Hello newbie need thoughts on this E55?

[cjmarka]

Hello everyone. Been looking for about 2 months and finally ready to pull the lever and get one.

I went to Ilford to see this one today

Facebook Marketplace: 2005 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Komp Rare Tanzanite Red – Cars, vans & motorcycles – Ilford, Redbridge, United Kingdom

146,000 lots of service history and it appears some of the major issues have been address (airmatic replaced 2017, SBC inspected, etc)

Body and paint were excellent except for a little paint on the edge of the hood. No rust I could see, not modified, tires good, etc.

Question: if I could get this for £8k is that a decent deal? Seriously considering this but the mileage is an issue for me....I've seen 110k ones in good condition go for 8k. I'll be daily-ing it as well so in about two years when I want to sell it, it'll have 165k

Thoughts? Suggestions?

PS...weird thing happened on the test drive. Was cruising at about 5 mph in traffic, then when I went to accelerate, the throttle didn't respond at all. Put the accelerator all the way to the floor, and was unresponsive. I let up and tried a few more times then it came alive. For the next 45 min it was fine. Big deal?

Thanks in advance. Cheers

 

[AMGeed]

Welcome to the forum
The E55 is a great car and that one looks a very nice example with a fair few options. I do think its a little overpriced with that mileage but I doubt you'll get the seller to drop to £8k from £9999.
The lack of acceleration could be a sign of a faulty throttle position sensor which would need checking out. You don't want zero power pulling into speeding traffic

Another one in the area is my old car I sold last September which has come up for sale again as the new owner needs a 4x4. I had it for 6 years and enjoyed it a great deal. Its a genuine car and the new owner has spent a fair bit bringing it up to how he likes it.
2004 E55 Salon Brilliant Silver

 

[cjmarka]

Sir, thank you!

Actually, the seller agreed to the £8k, plus I'm throwing in my cheap Honda Civic worth about £600 so o guess you could say I can get it for £8600.

Do you think even with 146k that's a good value? I'm American and will be leaving back to the US next summer of 2021...so I'll likely be putting about 15,000-20,000 miles on it, then selling it again.

I've seen that Silver one and it's nice, but above my budget and I'm a sucker for a pan roof!

 

[alabbasi]

I dig the red interior. It's the same setup as my N/A 2002 E55. If the car is low on power, it might be the intercooler water pump that's on its way. I experienced this on my 05 S55. Don't sweat the mileage too much, just read up on the engine and make sure that all of the key mtc items have been touched and don't listen to what everyone says over there about factory service intervals. Change your oil often like you would this side of the pond. It's good insurance.

Best of luck.

 

[AMGeed]

Sir, thank you!

Actually, the seller agreed to the £8k, plus I'm throwing in my cheap Honda Civic worth about £600 so o guess you could say I can get it for £8600.

Do you think even with 146k that's a good value? I'm American and will be leaving back to the US next summer of 2021...so I'll likely be putting about 15,000-20,000 miles on it, then selling it again.

I've seen that Silver one and it's nice, but above my budget and I'm a sucker for a pan roof!

If you can get that deal and you are happy, go for it. I'm sure you won't have a problem selling it when the time comes.
I bet you wish fuel was the same price as in the States because you'll be using a lot of it doing up to 20k miles in a year.

Welcome to the forum by the way

 

[cjmarka]

Haha but I have an unfair advantage. I can buy petrol on RAF base for about 65p / liter so I'm ready to open it up!

And thanks for the welcome. I'll be here a lot so you all can get familiar with the car too

 

[cjmarka]

Haha but I have an unfair advantage. I can buy petrol on RAF base for about 65p / liter so I'm ready to open it up!

And thanks for the welcome. I'll be here a lot so you all can get familiar with the car too

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Check if the brake pipes have been done for corrosion.
MOT history reads strange, 2015 corroded, 2016 ok, 2017~2019 corroded.
Given the work at the main dealer claim I'd want these to have been fixed along with the the front shock.
MOT is also relatively short so assume it will have a new one but the "covered in grease" for the brake pipes always worries me.

My advice would be to get it on Star as soon as possible and check for any errors.
If I go to see an older Mercedes at a garge I always ask if they can show me a code reader on it, when they say they don't have one I pull one out, usually works.

Give the discs, pads, tyres etc. a good check over, easy enough to do on the ground.

Also be prepared to spend some money on it, thee cars are great but can be neglected meaning to get it up to scratch can cost a bit.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Welcome to the forum!

Other than slightly toppy mileage (9.5k per year) - great spec, rare interior and exterior colours, all important pan roof and a decent price plus he’s willing to take your old banger off your hands; what’s not to like?

(Drop in power could be intercooler pump btw)

 

[cjmarka]

Thanks SPX appreciate it. It wasn't really a drop in power, it was a weird thing where I could put my foot on the accelerator all the way to the floor and it was zero response.

Had to pump it a few times to get it going

Weird

 

[Skd884]

I am not surprised he has accepted your offer, its a £6.5k car with that mileage.

 

[cjmarka]

Now this is what I was hoping to hear. Honest info on how much the car might really he worth. I offered him 6k at first. I'm new to these and trying to get my bearings

I worry about overpaying

 

[Germgh0st]

Welcome

 

[SarahAnn200]

Am I the only one who would walk away after having zero power on the test drive? Didn't you discuss the problem with the seller and tell him to fix it?

 

[zipdip]

No SarahAnn they would not see my back side for dust,the car looks great but to get a big warning sign on a test drive like that should make our OP think twice or maybe three times,the car is top end money with lots of mileage,I get the feeling he wamts to close the deal regardless.

 

[cjmarka]

No SarahAnn they would not see my back side for dust,the car looks great but to get a big warning sign on a test drive like that should make our OP think twice or maybe three times,the car is top end money with lots of mileage,I get the feeling he wamts to close the deal regardless.

No, I backed out this morning. Called a AMG specialist, he told me its probably not a huge issue, but the whole thing just doesnt feel right at that price. So I backed out. I think I would for 6k, as I originally offered, but that would be it. Keeping an eye out for a good one

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Keeping an eye out for a good one

There is a good one on here.

 

[merc85]

I promise you, cheap Mercs are cheap for a reason, sometimes you get lucky but more often than not they will cost ££s to bring upto scratch.

I’ve bought good cars with fsh, but even they have needed a good fettling to get them where they should be usually at least half the cost of what I’ve paid for the vehicle in the 1st place.

Buy the right car which has all the works detailed you should end up with a goodun but you will need a few more k than 6 for one.

 

[E55BOF]

I wrote this in 2015 after buying an '04 135K mile E55K estate:

The New E55k Estate

Posts #1 and #16 may be particularly of interest. Not including the paintwork, it cost me over £2k to bring it up to scratch - not concours, but acceptable. It was pretty much all routine items that needed sorting.


(Reading that took me back. I should never have sold that car; another bum decision that left me worse off in the long run. Bit like Brexit will probably turn out to be, really...).

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I wrote this in 2015 after buying an '04 135K mile E55K estate:

The New E55k Estate

Posts #1 and #16 may be particularly of interest. Not including the paintwork, it cost me over £2k to bring it up to scratch - not concours, but acceptable. It was pretty much all routine items that needed sorting.


(Reading that took me back. I should never have sold that car; another bum decision that left me worse off in the long run. Bit like Brexit will probably turn out to be, really...).

Four and a half years have passed by so quickly..!

Is that one the car you most regret selling then?