyed the seats, front and rear tires, four wheel alignment, and probably some items I forgot.

You mentioned parting it out. If you know what you are doing and have the means of storing the parts and taking it apart, then it's a no brainer. Granted the car has stock wheels, in good condition. I recall seeing a set in okay condition on ebay a year ago the seller wanted $1500 or so, you can almost recoup your cost just by selling those. For personal use, I would pass it up. I purchased my 01 about 3 years ago with 140k, no history, and regret not getting a 100k with history for twice the price. I had to replace almost every secondary component, every time you remove a hose that has not been removed yet, it falls apart. Many, if not most of the gaskets begin to leak... The drivetrain on these cars is reliable, but it's everything else that falls apart and breaks that makes it a somewhat of a pain in the rear to live with, probably just like any other car of similar age.

I would low ball an offer of under $1,000. I have 220,000 miles on my 2001. A real estate agent lady drove the car for almost 10 years and the maintenance records checked out. Mechanically its great. But the interior wear and the paint condition were some of the things I overlooked in my purchase. I got my mine for $4,500 but at the time that was the only running W210 E55 that I could find in Georgia. Not sure if I could have gone below $4,000 since they replace radiator, oil filter housing and items before putting car on market.

For me, it's a $1500 car. transmission issues could be as simple as a conductor plate, and the squeak is most likely the serpentine belt or a tight pulley. I just parted a CLK55 (kept the drivetrain), I made roughly $1200 (before shipping costs) and not many people are going to be interested in a 300k engine so you might as well use the car! Nobody knows the history of the car and the good-ole saying of you get what you pay for comes to mind, just be prepared!

I would jump on a running/driving W210 E55 at that price. Granted, I live in a different market than you do and would be ready to part the car out to get my money back if it things didn't go as planned.