R230 SL500 - In the process of buying

[Julesprivate]

Hi

Well I've been away from the forums for a while (busy working) and I sold my C270 about a year ago, but int he meantime I did pick up a lovely SLK350 for my good lady and a Lexus GS450h for myself..

Right now I am in the process of purchasing an 03 SL500 as a weekend toy to replace my TVR. I was looking for something a little "nicer" to drive (i.e. more relaxing) and the SL ticks all the boxes.

I'm buying from an independant dealer, the car drives wonderfully well, smooth, quiet (too quiet) and relaxing. I am aware of the ABC suspension concerns and funnily enough the garage called today to tell me it had failed the MOT on the ball joints, so fortunately I was able to point the garage to Phil's place in Liverpool to have them done.

In theory I pick the car up on Monday and have to say I am quite excited. Aside from the ABC and the potential leaks (boot was dry, even in the spare compartment) is there much else I need to think about?

I need to replace the stereo, it has the original Comand unit but that's terrible! So I'll probably get a nice Win CE head unit, I wish there was an Android head unit available but can't seem to locate one (anyone know of one?)

It's also too quiet (especially after the TVR), I will probably just take out the centre boxes (i.e. the cats) and see how it sounds then, perhaps gutting the rear boxes if it is still too quiet - I don't want OTT as this is supposed to be relaxing after all..

I love the red button in the boot to lift the roof when it's down, my wife is going to be very jealous.

 

[MicB]

Lovely cars......keep the storm water drains clear and free from crud and keep checking that the boot is free from water ingress......nothing more to be done other that proper maintenance. If the seals at the bottom of the C pillars and below the rear window look suspect preventative action is advisable.

Other than that.....what will fail will fail......like all things mechanical.

Enjoy

Mic

 

[dinoy]

2004 MERCEDES SL 350 AUTO SILVER GOOD AMG SPEC Panaromic roof Good CON P/X SWAP | eBay

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Their must be something in the air a the moment, lots of treads both sides on people buying R230's...I must admit great time of year to do a deal on a convertible

Same advice from, they are complex machines...I would strongly advise getting the car inspected by a good MB indy for piece of mind, a good SL R230 will make you smile, a bad one will make you cry, also check trader warranty as you will find many items are not covered...

Good luck!

 

[Julesprivate]

I'm actually not getting a warranty, I know how that sounds but I'm OK with that. I have priced up an independent warranty and and it's reasonable at ~£700 for the year and the dealer knows he's liable under the SOGA (we had a long chat about that).

I know that might sound a little odd, but I've bought hundreds of vehicles (unfortunately that's probably not an exaggeration) over the years and the only time I really lost out was on a brand new one.

Fortunately this is just a toy, it's cheap in the grand scheme of things and I have access to a fully professional garage (I pay a retainer to a local garage to have use of their workshop and equipment) and I am pretty handy with tools myself (I run a TVR after all LOL).

I am thinking about investing in a Star system (well a Chinese clone) as I have the VCDS for the Audi we used to have and found that invaluable, and now it spends most of its life on loan to the same garage I have on retainer LOL.

I don't mind the odd thing going wrong, I quite enjoy the process of fixing them anyway (it's a hobby)

I'm looking forward to picking the car up (Tuesday now as the front shocks are being couriered back from Liverpool).

 

[DSB SL AMG]

I forgot you owned a TVR, so you must be handy with the spanner

The good thing is theres lots of stuff on here about the R230, the main concern points you have already touched on...on the other side there's an excellent DIY thread to fix rear C-post seal water ingress issue...

I'm actually not getting a warranty, I know how that sounds but I'm OK with that. I have priced up an independent warranty and and it's reasonable at ~£700 for the year and the dealer knows he's liable under the SOGA (we had a long chat about that).

I know that might sound a little odd, but I've bought hundreds of vehicles (unfortunately that's probably not an exaggeration) over the years and the only time I really lost out was on a brand new one.

Fortunately this is just a toy, it's cheap in the grand scheme of things and I have access to a fully professional garage (I pay a retainer to a local garage to have use of their workshop and equipment) and I am pretty handy with tools myself (I run a TVR after all LOL).

I am thinking about investing in a Star system (well a Chinese clone) as I have the VCDS for the Audi we used to have and found that invaluable, and now it spends most of its life on loan to the same garage I have on retainer LOL.

I don't mind the odd thing going wrong, I quite enjoy the process of fixing them anyway (it's a hobby)

I'm looking forward to picking the car up (Tuesday now as the front shocks are being couriered back from Liverpool).

 

[Julesprivate]

LOL - well I went to pick it up today.. he'd just washed it and "taddah" the roof didn't work nor did the central locking..

Checked and of course the PSE pump is wet, checked the 20A fuse and it had blown, so replaced the fuse and tried it and everything works as expected.

It's home on the drive now, but obviously I need to dry out the PSE and stop that happening again (seals and insulation to do).

Seller was mortified, genuinely seemed very upset, I thought it was amusing especially as the TVR had been so reliable

 

[Julesprivate]

Spoke too soon about the reliable TVR - seems the rad split on his drive home!

I feel a bit bad about that so I'm going to pay for the new rad, I know he's a dealer but it seems only fair..

 

[Jeff666]

What goes around comes around. Gets my vote.

 

[BTB 500]

Re. the noise ... non-AMG Mercedes are pretty quiet - when I got it my older R129 SL500 was virtually silent unless floored (and then a fair bit of the sound was induction etc. rather than exhaust).

I started by removing the centre muffler (a.k.a. resonator) which made a surprisingly small difference. Then had some fun with the cats ... it went in to have the secondaries removed but in fact it only had a single cat each side to start off with, so it ended up with none! Sounded nice but a bit of a problem come MOT time ...

So 200 cell sport cats added, tamed the noise a bit but still better than stock. I'm reluctant to gut the rear box on mine as it's an AMG one (£££££), so not much more I can do really.

I always drop the windows when there's a TVR around ... they nearly always sound fabulous

 

[Julesprivate]

Thanks

I think for now i'll remove the secondary cats, see how that sounds and then if I need more I'll just take the rear silencers off and welda quad outlet straight pipe on..

I suspect Step 1 will be enough, i don't want "obnoxious", but I do want to hear the V8

 

[lordlee]

Not sure where you're based but if its near Basingstoke then give Matt at Longlife a call as he did my secondary cat delete for £100 and it sounds just perfect - V8 growl under acceleration but quiet and nice at motorway speeds.

 

[Julesprivate]

Cheers, I am in Gloucester and have a contact here I will try first but failing that a trip to Basingstoke isn't too far, I am partner in a Rock Bar in Andover so can always do it one day when I am in checking the business out (i.e. propping up the bar)...

 

[lordlee]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70933201@N07/15945809841/

Excuse the missus going "oh"

 

[Julesprivate]

Nice! I'll get that done next then.

The TVR sounded like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtd-hejUvsc

 

[BTB 500]

The TVR sounded like this

Fantastic

 

[BTB 500]

In comparison this is how my R129 500 sounds now with sports cats and no centre muffler.

[YOUTUBE]5FLwN7hma4c[/YOUTUBE]