Please don't flame me too much for saying this but I test drove a E55 for the first time today and let me just say I was regrettably unimpressed...

I've always loved the look of the E55s and know they can be monsters but something just didn't make me fall in love or give me that "ooooh ahhhh" feeling and I'm sad it didn't because I've admired them for so long...

I was in the market for a E55 for a long time but ended up getting a SRT8 jeep instead, maybe I'm partial to the AWD and having all my power whenever I want or maybe the less then ideal conditions of the test drive and not knowing the best technique to launch...

I still love the E55s just wish the dealer had more past history on it, obvious mods were carbon fiber diffuser/spoiler and lip, rohana rims and some really ugly "vents" on the hood. No info on performance mods which turned me off.

Please tell me I just had a bad experience? My jeep made this E55 seem like it could be a little bit more fun then my current DD and that's all.

 

A few years ago I bought my E55 from a snowbird who kept the car down here in FL for his winter visits. I already knew I wanted one, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it once I got it, yet had never actually driven one, only ridden as a passenger in a heavily modified car in LA the previous summer. Thus my test drive was more a formality and me looking for problems or red flags before purchasing than it was to decide if I wanted an E55 at all.

So on the test drive I pulled onto the highway on-ramp and floored it .. and remember thinking.. " I know these things run low 12s stock... Is this thing broken? It's slow as hell" and looking over to the passenger seat the 70ish y/o owner has got his right hand white-knuckle gripped on the door armest and a look of terror and panic on his face as we hit 120mph before the on-ramp even reached the highway

All he could say after appearing to run a mental systems check and determining he wasnt having a heart attack was "it's got *****, right?"

I've had a lot of fast cars and built countless cars/engines for others but this was my first Mercedes so I was just accustomed to things being a little more sensational as speed accrues. An E55 is quiet, smooth, the transmisison shifts softly and the suspension even set to Sport 2 is still a little floaty if youre used to Corvettes and Vipers. They're definitely a fun car to drive every day, but youll want to make a few tweaks here and there to turn up the volume both figuratively and literally

 

I test drove two E55's that I'm certain had bad i/c pumps and they were dogs. It's the most common failure on these cars and that simple and inexpensive part can turn a monster into an E320 without the dealer knowing any better. I've also test driven several SRT8's and with the exception of the first 60ft in the Jeep, a properly running E55 should easily feel more powerful.

 

I was about to add the same thing to this post. There's a really good chance the IC pump failed (it's a $100 fix) which will cause the supercharger clutch to not engage so the car is down on power by at least half.

 

The pump is a serious problem. I went from a 12.97 @ 107 to a 12.07 @ 114 just changing that. Not even factoring the ET, I gained 7 mph!

 

I had a very modified C32 that I loved and many years ago I took a friend for a 'spirited' drive in it. When I got my E55 last year I was initially not impressed with it, because I had also lusted after one for a few years and thought it lacked the pure brute force I was after. I took that same friend on the same route in my E55 and he was very quiet. When we got back I asked him what he thought of my new car. He summed it up perfectly by saying that the modded C32 'felt faster' and that the E55, which was undoubtedly faster, was a different type of fast - a very refined fast.
In my E55 I frequently have to look at the speedometer to realize actually how fast I am going.

 

That was another thing that bothered me, I research my cars that I'm interested in ALOT before actually being able to find one to test drive.

So when I go to a GMC dealership to look at a AMG I already know 10x more then whoever I'm speaking to which is annoying.

I asked them for more history on the vehicle and if there were any engine modifications, such as the IC pump or a tune. And all I get back was "we can show you the carfax?"

How can you tell if it had a bad IC pump? I mean I was spinning the tires up to about 20ish I felt and once it hooked it did start to pull but I had to shut it down before 60 everytime. I guess these are more highway beasts?

The sales lady said I scared her I honestly don't know how I felt the ride was mild compared to my jeep which is violent and will about give you whiplash. Probably just another shady sales tactic.

 

Check the iats via a obd scan tool to see if the ic pump is bad

 

 

I'm not here to get in a pissing match over which car is faster, posting a roll race video is kinda pointless when no mods are known and there are about 10 jeeps in the 9s and 2 in the 8s club.

I still love AMGs, and don't get me wrong this one was still pretty sexy: CF, lowered, rims blacked out badges, even with the ugly hood vents it still got some guy on a moped to ask me to punch it on the short test drive I had which was funny.

I was just wanting to share my story and maybe get some feedback to not write off the E55s so soon and maybe just a ****ty first time experience, maybe my hopes were too high?

 

"I mean I was spinning the tires up to about 20ish I felt and once it hooked", In my 63 wheel spin only stops when 1 you let off the gas or 2 ESP kicks in and shuts it down or 3 you are above the posted speed limit on the highway.
Are you sure it was not a rebadged car?
Seen one the other day E63 all in the right places, AMG on the trunk dual square exhaust out the back, but had the smallest set of brake calipers I ever seen ha ha and best was the one piece rotors,

 

Not to mention, what the hell is a Stage 2? A Brabus K8 package is clearly defined.

 

I drove about a dozen E55's over the course of a month in my search. Some were clean, many were not and some were absolute dogs where I didn't even bother punching it. OP drives one seemingly hacked up E55 and feels the need to start a thread? Makes no sense.

 

when my IC pump failed, it was night and day from a scary 500HP monster to a slug...

ever since fixing it - the car is stupid fast

 

damn my car feels so slow after reading this thread I think I will sell it and get a Jeep Heck my GTO smashed a 7.0 Jeep SRT8 at the track every time and its a LOT slower than my E55....... Dude had about 15K into his engine. Now that is what I call unimpressive Happy to post those vids as well.

 

You should drive more than just one before making your conclusion on any car .. especially used cars. The car could be hurt, could have other things wrong with it.
With the reputation the E55/E63 has to be able to keep up with some of the faster cars on the road (running 10s and 11s), that should of itself say something .. although I do find that driving this car you don't really necessarily "feel" the speed until you look at the speedo and see you are going twice as fast as you thought you were. … Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Nice choice congrats. A buddy of mine has a JEEP SRT8, Awesome SUV… Destroys almost everything from a stop light. We ran a few weeks back from a stop light, He launched on me. But, I caught up and flew past him in 2nd gear. Further we went he would have become a tiny dot in my rear view it seemed. My car is stock besides IC pump.

 

I like the SRT8 Jeep's, but I agree with everyone that the car you drove probably had a bad IC pump. I test drove 2 or 3 with bad pumps, and the one I bought still had a faulty one without me realizing until later lol.

 

Both cars suck

 

Almost positive it was a real AMG, I checked for all the obvious things and even the brakes and instrument cluster, seats.

I wouldn't doubt if it wasn't operating At full capacity because the dealership was pretty clueless on anything mechanical with it. But then again when I would punch it you could feel the tires spin and the ESP lights on the dash flash and once it would hook it pulled decently. I think if I could have gotten it out onto a highway my impression would have been different.

Maybe it is more of a refined speed as well and that was throwing me off because I'm accustom to the brute force type of speed and launch.

 

U drove a piece of ***** one more than likely, sad that most of them are now days only a few mint ones left. I agree the IC pump was probably dead or about to die.

 

Stock with ESP on, you don't really even go anywhere. Stock with ESP off, you still don't really go anywhere but the tires move lol.

 

Time to stop feeding this troll. This guy is supposedly "in the market for a long time" yet goes to one dealership and drives one car to base his opinion on. He laments their lack of past history on the car or knowledge of possible mods (when have any of you serious enthusiasts ever relied on what a dealer has to say about a car on his/her lot?) and is now "Almost positive it was a real AMG, I checked for all the obvious things and even the brakes and instrument cluster, seats." Now it's, "Maybe it is more of a refined speed as well and that was throwing me off because I'm accustom to the brute force type of speed and launch."

Dude. Just. Stop it.

 

+1. And if he doesn't like it why even post and already bought a jeep... pointless.

 

In the market for a long time means I was interested but being located in Fairbanks Alaska for a few years means there were not a whole lot of AMGs rolling around... (As in none) And now that I'm in Hawaii, yes there is a lot nicer cars to choose from here.

This is just my opinion, maybe it did have faulty components. because I went into the test drive super pumped to finally get to drive one and was left disappointed and shocked because I expected more.

So that's why I made the post, to get some insight on what the possible issues could have been or if what I experienced was normal. And the only thing I didn't verify was the engine because I was frankly not interested at least in that particular vehicle anymore to go any further in the inspection.

But I guess I'm a troll if you say so