TonyJ89117

Hey guys,

I convinced my neighbor to buy an E55 after spending time in my car and of course spanking his SRT8 numerous times.

He is looking at a 2005 E55 with most factory options including Panoramic roof, Distronic, ventilated, heated and active seats, Keyless Go, Lighting package, Parktronic, NAV, SAT, phone, side & rear sunshades, trunk closer, and a couple other options I can't remember. The original MSRP was approximately $96,000+.

This E55 also has aftermarket mods like 20" HREs, Renntech ELM, F&R spoilers, Evosport pulley and ECU.

The car has 29,000 miles and is mint according to my buddy. The seller is asking $59k and appears firm.

Is this a fair price for this car? What should he offer?

Thanks
Tony

sack5000

Sounds interesting, what color is the bad boy?

TonyJ89117

According to my neighbor, the beast is a metallic gray with black interior. However, I don't know if it is pewter, flint or even silver. The wheels are a brushed aluminum finish with polished lips.

What do you think about the price?

Thanks

Fantasm

I would say $59k with those miles, those mods, and that year is a good price!

Skeeter

A bit steep IMO, though I'm hurting my own ego by admitting it.

Though I guess it comes down to how much he wants/needs some of the options. Distronic is pretty rare as far as I've seen. Having the Sat and phone enabled is also nice and steep to have donw after the fact. So not an unreasonable deal all in all.

Though for my two cents, the appeal (to me) of these cars is the powertrain. Period. Love everything else, the comfort, ride quality, build quality, insulation form noise, love the pano roof, sleeper factor, but TORQUE is the name of the game. And you can get that same car minus some of the 'frilly' features for ~$10k less. That's a lot of dough for... crazy performance mods to make it even more insane (if he's so inclined), or for an extended warranty.

Sixty for an '05 is on the high side, but the car sounds well decked out. Not a fan of 20's on these cars, though. Performance loss in the worst area (acceleration), and I don't think they add as much to the look of our E's as much as they do on, say, the CLS, or the SL.

FWIW,

Skeeter

TonyJ89117

I told him to offer $55k and see what happens.

My neighbor is hesitant to do so, since the seller said he was pretty firm on the price. However, its a buyer's market and $4k would be a nice discount on a hot E55 with so many options.

TonyJ89117

My neighbor offered $55k today and the seller passed.

He is getting nervous that he might lose the car, but I told him to be patient because the car is not a steal even though it is nicely equipped.

machz990

Personally I'm glad the guy is holding firm on his price. We have to quit giving away these cars! $40K off for a 2-3 year old car is insane.

Skeeter

Is it being sold by a MB dealer? If not, I'd bad trip the dealer selling it! "Mods will invalidate the warranty, I can't extend the warranty since you aren't a MB dealer" etc... See if you can rattle them into meeting your price. I hate to devalue our modded E's, but we need to get another member into the club!

Skeeter

sack5000

If Vic would post up the recent auction results for an 05 that will help loosen up this deal. It is very easy to get an equivalent 06 for slightly over 60K. Why pay the same price for an 05? The options are good but not worth such a premium. However, if one really wants it, then get it and forget it. I do think that if the color is Pewter I would have trouble passing.

Uber Wagon

If the person is an original owner, I'd get him to buy the extended warranty through M-B and then give him what he's asking. That way - he gets a car that's "like" a CPO car via a private party - and some nice mods, too.

zoink

Wish and you'll receive There is not a lot of E55's in Manheim auctions:

06/27/07 ATLANTA Regular $49,500 33,698 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes
06/27/07 ATLANTA Regular $47,200 28,722 Below BLACK 8G A Yes
07/10/07 RIVRSIDE Lease $39,000 64,965 Below BLACK 8G A No
07/12/07 MANHEIM Lease $45,250 47,828 Below BRI SIL 8G A No
07/18/07 W PALM Lease $40,800 50,248 Below OBS BLK 8G A No
07/19/07 RIVRSIDE Regular $52,500 7,988 Avg BLACK 8G A Yes

But please note that based on my short experience when looking for one, typical E55's found in the auctions are either (close to) barebones and/or not in good condition (obvious prior abuse). Plus you may want to add around $3-5K on the price above. The good ones are usually not passed to auctions.

All in all, I think the asking price is quite good already ($47K + $5K + $5K options & mods). I would not say the mods are worthless.... the 20" HRE could be sold $4-5K assuming they're still in mint condition.

sack5000

Hold on. Not possible to CPO the car now. The only way is to sell it to a MB dealer and have them do it and then buy it back. Very expensive process.

enzom

I cringe when I see those auction prices because they are not very good indicators of what a well-maintained low mileage E55 is worth.

The seller has set his price. Maybe he is overpriced, but not by much. Let your friend spend some time looking. He will figure out pretty quickly if there is anything else that fits his needs in his price range.

I can understand the seller. If I put my car up for sale, and assuming it was not because I NEEDED the cash, I'd put a price on the car that I thought was fair for my car. If someone wanted to spend $2-3k less on another 05 E55 - one that has considerably more than 12,000 miles, was not meticulously maintained (5 oil changes), was not garage kept, isn't as fast as mine, etc., they are free to do so. But someone out there is going to be willing to pay a bit more to have a low-mileage, clean, and strong-running car. It is just a question of finding that person.

This seller may have the same views.

Uber Wagon

Which is why I said "like" CPO.

Extended warranties from M-B can be purchased at any time during the standard warranty period by the original owner. Ergo, as I said, if the current owner is the original owner, have him buy and extended warranty and then buy the car. The warranty will transfer with the car (at least one time) and you get a car that's "like" CPO (meaning has an extended warranty), but from a private party.

vitaman

That price sounds very fair. If the body is flawless, even low 60's sounds good. What car would you prefer to this one for 63K?

baldmike73

+1

hopefully the cars will stop dropping like rocks. is CA still holding the strongest for resale or are we getting kicked in the ***** as well? always seemed like those in N/S CA would pay for more exclusivity to cars that had a following. I still see very few E55's and I live/work in the heart of Silicon Valley. A tons of S classes though!

hope buyer holds ground and we plateau at a price point that we will all be happy with.

either way still love the "beast" and still puts a smile on all of our faces when we hammer it.

sack5000

I have NOT heard of such a warranty. The only warranty extension from MB is if they buy the car and add the CPO warranty which is very strict on what needs to be on the car in the way of tires and conditioning. There are numerous inspections and checks that are done by MB. Then the warranty period is extended by one year or 100,000 miles whichever comes first. For additional cash one can add another year or two years for a total of three. Unfortunately, what you are saying above won't work quite like you have it stated. If MB chooses to "star mark" a car, plan on paying 2-3 thousand extra for each year when you buy the used iron from them. Perhaps someone can further clarify and/or add details.