dysert

My dealer called last week and told me my car was up for production 3rd decade of May. When I looked at the options and no navigation system is currently being offered, plus only 3 months of production for 03 cars and then the 04s go into production, I decided to move to the head of the 04 list and wait. Short term pain but long term gain. I am not going to own a car at this price that does not have a navigation system. Six months from now, everyone will want an 04 with the DVD navigation system. So instead of June delivery it is now October, so be it.

amg55

Several people here have concluded the same thing.
I had a May car which I passed on in order to get an '04.

Dealers are still selling 'right to purchase' slots on E-Bay for thousands of dollars and advertising the cars as 2004's, even though many of them are and have been May-July cars.
Obviously they're misrepresenting the cars they're selling.

Dr Chill

I changed from 03 to 04 because I was looking at a June delivery. Why not just wait 3-4 months for a full year less depreciation. The Nav issue is moot since for me it would be a colossal waste of money, but there will probably be several other improvements to the car that may or may not be visible to the naked eye. The only problem is that...





I WANT THE DAMN CAR YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stiggs

My dealer was going to place me on the list for 2004, but at the last minute he said I could still order a 2003! Sure there will be depreciation...but you will get that with any car, and everyone knows cars are not good investments. So why are you worring about depreciation?? Its a fact of life...cars depreciate. The way I look at it is, I now have a 2003 car with only a few miles on it!! Maybe higher resale value???? Hmmmmm....I think I'm on to something!!
Now I hope it comes before Fall!!!

Dr Chill

Well the way I look at it is assuming I really like this car, I'll plan to keep it at least 4 years. When I try to sell it at that time, I don't think people will ask what time of year the car was purchased, but rather what year it is. Then, my 4 year old E55 with 40,000 miles will be worth significantly more money (at least 2-3000 dollars) than if it had been a 2003 model. All due to being patient for a few months. The brief break in production in June for retooling for the 2004 model will only serve to improve the vehicle in some way or another. But if you cannot wait or do not wish to wait, I hope you really enjoy the summer in your new rocketsled because for a few months I'm going to be jealous!!!!

Stiggs

I guess the real point I should have made was that you shouldn't even be worring about resale value down the road....you should enjoy that car for what it is.....a car, not an investment!! You should be driving that thing right into the ground....and enjoying every minute of it!!!

amg55

The spirit of pre-crash dot-com mania still exists!

Only kidding, Stiggs.
You are correct.
Cars are not investments. Some just lose value more slowly than others. And AMG's are built to be 'ridden hard and put away wet', as the horse trainers say.
A good AMG can be cheaper (and maybe more effective) than psychotherapy, as someone here commented recently.

JAYCL600

I have a late May delivery and I cant wait. Cars are not investments nor do I even consider them assets, it is something that I drive the crap out of because I enjoy every minute of it!!!! I dont need Nav, I know how to get to the dragstrip.

reb13

Here's how I dealt with it. I have a third decade of June build after being #1 on one dealer's list. That will be an '03. I also have a deposit that I never took back that had me #6 on a larger dealer's list. They tell me that #6 should mean end of this year or early next year. So, I'm taking '03 E55 for delivery hopefully end of August and when my #6 spot comes up, if Nav turns out to be that important, or there are other improvements (i.e. sat. radio, etc.), I'll get rid of the '03 and take the '04. If I can live without Nav, etc. I'll just abandon the slot and get my $1000 back. I'm bummed about no Nav but I simply cannot wait six to eight more months.

BoBcanada

Hey same here, too afraid of taking first cars....waiting on first 04 E55.....can't wait that long though....thinking of getting a bike for a while!

monakh

That the '04 E55 will have 500+ HP to combat the onslaught from the incoming M5 in late 2004. Sounded like a bunch of BS to me. I can see them doing it for MY2005, but not for 2004.

D-5

will the 04 E55 have 6 speed auto and twin supercharge?

E55 KEV

6 speed coming on W210 E-Class models for 2005. Never heard of "twin superchargers". The CL600/CL65 AMG & S600 have twin TurboChargers.

alz

Will it be up to snuff with 500+ lb/ft of torque??

D-5

heard it from somewhere, probably motortrend, that the SL55 will upgrade to twin supercharge, horsepower remained the same, but torque will increase alot. Wonder if the E55 also gets the twin supercharge to compete with the new M5.

ZZZZMD

Of course, after passing on my spot for an E55 and buying an '03 M5, I'm having second thoughts about wanting an E60. Already was spanked for liking the driving characteristics of BMWs better, but willing to consider MB. Anyone know how long wait lists are now? Also, anyone have experience with the aftermarket tuners, e.g., Brabus and RENNTech? How much for engine upgrades alone?

Rennteam

Twin supercharged? Good joke. :p

D-5

I'm not joking...

JAYCL600

Its not a joke, I have heard the rumor of twin superchargers also

Rennteam

I guess somebody got confused about a few things.

The twin-turbo (not supercharged!) V12 (not V8) engine will be used in some future AMG models, this is a rumor I got from different sources. Rumors indicate that AMG isn't happy that a S600 or CL600 outruns their S55 AMG and CL 55 AMG, especially at higher speeds due to the increased torque.
AMG is rumored to have plans to introduce several 63 versions of their car (e.g. CL 63 AMG, SL 63 AMG, etc.) with the bi-turbo charged V12 engine. Power is rumored to be in the 540-560 HP range. They seem to want to get a bigger performance difference between competing Mercedes and AMG models (S600-S55, SL600-SL55, etc.).

I'm not sure if these changes will be applied for MY 2004. All rumors I got indicate a change with the introduction of the new 4-valve engines (instead of the 3-valve engines used now).
As far as I heard, the new engine generation is due around 2005/2006.

JAYCL600

Actually Im not that confused, Iam well aware of what AMG currently offers but thanks for your efforts, once I find the article that I read about "twin superchargers" (yes it sounds crazy!!) I will post it to you.

E55 KEV

Are you referring to CL65 AMG. The CL63 was discontinued for 2002 and the new model is the 6.0 liter V12. According to the German AMG website Displacement is 5980 with 612HP DIN.

http://www.mercedes-benz.com/amg/e/c...ie_cl65_01.htm

Rennteam

I know very well what the CL65 AMG is.
And I know about the S63, CL63 which are still available (not discontinued) as a special order.

What I posted are rumors I got from different sources over here in Germany. No guarantee that they're accurate.

kaneman

I was thinking about cancelling my '03 #1 slot (5/20 build date) and wait for the '04 with NAV but after driving an S55 there's no WAY I'm waiting... the engine is just mindblowing. Even in the much larger S class it's like hand-of-g-d acceleration even compared to an '01 CLK55 and '02 E55... it's not that the maximum amount of acceleration is that much more but that it's so CONSTANT... the car is relentless and has NO softspot... the W211 E55 is going to be monsterous.

Blocktrader

Why wait for NAV and not for bluetooth? I would imagine Bluetooth would be even more usefull than NAV.