I'm going to keep posting updates to this thread as it's the kind of thing that should hopefully be interesting to any other prospective purchasers. This is the second car I've ever bought in this way and its an acquired skill.
So, yesterday I went to see this car:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...0/page/2/advert-type/dealer-stock?logcode=dsp
The car is a December 2002 Sl500 in tanzanite blue with about 65000 miles.
It has been for sale there for a couple of months and I didn't previously look at it since the colour and rear exhausts put me off. However I went to check it out anyway to get a feel for more cars.
The first thing I found was that the car was in pretty good shape, to the eye. No rust at all on the underside of the rear arches - not too common on these early cars. Little things showed the mileage up, like wear on the driver seat bolster, the gearknob, and slightly 'hazed' headlamp covers (question: is there a solution or a replacement available for hazy headlamps?). But I could live with these no problem.
Those quad exhausts on the back - I thought they were a modification but salesman said they are factory fit AMG exhaust tips which seems accurate. Looking underneath, however, the pipes actually come out of each back box as a pair. This makes me think the back boxes must be different to the standard items as well. Can anyone confirm these factory fit AMG back boxes and quad tips were available for the 500? No big deal I'm just curious. Unfortunately it was no louder than standard.
On to how it drove and, more importantly, the question marks on it.
This was the first 500 I've driven and I hoped to experience great power. Which I somewhat did, but it was delivered a bit too softly for my preference. A bit too quiet and smooth, with no drama and just a brief burst of forward movement, which was a shame. I was also surprised that it only really pushed you in the back when let the engine rev a bit. When cruising at low speed, it didn't leap forward on a surge of torque the millisecond you brushed the throttle, and felt a tiny bit lazy. Perhaps using the sport mode on the gearbox would have helped this, can anyone comment? Otherwise, a diesel car seems a better bet in this respect. I also have one more driving issue to ask you about that I didn't like. When cruising in a straight line I experienced this horrible feeling of the back end moving left and right. I have experienced it too on another early SL500 I passengered in. It feels like the body is not properly attwched to the wheels! What is this all about? Is it normal? I hated it. It's subtle, but distinctive and unlike any other car. Nevertheless the overall experience was still good. I won't say the good bits as you already know what they are, but there were plenty and I'm focussing on the negatives.
The problems:
The salesman thought keyless go didn't work, but it did. However I got the impression it's unreliable. Is this true?
Heater didn't heat.
The history has a bill from a Cardiff based specialist in 2009 for drying out the boot, drying out the vacuum pipes and fitting a new central locking pump. This is obviously the classic leaky boot R230 problem, but I'm concerned that the invoice also said 'dry out front carpets'. I wonder, Why were they wet? Are there electronics in the front carpet area that could be at risk?
There was another bill from 2010 for 'diagnose ABC warning message. Found leaky suspension strut.' The invoice said they flushed the fluid. That's all. So, do you think that is really fixed? I am sceptical and the strut has to be an area of concern.
I couldn't get it out of P on the gearbox. The salesman could, and it seemed to have a knack to it. The car recently had a new EIS switch but I'm not sure if that's relevant.
They offered to fix these major problems before sale. Service, MOT, and all that. Everything else worked surprisingly well for the age and the car felt fresh enough. Salesman was really good apart from only giving me the the briefest of brief test drives (my being under 30 doesn't help here) and I don't want anyone reading this to be put off the place as they were probably the friendliest and most relaxing showroom I've ever been to.
However the car, being an expensive model, with those problems on it, and a far-from-ideal colour, I could never buy it. I suppose all the 'problems' could happen to any car, and some other garages would have fixed them before advertising the car, so perhaps I'm being unfair.
It's not a great sign though. This experience, and the fact it didn't drive as explosively as I would like, may even make me reconsider the choice of an SL500. Shame, as I don't fancy anything else in the Mercedes stable. I'll see another couple of cars before I make up my mind, though.
Russ
