My SL63 is up for sale on Pistonheads

[BIRMA]

After much thought I have decided to sell my SL63 as I embarking on a track day car project.
At first I was going to buy a Lotus 2 eleven but since I sold my track day RX7 I have hankered after a car I can mess around with and tweak etc.
The Boxster and the SL are great cars but you can't really thrash their backsides off on track and that is something I miss.

 

[afflier]

Link?

 

[BIRMA]

Hopefully this works (I am rubbish at this sort of thing)Used 2008 Mercedes-Benz SL SL 63 AMG for sale in Hampshire | Pistonheads

 

[nickjonesn4]

Beautiful car mate - very tempting but gone for a porsche instead. Good luck with the sale, sure someone will snap your hand off for it.

Nick

 

[BIRMA]

Thanks, I've had quite a few enquiries considering it only went up for sale Saturday.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

I didn't know you're selling but you said you keep cars about a year, so that makes sense. Now I understand test drive on our last meet.

What costs did you have so far or what are typical costs for SL63?

 

[Pathewolf]

Looks wonderful, hope you find a new buyer soon!

 

[BIRMA]

I didn't know you're selling but you said you keep cars about a year, so that makes sense. Now I understand test drive on our last meet.

What cost did you have so far or what are typical costs for SL63?

In all honesty it has only cost me £400 for the main dealer service which was done about 200 miles ago.
Driven very quickly the main cost is fuel I guess, using it's performance as much as you dare on public roads 13 MPG all other times about 20. Long runs I get 27 MPG keeping just about or over the NSL.
Tyres haven't been a problem yet because when I bought it there were new tyres all round.
Camskill offer MO1 Michelin PS2 for £215 each for the rears, £145 each for the fronts. I hasten to add these are top of the range tyres you could buy cheaper but I wouldn't.

As my advert states Performance Pack cars go for at least £3-4K more so I'm not being greedy and passing on the wickedly low price I negotiated with the Porsche garage when I bought it.

 

[BIRMA]

One of the reviews that influenced me from Chris Harris who I have great respect for when he worked for Evo magazine.

Cars should have roofs, so it stands to reason that the surest way to spoil any automobile is to remove that integral part of its body structure and call it a ‘convertible’.

I despise convertibles, or rather I used to despise convertibles, with a passion normally reserved for Piers Morgan’s television broadcasts. But I’ve just spent the summer mincing about in this SL63, and it would seem to have contaminated my purist’s approach to road-car monocoques. Ahem, I like this convertible.

The SL63 is a strange machine. A passing glance at the spec would lead you – quite wrongly it transpires – to assume that this was nothing more than a slightly uglier, less-torquey SL55 with the benefit of two extra forward gears. It’s a costly thing, too. The base car is £101,225, and with the optional Performance Pack (£8054 for an LSD, big brakes and some bling rims) plus a smattering of other toys, including a brilliant £861 keyless system, the car stands me in at £115,397. Ouch.

That’s serious money. But it is, in reality, so different to the old SL55 – and anything this side of a Ferrari California – in just about every aspect of its performance that the two cannot be compared. It has one of the great road-car powertrains. When, in 20 years time, I’m knocking about in some emasculated electro-hydrogen-thingy, I will dream about the noise this 518bhp car makesfrom idle to 7000rpm, even if the deliberate start-up BAAAARRP is too ostentatious for me (and my neighbours).

The seven-speed transmission is very clever too. Ostensibly, it’s a hybrid automatic/manual that locks up once under way. It’s Merc’s alternative to a double-clutch system, and I’m a big fan. It creeps in traffic far more predictably than those ’boxes and even though it doesn’t manage the same seamless shifts, it’s still crisper than any other conventional auto I’ve driven – with the added bonus of a full manual mode that uses two steering-wheel paddles.

And, in manual mode, the SL63 is a surprising drive. It steers, handles and goes quite unlike the car it replaces. As an everyday drive, it’s a fabulous all-rounder. The cabin is completely intuitive and the moment the sun comes out you can drop the hood and, well, get mincing.

 

[BTB 500]

The base car is £101,225, and with the optional Performance Pack (£8054 for an LSD, big brakes and some bling rims) plus a smattering of other toys, including a brilliant £861 keyless system, the car stands me in at £115,397. Ouch.

In real terms it's amazing how much cheaper SLs have got though. A base R129 SL60 cost £98k in 1996 - that's equivalent to £170k today!

Yours is a lovely car - good luck with the sale.

 

[BIRMA]

In real terms it's amazing how much cheaper SLs have got though. A base R129 SL60 cost £98k in 1996 - that's equivalent to £170k today!

Yours is a lovely car - good luck with the sale.

I agree and they become even more value when they reach a certain age too.

 

[BIRMA]

Might be changing my mind about selling because a friend of a friend is selling a share in a track day car.
it's amazing how even an advert on Pistonheads which probably eliminates half of the great unwashed public at large can still throw up the odd muppet.
The car has had six owners and as far as I was concerned it was more important to have a full MB dealer history than the number of owners but one gentleman last night made a really big issue of the number of owners so I put the phone down as I had been polite for most of the conversation.
Have to say when I had the Boxster up for sale I really did get a lot of plonkers but it sold in the end.
I sometimes wonder if some of these people are from companies that have similar cars for sale probably me being paranoid, still that doesn't necessarily mean they're not after me.

 

[JohnBell]

Might be changing my mind about selling because a friend of a friend is selling a share in a track day car. it's amazing how even an advert on Pistonheads which probably eliminates half of the great unwashed public at large can still throw up the odd muppet. The car has had six owners and as far as I was concerned it was more important to have a full MB dealer history than the number of owners but one gentleman last night made a really big issue of the number of owners so I put the phone down as I had been polite for most of the conversation. Have to say when I had the Boxster up for sale I really did get a lot of plonkers but it sold in the end. I sometimes wonder if some of these people are from companies that have similar cars for sale probably me being paranoid, still that doesn't necessarily mean they're not after me.

Nice sl63, six owners is quite high for a eight year old car, but i agree condition/history is more important just ignore the muppets.

 

[Red C220]

In real terms it's amazing how much cheaper SLs have got though. A base R129 SL60 cost £98k in 1996 - that's equivalent to £170k today!

Yours is a lovely car - good luck with the sale.

Think about it though, the SL60 AMG at the time was the equivalent of the SL65 AMG today, which is £170K before options. So realistically it's on a par.

 

[Red C220]

Might be changing my mind about selling because a friend of a friend is selling a share in a track day car.

This sounds like a marvelous idea. All the fun and only a share of the ball ache.

 

[MancMike]

Looks badass. Love the plate. Take it that's not going with the car.

 

[BIRMA]

This sounds like a marvelous idea. All the fun and only a share of the ball ache.

It does make sense in so many ways because they are in the swing of organising trackdays etc

 

[BTB 500]

Think about it though, the SL60 AMG at the time was the equivalent of the SL65 AMG today, which is £170K before options. So realistically it's on a par.

I don't actually think there was an R129 equivalent to the SL65.

The SL60 only cost 20% more than an SL500, and (officially) had 19% more power.

An SL65 is more than double the price of the current SL500! And has 38% more power.

The SL63 is probably a closer equivalent (being a V8 rather than a V12). That costs 38% more than a current 500, with nearly 30% more power. But it's still 'only' £114k.

 

[Red C220]

I don't actually think there was an R129 equivalent to the SL65.

The SL60 only cost 20% more than an SL500, and (officially) had 19% more power.

An SL65 is more than double the price of the current SL500! And has 38% more power.

The SL63 is probably a closer equivalent (being a V8 rather than a V12). That costs 38% more than a current 500, with nearly 30% more power. But it's still 'only' £114k.

Money is cheaper though now and it's difficult to compare vehicles that are 20 year apart.

The SL65 has been pitched in direct competition with Aston Martins and Bentley's and has been priced accordingly. In so much as it's priced at a level at which MB think people will pay rather than what it's worth. Which I guess accounts for why so few are ordered.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

Keep it, it's a nice car And you will have reason to come to our Brooklands meetings.