Hi everyone,

I have been dreaming of owning this car since the day Mercedes releases this new model. I have had my 2000 E320 for almost 3 years now and have been very pleased and only had few mechanical issues which warranty would fix.

Now after saving all my pennies for about 2 years I was able to run across a 2003 E55 with about 20,000 miles on it for $59,400.00. I must admit after driving the car for about 100 miles the power is sickening on how fast the car pulls on the freeway! Unfortunately I have been comparing a lot things to my E320. And hopefully all you experienced E55 owners can shed some light to my issues that I have noticed.

1. Cold starts sounds a lot louder than my E320! Not sure if this is because of the supercharged engine but it doesn’t seem like it idle smooth and it almost feels like the car is somewhat shaking.
2. When I drive to about 20-30mph and let go of the pedal it seems to feel a little jerky coming back down to 0 miles. Seems kinda sluggish at times. This continues after the car is warmed up.
3. The all so popular “supercharged chirp” pulling into second gear around 25-32 mph and a nice little jerk into gears before it goes. This is one of my biggest issue of the car because on take off it doesn’t seem smooth at all and feel like a nice pop to engine everytime I take off into second gear. I have heard from other post that this issue possibly could be fixed as far as the chirp noise but will jerking into gears also be fixed along with the chirp noise?? Spending all that $$$$ for a car that can’t into gears smoothly is very disappointing to me especially with a AMG tag on the rear of the car.
4. I have the car in sports mode 1 and everytime I go over a speed bump after my rears tires go over I almost feel like front shocks hit somewhere I hear a clunk noise or so. Not sure if this has anything to with the airmatic suspension.

These are some of the issue I came across just 100 miles into the car. Again this is my first AMG car with a supercharger built in so if these questions are dumb I do apologize. I would like sleep better knowing some of these could be normal if other fellow E55 owners can relate to what I have listed.

Thanks again for all the help and I’m looking forward to all the replies and advice to help me get a full nights sleep!!!!

 

1) my car is loud when first starting up as well.... slight bump at idle sometimes..

2) don't see this on my car

3) still not sure what the supercharger chirp is.... the other day I was full throttle, and from 1st to 2nd gear there was large hesitation, but I thoght it was the ESP holding the car back... haven't had it happen again since...

4) I go very slow over speed bumps....

 

Pretty much everything you have mentioned is normal operating procedure on the beast, cept the jerky thing down to 0miles from 30. Weird.

Otherwise, welcome to one of the reasons Benz is going all Turbs....I admire them trying to make it smoother with the blower clutch, but it just didn't work.

Now quit your complaining and start a moddin!!! ECU is the first up for you Mister. (Just pokin...enjoy the torque and be safe)

 

thanks everyone for your imput, i will definitely sleep a little better tonight knowing some of those things are normal for the the monster!!!


does anyone have any idea if the dealers can fix the jerk from 1st to 2nd gear once the chirp goes away or is that two seperate issues??

thanks everyone!!!

 

My 03 did the same thing, I thought it normal.....During routine c heck guy tells me " didn't you notice your transmission is bad?" They replaced it and the jerking slowing down from 30-0 usually on a slight hill ceased. Just have it checked to be sure.

 

I have 2003 E55 as well. Car seems to have a little bid of a "whine" that increases with idle and turning when cold, but diminishes after it warms up. Not particularly loud. I haven't noticed other problems so you may need a tune up, which you should have had recently at 20,000 miles. Many have also experienced a shimmy, which seems to be endemic to Mercedes cars particulary those with original tires. Also, ride is very sensitive to balance of tires. Anyway, the beast is worth these minor problems and I haven't experienced anything major (knock on wood). I just wish MB quality control was as good as Lexus.

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! everyone has been soooo helpful so far with my little concerns... i'm scheduled to the monster in this tuesday to have them look at the issues, hopefully some of those things can be resolved with a their tecs ... i will make sure to update everyone to give feedbacks on what they will say!

first thing i did was put some new Dunlop SP sport Maxx's on the badboy. unfortunately with the original tire sizes there are not too many brands to choose from. on my other E320 i have gone from goodyear F1, bridgestone S-03, and pirelli p zero nero's. my biggest issue is road noise and for some reason out of all the tires after about 8,000 -10,000 miles it gets louder and louder. the dunlop's are about 7/10 and was rated number 1 on tirerack.com but is still kinda loud. i'm thinking of going back to the S-03's with a 275/35 rears. has anyone used this tire format and what are your thoughts.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!! YOU ALL ROCK!!!!

 

I made a paste of .....brake squeal paste and fine valve compound paste. I put it on the supercharger clutch plate ... and have no chirp in 5k miles.

 

Contrats on your new car!! That's awesome!! I just got a 2003 e55 a few weeks ago with 4500 miles on it. Here are some photos if you are interested...
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/192888-my-new-2003-e55-presidental-series.html

I also have had some concerns about my car, wondering if things are normal or something was wrong. My air-conditioner was cool but not cold. I had them check it and they put in a new compressor. It still seems the same to me. Just as you do, I get some gear changing issues. I have blamed that on me not really knowing how to drive a car with this much power. I'm starting to get the hang of it though. I don't get any realy jerkiness when slowing down, however it does make kind of a grinding feeling when slowing down to and past 20mph. I had them check the brakes and there are 10mm left on the pads. They say that everything is doing well, so I guess it's normal.

One big issue I have, and I guess I'll start a new thread about it, is that when I stop really quickly somtimes I get a brief skid. I though that was not supposed to happen with ABS. Never happened on my lexus. It does stop pretty quickly but I wonder if something might be wrong. Might as well get these things all out of the way while it's still under warranty.

I added the iPod kit. Silly engineering. Must have been done by the same guy who designed the NAV.

I added the bluetooth puck for hand free phone. That's pretty cool.

All in all I'm really loving this thing!!

 

deaded: you are posting on a thread thats over a year old.

Congrats on your car though!

 

Oops!

Sorry. Uh, no excuse. I'm just an idiot.