R230 SL350 Buying advice (mis-posted in Performance Lounge)

[W1ghty]

The SL350 has finally arrived! It sat on the drive for about five minutes before a neighbour christened it 'The Batmobile'... a name it will now carry in perpetuity. The obsidian black really suits it and flatters its age: it does not look like a 12 year old car. Drives superbly, too. Lovely sound from the V6 as soon as you open it up a bit.

Some photos soon... once the weather improves.

In the meantime, there is one little niggle that is going to bug me: a persistent, low frequency buzzing from either the AC or COMAND (but not from speakers - it's not an audio buzz or ground issue) audible when the car is stationary. It's present when the ignition is off, but it's not a cooling fan because it's there as soon as you get into the vehicle. The dealer says the car was checked and no fault found, but I don't think they looked (well, listened) very hard.

Any immediate thoughts on likely causes or known issues?

Thanks!

Nice car buddy . It’s due a gearbox ATF and filter change every 40k miles , so it’s due another if it hasn’t just had one .

 

[BlackC55]

My best advice is to get it inspected before you purchase it.

 

[ToMegaTherion]

My best advice is to get it inspected before you purchase it.

Too late, alas. It was delivered yesterday. The noise was looked into as agreed, but the dealer says there's no identifiable issue.

 

[ToMegaTherion]

Nice car buddy . It’s due a gearbox ATF and filter change every 40k miles , so it’s due another if it hasn’t just had one .

Yeah, next service will be a few K shy of 80, so I'll get that done then. It had a full MB service at around 40, so I'm assuming the first ATF change was in scope there.

 

[W1ghty]

Yeah, next service will be a few K shy of 80, so I'll get that done then. It had a full MB service at around 37, so I'm assuming the first ATF change was in scope there.

It should have had one at 37500 miles , MB will have a record if it did , it doesn’t automatically get one

 

[ToMegaTherion]

Getting to know the car gradually... lovely machine. It has its quirks, I'm sure. The biggest (so far) seems to be that the wind deflector completely obscures the rear parktronic indicator when in the 'down' position. So much so that on the test drive I couldn't find the damn thing at all.

I've seen this discussed elsewhere, so it seems to be a design issue rather than a peculiarity of my car.

Has anyone thought of any clever workaround (except keeping the deflector 'up', ofc!)?

 

[W1ghty]

Getting to know the car gradually... lovely machine. It has its quirks, I'm sure. The biggest (so far) seems to be that the wind deflector completely obscures the rear parktronic indicator when in the 'down' position. So much so that on the test drive I couldn't find the damn thing at all.

I've seen this discussed elsewhere, so it seems to be a design issue rather than a peculiarity of my car.

Has anyone thought of any clever workaround (except keeping the deflector 'up', ofc!)?

Using your mirrors instead

 

[Merc220cls]

I’ve had my 350 SL for two years now and still can’t believe how lucky I am to run it as well as our CLS Shooting Brake.
The SL is a 2004 and has just turned 12500 on the clock so still like new.
One thing to check is the roof seals & drains, make sure they’re all free of debris. I’ve made up a support to hold the roof semi open to check these regularly.
I would also advise a gearbox service if this has not already been done, otherwise enjoy the open air motoring.

 

[ToMegaTherion]

Using your mirrors instead

It may have to come to that. Over the years I've become a Parktronic junkie, I realise.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

We have had our 350 for about 7 or 8 years now and its done about 80k. Problems other than usual wear and tear and servicing have all been related to electronics. Aircon sensors of various sorts, so make sure thats all working properly, and a faulty EIS (electronic ignition switch) which evaded any MB diagnosis and caused all sorts of random issues for four years. Eventually solved from this forum which is a very good source for sorting tricky problems. Oh and collapsed engine mounts at 45k. changing them transformed the car.
Only other thing I would mention is that after her previous r129 my wife finds the ride a bit harsh and I made it even worse by switching it to 18s. I'm sure the facelift on 19s will have been sorted in that department.

 

[ToMegaTherion]

after her previous r129 my wife finds the ride a bit harsh and I made it even worse by switching it to 18s. I'm sure the facelift on 19s will have been sorted in that department.

Yes, I've come from an Airmatic CLS, so the R230 Sportpackage is a bit of a shock (without the absorber). Gone is the pillowy levitation across the local potholes, now replaced by a gleeful crashing through them, like a kid in wellies in the rain.

 

[ToeKnee]

Yes, I've come from an Airmatic CLS, so the R230 Sportpackage is a bit of a shock (without the absorber). Gone is the pillowy levitation across the local potholes, now replaced by a gleeful crashing through them, like a kid in wellies in the rain.

The R230 with ABC has a sublime ride.......

 

[ToMegaTherion]

The R230 with ABC has a sublime ride.......

It's really interesting that those who have ABC cars love them - and that those who don't warn everyone off them. It's like that with Airmatic too. And I never had a moment's trouble with that (well, one broken strut that cost about £150 to sort IIRC).

But with the 350 it's largely a moot point. Very few cars seem to have it.