91RS

I hope you have good luck with it! I definitely don’t think I could get over my fears and jump straight into an S class. I’m just going to stick with my SS. I know all the problems it has and there shouldn’t be any surprises. I’m tired of surprises. The AC in my house went out with warning two weeks ago. So, I spent and entire day and half stressing on picking a company and a brand to replace it, then dealing with an 80-85* house for days, and then getting sick from the ragweed pollen from having all the windows open.

PeterUbers

good advice - know thyself.

cotmfk

+1. That's rough about the AC going out - the joys of home ownership! (sarcasm)

Good luck with the house and the SS. You can always try to grab an E63 later if you change your mind.

I.T. Guy

Tell us about the Focal drop in speakers! I need an upgrade.

I.T. Guy

Ooh ooh I found a link here.
I love Focal at home.
I had not idea they did cars.
THANK YOU

https://www.focal-inside.com/mercedes/en/

kevm14

Former GM guy here. Your comment prompted an anecdote from me. After jumping in with both feet into Euro, Mercedes and AMG at the same time with my 04 E55, I decided it would be nice to get an S550 as a daily driver. I bought it with 79k and it has 95k now. Drove it from RI to Orlando and back in early 2022 with the family and it was perfect, despite my over planning and pretty in-depth maintenance (it was new to me at the time). Fast forward to now and we are doing a trip from RI to PA (looking at ~750 miles round trip) and I did approximately zero things to prepare. Didn't open the hood. Didn't check the oil or any fluids - it will be due for an oil change at the end of the trip, but it doesn't use any oil anyway. Just checked tire pressure. Car has been excellent, and I broke my fuel economy record with an indicated ~26 mpg. It's not a highly optioned car but it has been so good so far. I realize it is newer, lower mileage and not an AMG but it has been considerably less finnicky than my E55 was.

All I'm saying is "S-class" isn't scary in and of itself. A highly optioned S550 with ABC and the M278? Yeah that's not the same thing as what I have.

Drone_S213

+2. Got new AC/Heater combo unit on Roof last month. For a few days it got 99F inside NM home. Original unit lasted 20-years. Normally on East Coast in summers...was holding out as long as possible since heater still functional and MIT and KSU college tuition was priority. Both kids will have no student debt.

Keeping my 2015 Alchemy Purple Chevy SS with manual transmission...rare color and #3 of 3 as built. Mary Barra chased me away from GM to AMG Mercedes... It seems like Ola is drinking the same Corporate Management Profitability Kool-Aid. V8 Muscle Old Timers never die we just fade away. My young adult kids could care less about my Passion. 24 year old Daughter now earns $210K for Microsoft. They will certainly buy an EV when their 2019 Buick and 2021 Kia ICE Dad gifted them expires around ~2030.

Maybe when Son graduates now from GA Tech in 2026, might get a Classic CL or future classic 2020 AMG S63 Coupe?

djcwardog

I ordered the front center and the front door mid/tweeter set from Crutchfield, being a long-time customer there. Then I ran a search on eBay and found a shop in Germany (ACR HOF) that sells these for MUCH less even with shipping costs from Germany to the US factored in. They have shipped me the second mid/tweeter set that will go in the side panels of my coupe just behind each front seat. Also coming are the surround speakers for the rear deck and the 8” front bass woofers. Focal has excellent YouTube videos linked at their site for how to install these. While nobody should be anxious to rip into the luxurious interior panels of these cars without being fully aware of how they are fastened down, these do not look too hard to do at all.

UPDATE - I’ve done the Focal speakers everywhere except the pair of front bass 8” subs. I posted a few threads to give some details. All locations went fine but the three tabs on the Focal center channel do not align with the factory speaker. However, I got it in anyway. The Focal Inside speakers are a definite upgrade in my book. The original stuff sounded good, but these make the mids and highs just a bit more detailed. Reminds me of a 2007 BMW 650i I had with the Harmon Kardon surround system. For that car, I retrofitted a later version of head unit and display - went from CCC to CIC. I swapped out the HK amp for the DIRAC amp of the 752 Individual sound system. After trying a full set of the matching speakers from a donor vehicle I went with BavSound and that was the best I did. Wow! That car sounded wonderful.

Well, this car with Focals reminds me very much of that sound.