My Mercedes S500L 2005

[JPLKUBA]

Hi All.

Wanted to share my Mercedes S500L

This car was first owned by Mercedes-Benz Mayfair, and then by my boss, up until I bought it at the beginning of the year

The SPEC! is what sold it to me, it has everything, from night vision, Alcantara headlining, to roller blinds and double panoramic roof...IMO the nicest colour combo, and i am happy i ticked my S500 box with this one.

I have now moved 5min walk from my office, and since i don't drive it much, thinking of selling, however this is by far the best car ( overall) i have owed, ( i had 04 Bentley Arnage in the past but this takes the cake with the features)

Let me know if it would be wise to let it go, as the spec is quite something

Thanks for reading
Jakub

 

[alabbasi]

This would be a 2007 or up model year right?

 

[JPLKUBA]

It is 12th February 2006 Registered, so one of the very first ones
I is originally on 05 plate which runs on cars from July 2005 to end of February 2006 in UK i believe

 

[C43AMG]

Same spec as mine, apart from the sunroof. i picked mine up from the Factory in Febuary 2007. Last of the proper S-Class's, great car,great engine.

 

[JPLKUBA]

Hi Peter.

I am genuinely astonished with this car, driven the later model 2019, and honestly this takes the cake, it fills solid and powerful for the size, baffles my mind that it's 18 years old however it feels current and enjoyable to drive.

And yes the engine is a Peach!

BR
Jakub

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Looks great. January 2006. At 100k miles that 5.5 litre engine should be good for quite a few more, if it's been serviced.

It's a shame it's been parked up these last three years, but it's not a problem if it's been moved occasionally. It would benefit from detailing (seats, wheel, interior), but that's easily done.

I loved mine. I was going to switch to the multi screened W222 S500L but having ridden in a few now, I think they're no improvement and too big. I loved that 5.5 litre engine and I'm still not convinced the later engines were better.

The tragedy is that there are too many around and people are scared off by the size, the £630 tax, and the likely repair costs.

Even a 2006 S500 on half that mileage won't make five figures privately. There was an immaculate, well specified, one owner, dealer sold black S500L on 66k discussed on here a few months ago that struggled to get £10k, even with a designo interior.

But set the price right and an enthusiast will relish that original showroom spec.

 

[JPLKUBA]

Hi mate thanks for the feedback.

The pictures do no justice to the condition of this example, the paintwork is spotless, as my boss has kept it in underground car park in his flat, so no dings or scratches.

On the pictures the interior looks faded, but in reality is top notch, as when i bought it off him it was fully detailed and paintwork is ceramic coated.

The only thing that bothers me are the alloys, which i will refurb as they have this annoying alloy rust by the bolts!

Luckily this one is in lower tax bracket so I pay £365 or thereabout a year.

And yes if something goes wrong it will cost significantly, however my boss and now me both look after the cars like babies, so service every 9-12 months, and always run it on Shell V-Power ( luckily I have a company fuel card) although it's not a supercar in my little head it makes the engine run better.

To be honest i was never that torn about selling/not selling a car in the past as i always found faults with the example i had, but this one could be a keeper as i struggle to find a replacement for what this car offers under £20k

All the best
Jakub

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Hi mate thanks for the feedback.

The pictures do no justice to the condition of this example, the paintwork is spotless, as my boss has kept it in underground car park in his flat, so no dings or scratches.

On the pictures the interior looks faded, but in reality is top notch, as when i bought it off him it was fully detailed and paintwork is ceramic coated.

The only thing that bothers me are the alloys, which i will refurb as they have this annoying alloy rust by the bolts!

Luckily this one is in lower tax bracket so I pay £365 or thereabout a year.

And yes if something goes wrong it will cost significantly, however my boss and now me both look after the cars like babies, so service every 9-12 months, and always run it on Shell V-Power ( luckily I have a company fuel card) although it's not a supercar in my little head it makes the engine run better.

To be honest i was never that torn about selling/not selling a car in the past as i always found faults with the example i had, but this one could be a keeper as i struggle to find a replacement for what this car offers under £20k

All the best
Jakub

Exactly !

You know exactly how good it is !

Akerlof and Stiglitz won the Nobel prize in Economics on exactly this point in 2001 with their paper about Markets and Asymmetric Information. (A more sophisticated version of that 1970’s paper "The market for lemons.")

 

[C43AMG]

Looks great. January 2006. At 100k miles that 5.5 litre engine should be good for quite a few more, if it's been serviced.

It's a shame it's been parked up these last three years, but it's not a problem if it's been moved occasionally. It would benefit from detailing (seats, wheel, interior), but that's easily done.

I loved mine. I was going to switch to the multi screened W222 S500L but having ridden in a few now, I think they're no improvement and too big. I loved that 5.5 litre engine and I'm still not convinced the later engines were better.

The tragedy is that there are too many around and people are scared off by the size, the £630 tax, and the likely repair costs.

Even a 2006 S500 on half that mileage won't make five figures privately. There was an immaculate, well specified, one owner, dealer sold black S500L on 66k discussed on here a few months ago that struggled to get £10k, even with a designo interior.

But set the price right and an enthusiast will relish that original showroom spec.



View attachment 139608

Exactly. The road tax is a bit of a pain and i would get no more than five figures (+ it's got disigno interior & the AMG kit ) for it and with 182,000 miles it's just not woth selling it. As mentioned the engine is one of the best Mercedes have produced, it still pulls like a train. We use the S-Class if there are more than the two of us the Bentlley for high days and holidays and the Brabus which we use for the shopping, works perfectly. I'm bringing it down to BOTG so yo can see what a high mileage looks like

 

[ALFAitalia]

It is 12th February 2006 Registered, so one of the very first ones
I is originally on 05 plate which runs on cars from July 2005 to end of February 2006 in UK i believe

Not quite..... 05 plate ran from 1 March 2005 to 31st August 2005. So it cant have been registered Feb 2006 on an 05 plate....it would have been 55 plate if registered than.

 

[Sam87]

Beautiful looking S class.
I thought S class w221 model came out from 06 plate and my S class is late December 2006 which means it should have been a 56 plate car but the reg the car came with when I bought it last year it was a 55 plate.
Sometimes what happens is that when a car has a private plate and then it gets removed, it doesn't necessarily mean that the original pate will go on the car. DVLA can assign a different plate and maybe this car had a 05 plate assigned even though it's a 2006 car.
I could be wrong but it's the only reason I can think of

 

[ALFAitalia]

That cant happen....it might not get the original....although they often do....but it will always be age correct. The only exception being certain imports that sometimes get incorrectly registered as new as of date of import rather than date of first use.

 

[Sam87]

You’re probably right but I found it strange how my car came with a 55 plate reg even though the car is a late 2006 model. Unless the plate my car came with was also a private plate? It didn’t seem like one so I’m not really sure

 

[C43AMG]

You’re probably right but I found it strange how my car came with a 55 plate reg even though the car is a late 2006 model. Unless the plate my car came with was also a private plate? It didn’t seem like one so I’m not really sure

Check Car Verticle which will give you all of that information + lots more, accidents etc.

 

[JPLKUBA]

Hi All, looked at the original images of the car, and the plate is MD55 JYE, and the log book states first registered 6th February 2006 ( not 12th Feb!)

So I'm baffled now, as the car was initially registered and owned by Mercedes Mayfair, so definitely not a Japanese or other import.

However when i tried to revert to original plate from the current private, I had to send my paperwork ( DVAL did not allow me to do this online) and came up with message stating that due to the car's registration history i have to send documents via post.

Perhaps the original plate that the car was registered to was some kind of a personalised plate by Mercedes for the show car purposes. who knows.

I have decided to advertise the car now on Autotrader to see if anyone is interested, more of a gauge as I'm in no rush to sell it

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

A 55 plate shows the car was registered between September 2005 and end of February 2006

Source: Number plate format - how UK licence plates work | AA

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Mercedes Mayfair would only have registered a car when sold, or when "pre-registered" because of an impending registration number change.

The car could have sat in a yard or in a showroom for months before being sold to a customer.

Good luck with your sale: cracking spec. And that's a well written advert.

Have you tried lubricating that pano roof yourself? It's a common problem and there are plenty of resources on youtube and the web to help you through the process.

 

[JPLKUBA]

Thanks Mate

Haven't touch the roof as I'm not so '' mechanically inclined !''

I trust the folks at MERC CARE in North London in their diagnosis, and as stated in the ad, it did not bother me in the slightest as it seems we are in Autumn/Winter since October, however being reasonable I will either deduct the cost of repair from the asking price or fix it pre purchase.

Will be interesting to see if anyone is interested

 

[C43AMG]

As i mentioned if you want to know the Registration History, Car Vertical has that information

 

[ToeKnee]

As i mentioned if you want to know the Registration History, Car Vertical has that information

But at £30 for a report!