berlinbenz5.5

Bad idea ? Im not looking for the cheapest e55 , I just stumbled upon this clean title 2 owner 06 e55 , interior and exterior very good condition given it’s age…. I checked the car fax and it showed a healthy consistent history of services done etc……

my plans are to mod it etc… would you say it’s too late to mod it given the high mileage ? I’ve seen some of these make it to 400K miles…

i mean it’s an AMG 500HP beast for 10K when it retailed for 100K etc… I know a good mechanic locally that I go to and I save lots to money whenever I need repairs done etc… so In that aspect I’m covered…

E55Greasemonkey

These aren't cars you should be buying if you can't work on it yourself, or, be ready to spend a few thousand dollars every year for maintenance and repairs. Depending on the service history of this particular car, it could need anywhere up to $8000 in deferred maintenance the day you buy it, that cost could be half if you do it yourself. That however requires ability, tools, and a place to work on it, and in many cases a lift.

hyperion667

Dayum, a 55 in 2006 cost 100K?

cdk4219

Adding power at almost 17 years old and almost 200,000 miles, doesn’t sound like a good idea for any car that you want to have functioning. As stated above simply keeping the stock car functioning at this age and mileage will be costly if the work can’t be performed by the owner,

cdk4219

base price $82,000 in 2006, so it would be a highly optioned car to get close to 100k

CQHall

Real talk, old cars have old car issues. Bushings get tired. Rubber dries up. Wires get brittle. I have a 2003 E55 that was in better than expected condition for its age and like 138K miles, and still put in probably $8K already and I haven't had it a year. Maybe 2K miles. And I'm doing all of the restoring/replacing work myself. Anything that requires a lift or expertise, I take it to a shop. If I weren't doing that stuff, I'd easily be over $11K by now.

I just had my serpentine belt break and had to replace 2 belts and 2 pullys (a few hundred) and today I'm in the process of replacing all of the air bladders in the seats. The bladders alone were like $800. Yeah, I do have to do the belts and stuff and I don't have to do the bladders. But, what's the point of having a $100K AMG if stuff like that doesn't work on it? These aren't as expensive as older Porsches, but they ain't cheap.

Regarding the $100K, yeah. I think mine has every option except nav (parktronic, distronic, panoramic solar sunroof, keyless go, telephone, heated/cooled seats (probably standard), cd changer, ...).

I wouldn't mod it outside of maybe like minor stuff like front lip / trunk spoilers, maybe a different head unit, wheels (I suggest sticking with 18" if you have rough roads). The car is already fast as hell with great low end torque. It can drop most any car you encounter on the road. Modding it will give you some gains, sure. But, you will break **** faster.

I would not mod this if it's your only car. I wouldn't buy it at all if it's your only car. It will be down for days at a time because of all of the above.

C_Note

what did you replace that has cost 8k? I’ve replaced my air suspension with coilovers 2.1k, done ball joints 150, lower control arms 250, engine/trans mounts 500, replaced both belts 250, new supercharger tensioner pulley 350, spark plugs 300, installed bwk 350, 80mm fsp 350, and a tune 400 so far. All of that didn’t cost near 8k…

CQHall

fuuuuuuuck. And this is why you don't look at your receipts when you are having fun...

Grabbing my folder of receipts: total $15,856

ooof.

I made it this far...I may as well keep *******g going...

CQHall

Yeah...this stuff adds up. This ain't a cheap hobby.

remix405

the key is buying a well sorted car, I bought my 2006 e55 @126k miles for $11k. previous owner had just replaced valve cover gaskets, motor mounts, water pump, belts, pulleys, all air struts, fuel pumps and fuel tank with recall. it had good maintenance history with a folder of invoices from the dealer.
since my ownership I only had to replace 1 fuel injector that was stuck open however I took that opportunity to replace all 8 injectors for new ones since they were only $38 each from mercedes, plug wires and spark plugs all at the same time since I was already taking all that apart.
in total it was a little over $500

I have also replaced the winshield cowl and side mirror gaskets since they began cracking that was about $160

oil changes at $80

the car now has 146k miles in 2 years I've spent just shy of $1200 in maintenance and preventative maintenance

so I don't think that is too bad for a 16 year old car that was well sorted when I bought it.

CQHall

True.

On my list, I'd say that about $8K was required to keep the car in good running order. The most rest was optional or optionally bought from MB to keep it OEM. That expensive service bill was done by Blue Ridge MB (they are expensive as hell, but probably the best AMG guys in North America). Johnathan let me know exactly where the car stood in terms of maintenance and whatnot.

As the MB parts lady from whom I get most of my parts told me, "Buyers like buying cars from people like you."

@remix405 you know you got a steal to get 2006 with 126K miles, full records from the dealership, with up to date service history for $11K in this market. That's a $16-20K car all day...right now at 146K. I'd say you got lucky.

remix405

When i bought the car 2 years ago at the onset of the pandemic that was the market value. obviously we have all seen these cars go up in value since then but I looked at maybe 8 e55s before I bought mine. I learned as much as I could from this forum on things to look out for etc. op you just have to be patient and find the right one from the beginning to avoid headaches during your ownership.

CQHall

I think that there are 4 things to watch out for when buying older cars:

• Neglect: Basically missed or delayed maintenance. Also including the use of inferior parts.
• "Upgrades"/Sidegrades/Downgrades: Adding tuning parts, adding boost, ECU tunes, TCU tunes, etc...
• Abuse: Racing (legal or illegal). Ragging a car out with tuning that generally has a negative effect on reliability and longevity for a variety of reasons. DIY install screwups.
• Damage: Pretty self-explanatory.

Each one of them presents its own set of issues for the new buyer. And with these cars in particular, due to their age, tenability, availability, relatively low price/HP, and popularity, multiple of those categories can be in play. Luckily for me, mine had the same owner for 14 or so years and it was bone stock (besides Lorinser wheels) and had only been neglected when it came to moderate work that was due. The lady essentially had mechanics do the bare minimum to keep it running. When given a list of what "had" to be done and what "should" be done, she only chose the former.

OP, if you can find a car that hasn't been neglected, "upgraded", abused, or damaged, with a reasonable amount of miles, jump on it.

C_Note

i bought mine 2 years ago as well. $10k with 105k miles. It now has 124k miles and the above maintenance done within the last 2 years. It previously had upper control arms and some other front suspension stuff done that I can’t remember. CPS was done last summer too

the air ride went out within my first six months. That has been my most costly repair at $2.1k. The rest was fairly easy and a day or 2 work at a partners house. I do a little at a time to keep the car up and keep the costs down!

I love this car!!

C_Note

this car isn’t cheap, but it isn’t expensive if you can do the labor yourself or have it done cheaply. If the dealer is all you have, I wouldn’t get an e55!!

Get a 5.0 mustang and call it a day if maintaining a Merc is out of the question but you still want a quick car.

CharlyE500

I think its still good to mod with high mileage however make sure your tranny is in good shape. Do the service or make sure its been done before.
its still cheap compare to anything in the market now. All the used cars are still very expensive and new car not better.
Bought a S500 W213 3 months ago and the price was $11k above MSRP.....

cdk4219

Modding a 17 year old car with almost 200k seems absurd. The transmission and lots of other things will need attention.

ArmoE55

Sure could be $100K - my car with its options was $92K out the door (I have the sticker) and I am not fully optioned out.

Sulaco

Sticker on my 05 wagon was $92k

With zero options ticked.

Thats $140k in 2022 weimar USD

ArmoE55

Sounds about right - you wagons are much more rare nowadays, especially in mint condition and will fetch a good bit more. I was in the market for a wagon when I was looking for my third E55, unfortunately, did not find a clean one with decent low miles.

CQHall

Anybody got access to one of those window sticker generation tools? They provide MSRP and the price of each option.

cetialpha5

It's about $8 to get the window sticker from Monroney Labels.

https://monroneylabels.com/

Or you can just go to Motor Trend, change url for the year of your car and under the features, run the vin decoder to see what options your car has and then add them all up. You'll get pretty close to the label, you just have to add in the destination charge and you will be spot on.

https://www.lastvin.com/

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/merc.../e-class/2006/

CQHall

Thanks! According to Mototrend...

2003 E55 AMG

MSRP: $81,800
Lighting Pkg: INCLUDES: Headlamps, Bi-HID Adaptive w/Washers: $921
Engine Start, Keyless Go: $1,004
Speed Control, Adaptive: $2,892
Sun Shade, Power Rear: $428
Sun Shades, Manual Rear Side: $316
Trunk Closer, Power: $474
Moon Roof, Power Glass Panorama: $1,451
Gas Guzzler Tax: $1,700
Parking Sensors: $1,023
Tire Pressure Monitor: $372
Active Ventilated Front INCLUDES: [873] Heated Front Seats: $614
Drive-Dynamic Multi-Contour Front: $1,097
Radio Equipment, 6-Disc CD Changer in Dash: $400
(419) SOLAR MODULE: $860
Destination: $720
----------------------------------------
Total: $96,072
Tax: $7,445.58 (7.75%)
----------------------------------------
Grand Total in 2003: $103,517.58
----------------------------------------
Adjusted for inflation (2003 vs 2022): $162,651.43
(Cumulative rate of inflation: 57.1%)

cetialpha5

It's listed as $860 for the solar panel. I think destination was $720 in 2003 so that makes it $96,072. Also if it had any special paint or interior trim options, the $1050 special order charge might have applied.

https://www.auto-brochures.com/mercedes-benz.html

https://ragtop.org/mbbrochures/2004.html

CQHall

I updated my post. Thanks!