torque monster

Sorry to be lazy and not do my own research, but please point out anything that comes to mind.
I am looking into buying a 2003/7 e55 amg, and figured this would be the place to ask for great observations about the vehicle. I currently drive an impreza STI and can tell you that all subarus have poor crank case pressure evac systems, and 05 sti in particular has bad 5/6th gear synchro's etc...
Im no CEO so i can just barely afford to buy the car, so i definately want to stay away from major repairs. My biggest concerns are areas such as the auto trans, engine management, other electrical failures etc.
The ones i will be able to afford are in the 65k mile range. I know mb is a very high quality vehicle, especially the amg, but the more bells and whistles, the more repairs.
Also, what are the best model years? do certain years have more durable gears/differentials? a better fuel supply/bigger wheel bearings etc....

Thanks and hopefully we all learn something

Mantooth

If you can barely afford the car, you can't afford the maintenance.

GT-ER

I'm my own mechanic and can easily afford my car payments...parts are VERY expensive for the E55 and I'm ready to takle it on since I'd at least save on labor. From my view of your first post, you really should look at another vehicle. If the suspension goes bad it's big bucks to fix ( which apparently happens often ). If your engine were to go bad, it's HUGE bucks to fix ( which apparently isn't often thank god...lol ).

Evolved8

What these guys said. If you can barley afford the car, I don't think it will work out in your favor. They can burn a hole in your pocket pretty quickly.

wally AMG

+1 ....

03'55AMG

65k, sounds like a brake job coming up, im only 8k away from mine at 66000miles.. HUGE cost there, i dont think your in any position to own this car right now, those who wait usually get it better in the long run imho

turbo97se

Thought I would throw some numbers out there as a rough gauge for you - others can chime in if I am off. If you are a solid DIYer any repairs are in the $500+ price range (in general, if you are lucky). If you go to the stealer for repairs, be prepared for $1000+ per time. Not really a car for the budget conscious.

06E55

I agree. If you can barely afford the car, then you shouldn't be buying it!!! Why would you want to put yourself in that type of situation if something were to go wrong? Stick with a different (lower price both in initial cost and maintenance) vehicle until you can truly afford to own this vehicle... You will be glad you did in the long run. I have an 06 with 52k on the odometer. Luckily, my only major repair was covered under my new car warranty but I have a CPO warranty in effect for a few more years to cover me. If I hadn't had the warranty, the repair would have been well in the 2k-3k range (both rear airmatic shocks failed). Although I do routine maintenance myself (oil change, brakes, transmission flush, belt replacement, etc.), maintenance isn't exactly cheap either, and if you aren't doing it yourself, then expect to pay over $400 at the bare minimum every 10k miles (although some prefer to change their oil at 5k intervals)...

Honestly, this isn't the car for you...

X2Board

As the former owner of 2 STI's, ('05 GD and '08 GR) I can tell you that the maintenance costs are much higher than on the Subaru. Albeit, I did almost all of my own work on the STI's, because they were easy to work on. (So is the Benz, but I'm at the point where I'd rather pay someone else to do it)

I would not recommend an E55 to anyone that could not afford to shell out 3k, at any given moment, especially if it's going to be your only car.

madmla21

I agree that fixing things on this car can be expensive but I do just about all major work my self and as long as you have a good warranty on the car it won't be as bad as others are making it out to be. I would say plan to spend about $3k to get a car with that type of mileage. Things you will want to look at replacing are H/E pump, motor and tranny mounts, oil, tranny oil, brakes, spark plugs and boots, tires, and you will want to do some sort of mod to the car. So if you can find a car expect to pay between 4-7k for a new warranty and another 3k in maintenance in the first few months. If you can do that go for it, if you can't do that hold off or get a C55.

emoving

Really, I have had a few 55s all lowered on ELMs and have never had a suspension issue. What is HUGE cost for brakes???? I paid $100 a rotor from the dealer, $150 for pads and had a friend put them on my E55. If you think that is HUGE, then you have never owned a car worth a crap. Even a Toyota Camry brake job would run around $350.
As others have said, if you plan to take it to the dealer everytime, you are screwed. If you have hook ups other places, you will be fine. The engines and trannies are pretty bulletproof. There are minor things that go bad, like SC pumps($150), SC clutch and parts($900) and on a rare occasion, a strut which you can get rebuilt or replacement parts for around $500. Unfortunately there are a lot of people that have these cars that can't afford them, they buy high mileage cars, mod the crap out of them and then they break. That gives them a bad name. Otherwise, they are solid machines! Oh and try the search button, they did not even make a 07 so go ahead and cross that one off your list.

03'55AMG

Thats assuming he does it himself. and even then, if hes tight on money, 400-600 dollars is not a place he should have to find himself for doing brakes.

lawguy

+1 to the dudes that suggest it might be a poor financial choice. Its a cash monster.

As for research, just spend a few hours and go through all the prior pages, reading posts. Its what I did - takes an afternoon, but you will learn more than you could ever imagine.

PS - the cash monster is totally worth it.

randallaguirre

If you're looking for a MB and possibly dont need the 4 doors. Take a look at at CLK55--nice little rocket. A LOT less going on under the hood. Very easy to work on. And get it with minimal options and you will have very few problems. PLUS it's going to have a great initial cost in comparison. I had one and loved it. Also, on top of everything you will see an improvement in MPG over the E55 for obvious reasons.

GT-ER

I haven't had my car long enough to say anything bad about the suspension, but there are 7 billion threads on people being stranded due to an airmatic failure of some sort and the rears seem like a real killer.

I agree brakes aren't all that expensive honestly. But paying $300ish for a SC idler pulley is just retarded ( Thank you ASP for your solution )...lol.

Regardless, this is not a car for people who can only get by paying for it and expecting repairs to be in a price range similar to my Chevy S10's...which is really freaking cheap to repair...lol.

GT-ER

Or a C55.

Yuille36

I think you guys ran him off, since he hasn't posted anything in here after the realization of how expensive an E55 can be.

torque monster

haha yeah just about. i was hoping for 3 replys at best, but thanks for all your responses. Believe me guys, i did consider that this may not be the right car for me! the e55 amg is really the only one i want at this point and yes i do need 4 doors. I would buy the car from a private party for cash and will most likely not have a warranty. i could probably dish out a grand for parts at any given time and i dont need to worry about labor since im a major DIYer. Like a few of you mentioned, brakes and fluid flushes dont cost much and apparently the engine/trans are hard to ruin. as time goes on, i save up more cash and the car/parts get cheaper. I will do some research on the suspension failure.

i completely agree with "if you cant pay to fix it, dont own it", thats why i started the thread

03'55AMG

see if you can get the price down on either by 2-3 grand then get an extended warranty with it, itll pay off quickly, ive even heard of them paying off after first visit due to a SC failure..

emoving

Find one thread of a SC failure!

Faast

Airmatic is an issue with this car so put aside few $$$$ for that issue. With any performance car,there will be issues whether modded or not that's just the nature of the beast.

I have owned my E55 for past 2 years/20,000 miles,besides one front strut and the valve cover gaskit,the car has been great.

The car has 41,000 miles and is still on the original brakes and is feeling just fine.

My biggest gripe about this E55 is that every time i tap the "Push Start" button,i almost always get the biggest grin there is on the planet earth which really hurts bad.

There is nothing out there that can rival this car in looks or the performance

Limen

Well, I kind of disagree. I don't feel like the E55 is all that expensive to maintain. Compared to other cars that I have owned, its really quite reliable, and I have yet to have a "huge" repair bill after almost two years of owning it.

rondocap

I love the E55, I think it represents a great powerful car for what it is - but in all honesty it is not what one can call reliable if driven fairly regularly. It, like the S Class, has a lot of technology that can go wrong - most dreaded of course being the suspension. With a good warranty and backup funds, you should be OK if you know what you are doing, but never buy a car like this if you are tight on money. You will end up giving yourself a financial nightmare.

C55 or CLK55 are definitely great cars to consider. They are a few ticks slower, but have less complex systems, like the suspension and various electronics, thus are less likely to fail.

Shadow5501

If your repair budget is $1K, then I would say you can't afford an E55. Since I'm sure that won't deter you, here are a couple of thoughts: 1) Buy a stock car and keep it that way. You can't afford an engine or transmission repair. Modified cars are more likely to lunch either. 2) Buy a low option car. You can't afford to repair the pano roof, or the automatic trunk closer, or the keyless go. 3) To minimize maintenance and repair costs, you'll have to DIY using mail ordered parts. What will you do for transportation if the 55 is down for a few days? 4) Have you priced insurance? (It's generally not all that bad.) 5) Have you factored in the costs of fuel economy (15-20MPG, tops), and tires (as much as $1500/10K miles)?

Nstar

My 04 was great. IC pump is a common failure point (but a cheap, easy fix) and the ride/handling is comfy rather than sporty but it's a great daily driver and the 5 speed automatic is robust.

Worth remembering though is that it was an $80,000 car new so even though they are $25,000 now, repairs/maintenance are going to be far more than with a new Camry.