04 e55 250k miles: chance it?
 

Will this be your sole daily driver? If so, then NO.

If you are buying an extra car to play around with, or you at least have a backup car you can drive, then it may be worth considering. What condition are the body and interior in? What are your plans for the car?

Do you have the option of seeing it run, or at least scanning for stored codes? The high mileage would not scare me off (I take my 220k mile CLK55 to the dragstrip about twice a month), but if the engine is burning oil or if the transmission has stored codes I might think twice, even at that price.

1) Repo - A broke kid couldn't afford the car. Which usually means they couldn't afford the maintenance on it either.

2) Mods - I see the car has a hood emblem delete, aftermarket steering wheel and pedals. These are cheap mods and although aren't performance related still indicates the car was raced around.

3) Mileage - 250k miles on any car is high, especially a hot rod that's been owned by a bum and you don't know the history.

4) Market - I bought my 2005 E55 with 120k for $8k.

"For these reasons..... I'm out"

I'd buy it for sure at that price and just beat on it until it died. It'd be easy enough to do a partial part out at that point and make your money back.

If you're mechanically inclined, and don't mind a bit of a project, that's probably a great deal. If you would need to take it to a shop or dealer for all repairs, it's probably a money pit and not worth fixing it up (unless you just want to beat on it until it stops going).

The emblems are cosmetic. The steering wheel is $800-1000. The pedals are OEM upgrades.

Check it out in person. Doesn't look like its in too bad of shape, by the pictures. If the car runs and drives fine, then why not? These cars are extremely robust. I see 80s BMWs with 200k+ driving around regularly, these are certainly more reliable than those cars.

As long as you're willing to part it out, it's not a huge gamble. Of course the transmission could be shot, the engine could be shot, or the suspension could be broken -- all of which put it at losing odds vs a 150k-mi E55.

Is it slammed or have the air bags collapsed?

I'd absolutely pull the trigger on it.

It's really clean and even if it needs a new motor, you'd still only have about $7500 in a clean E55

Not much downside - people spend more than $2,200 just on headers.

That's super cheap but it will probably be in ****ty shape. Def a fun project car if you like wrenching.

I'm 7k in on mine and it was already in "good" condition, I bought it a year ago for 14.5k. Granted a lot of it was in mods and work done at mechanics that I could have done myself in hindsight.

The way I see it, this could either be a terd, in which case will cost your tons of money to address its many issues now and in the future.
Or could be a jewel, that just needs some TLC. But the choice is yours, and yours alone. But I would take some advice from those that own E55's.

I say go for it! This will be a testament to the next chapter in the car's life to determine what wears out next and what components are still strong\healthy. You could blog it on YouTube and share it with the world along the way, which would be a valuable resource for all owners after all the cars are not getting any younger.

I bought mine almost 10 years ago other than regular maintenance brakes, tires, oil, filter, I only spent $2000 (ABC brake, water pump brake switch, valve gasket and CPS). Plus about $2K to convert coilover so no suspension issue at all. My car has 115K miles now !

Every car will need repair just matter of time. Even Toyota and Honda will have problems after 100K miles.
And my CLS55 for the last 3 years only oil and filter change.

$10K in 3 years ? you might need a new mechanic.

It's funny, in every discussion like this there seems to be a dichotomy between "I've spent [insert jaw dropping amount] in [years]!" and "I've had the car for [years] and I have only spent [reasonable amount for a German super sedan]."

I have had my car for about two years, in actual necessary maintenance or replacing broken parts... $1,500 maybe, give or take? A lot, loot more spent on modifications both performance and cosmetic in nature. I have also had more issues with the reliability of aftermarket parts than with the car itself. For example, my AEM AFR gauge broke. The pump for my trunk tank died within a month.

Most people who spend a ton are taking their cars to shops and getting bent over with labor. I personally do all work on the car myself.

Interested in the update after seeing/hearing it run.

did it make a lot of smoke?
did it smell like coolant?
were there any banging noises coming from the engine bay?

$2200 is nothing, buy it.

Don't get why people get so scared, like the only option is to buy a new car or else you end up with an old car that will need work? That's half the fun. You can buy the car for cheap and play with it, worse case, if it's running, you can always bail and get your $2500 back from some local guy if it's too much for you. There's easily 5k in parts if you part it out, just major simple stuff (front brake calipers are ~800/pair on ebay).

Are you in Ontario California or Ontario Canada ?

My E63 has 84k on it (bought at 72k) and I've had to spend zero money on repairs aside from maintenance. It did need engine mounts when I bought it, but those always go bad so I consider them a maintenance item. Had it for almost 2 years now.

I've had a couple of scares, but they turned out to be nothing.