S65 amg

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Bieldside

Active Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2015
Messages
401
Car
Merc SL65 , Porsche 991.2 Targa 4s , Porsche 9934s, S65 Cabriolet
S65 AMG
The beast of the AMG range
2006 car for sale. Stunning
My head says NO about 100 times as the reviews say don't go there. Too many things to go wrong
My heart says YES just for the experience plus I'd drive it 2000 or 3000 miles pa
What a car to have ....
 
Hi,

They are fantastic cars! Not many cars on the road can get close to them with the power under your foot. I have had one for the last year which i bought from a friend- that has never had any problems until now (they purchased it new for 155k in 06). Gearbox went and is currently with a MB specialist being fixed. It's for sale at the moment alongside my CLK63 but will keep whichever doesn't sell first. If you're looking to buy one I'd suggest getting the extended MB warranty that is offered by Mercedes, don't go to any o the cowboys. It should cost around £1800-2000 and £100 for each time you claim on it. It's my only regret about owning the car and not getting it straight away!

Good luck with your hunt!
 
Hi,

They are fantastic cars! Not many cars on the road can get close to them with the power under your foot. I have had one for the last year which i bought from a friend- that has never had any problems until now (they purchased it new for 155k in 06). Gearbox went and is currently with a MB specialist being fixed. It's for sale at the moment alongside my CLK63 but will keep whichever doesn't sell first. If you're looking to buy one I'd suggest getting the extended MB warranty that is offered by Mercedes, don't go to any o the cowboys. It should cost around £1800-2000 and £100 for each time you claim on it. It's my only regret about owning the car and not getting it straight away!

Good luck with your hunt!

Can you elaborate on the auto-box issues ? what were the symptoms? was the oil changed at the scheduled time. Any idea of the cost.
 
S65 AMG
The beast of the AMG range
2006 car for sale. Stunning
My head says NO about 100 times as the reviews say don't go there. Too many things to go wrong
My heart says YES just for the experience plus I'd drive it 2000 or 3000 miles pa
What a car to have ....

I recall that you have been thinking about buying a V12 for as long as I've been on this forum. You really need to get it out of your system.
I'm a month into ownership, have taken out a service plan with MB and I'm loving the car quite unlike anything I've owned. Life is too short not to.
 
Bieldside said:
S65 AMG The beast of the AMG range 2006 car for sale. Stunning My head says NO about 100 times as the reviews say don't go there. Too many things to go wrong My heart says YES just for the experience plus I'd drive it 2000 or 3000 miles pa What a car to have ....


Get it bought.
 
I've had a SL65 for about 3 years now. It's fair to say that when anything goes wrong, it'll cost about 4 times whatever I was expecting but... it is at least 4 times as good as any other car I've owned.
 
I've had a SL65 for about 3 years now. It's fair to say that when anything goes wrong, it'll cost about 4 times whatever I was expecting but... it is at least 4 times as good as any other car I've owned.

I'm attempting to compile an accurate long term picture of V12 ownership. Can you tell me what year your car is and the service costs. If you are a bit wary of putting these on the forum you are welcome to pm me.
I have started a Readers Cars thread on Pistonheads in an attempt to get a no bull**** account of these cars.
 
Well there are one or two fairly 'big ticket' items that seem to crop up with these.
For example, coils packs. An engine of this size creates a lot of heat so the coil packs tend to need replacing before too long. The unluckiest I've heard of is about 25k but some will get to 70k+ before needing to do it.
I bought mine with about 55k on the clock, one side had just been done and the other had to be done within a couple of weeks - really, they should have just done them both together. The cost was about £1500 per side - it's not that outrageous when you look at the per-cylinder price of any high performance car, it's just that there are more cylinders than most!

I understand the ABC active body control, is a thing that needs doing at some point and can be a bit pricey but I've not experienced that yet.

I got an MOT red-light on rear disks a year+ back. The quote came back: £1800 parts + £300 labour! I could not find a cheaper option for the parts, original or 3rd party. Worst though, it was Xmas and the parts weren't going to get to the UK till the new year. As it turned out, the previous owner had left it standing for a long time and it was only a little surface corrosion (which somehow didn't stop it getting its MOT the previous year) so a light surface skim sorted it for £300.

Obviously tyres are about £2-250 upwards per corner.
The wheels are alloy and one was cracked. A replacement was £500.

The exhaust will probably need replacing soon - I'm not sure but I think I'm looking at £1500-£2k for that.
IMHO it's all worth it though. The car is holding its value and it's costing no more than I'd be losing on depreciation on something more 'sensible'.

btw. it's late '04
 
Last edited:
Never come across anyone needing to replace a exhaust on a 04 Amg yet.
 
Maybe you just did ;)
 
Well there are one or two fairly 'big ticket' items that seem to crop up with these.
For example, coils packs. An engine of this size creates a lot of heat so the coil packs tend to need replacing before too long. The unluckiest I've heard of is about 25k but some will get to 70k+ before needing to do it.
I bought mine with about 55k on the clock, one side had just been done and the other had to be done within a couple of weeks - really, they should have just done them both together. The cost was about £1500 per side - it's not that outrageous when you look at the per-cylinder price of any high performance car, it's just that there are more cylinders than most!

I understand the ABC active body control, is a thing that needs doing at some point and can be a bit pricey but I've not experienced that yet.

I got an MOT red-light on rear disks a year+ back. The quote came back: £1800 parts + £300 labour! I could not find a cheaper option for the parts, original or 3rd party. Worst though, it was Xmas and the parts weren't going to get to the UK till the new year. As it turned out, the previous owner had left it standing for a long time and it was only a little surface corrosion (which somehow didn't stop it getting its MOT the previous year) so a light surface skim sorted it for £300.

Obviously tyres are about £2-250 upwards per corner.
The wheels are alloy and one was cracked. A replacement was £500.

The exhaust will probably need replacing soon - I'm not sure but I think I'm looking at £1500-£2k for that.
IMHO it's all worth it though. The car is holding its value and it's costing no more than I'd be losing on depreciation on something more 'sensible'.

btw. it's late '04

Any photos :thumb:
 
Well there are one or two fairly 'big ticket' items that seem to crop up with these.
For example, coils packs. An engine of this size creates a lot of heat so the coil packs tend to need replacing before too long. The unluckiest I've heard of is about 25k but some will get to 70k+ before needing to do it.
I bought mine with about 55k on the clock, one side had just been done and the other had to be done within a couple of weeks - really, they should have just done them both together. The cost was about £1500 per side - it's not that outrageous when you look at the per-cylinder price of any high performance car, it's just that there are more cylinders than most!

I understand the ABC active body control, is a thing that needs doing at some point and can be a bit pricey but I've not experienced that yet.

I got an MOT red-light on rear disks a year+ back. The quote came back: £1800 parts + £300 labour! I could not find a cheaper option for the parts, original or 3rd party. Worst though, it was Xmas and the parts weren't going to get to the UK till the new year. As it turned out, the previous owner had left it standing for a long time and it was only a little surface corrosion (which somehow didn't stop it getting its MOT the previous year) so a light surface skim sorted it for £300.

Obviously tyres are about £2-250 upwards per corner.
The wheels are alloy and one was cracked. A replacement was £500.

The exhaust will probably need replacing soon - I'm not sure but I think I'm looking at £1500-£2k for that.
IMHO it's all worth it though. The car is holding its value and it's costing no more than I'd be losing on depreciation on something more 'sensible'.

btw. it's late '04

Thank you most helpful, I'm guessing you use a main dealer for serving?
I have been given a long technical explanation as to why the coil packs go from another MB forum, I think I'm right in saying that the design has been improved, but personally I think MB should subsidise the replacement.

Pain about the rear discs I'm guessing the previous owner had replaced the fronts. I have been getting quotes for a set of discs and pads all round, but in my Brooklands health check they stated 10% wear, so I'm holding back now on purchasing them for the time being and setting the money aside for coil packs, although in my forensic examination of the car before going in for service I noticed new labels on the coil packs so that may go some way of explaining the £3K+ service the car had last year.

I suppose 13 years is a fair run for an exhaust.
All helpful stuff thanks.
 
I never really assumed the 'main dealership' mantle to provide any guarantee of quality.
It's going in to Terry at Wayne Gates next week as I'd much rather trust an indie whose work stands up to public scrutiny than a dealership that has, one way or another, simply established a turf.

While it would indeed be delightful if MB chose to subsidise my repair bills, I still regard the cost as something of a bargain, for a car in which U can sit at the lights, put the roof down in a shade over 10 seconds, and be doing 60 4 seconds later... :cool:

Yep £3k would about cover the coil packs! What's the mileage?
 
I never really assumed the 'main dealership' mantle to provide any guarantee of quality.
It's going in to Terry at Wayne Gates next week as I'd much rather trust an indie whose work stands up to public scrutiny than a dealership that has, one way or another, simply established a turf.

While it would indeed be delightful if MB chose to subsidise my repair bills, I still regard the cost as something of a bargain, for a car in which U can sit at the lights, put the roof down in a shade over 10 seconds, and be doing 60 4 seconds later... :cool:

Yep £3k would about cover the coil packs! What's the mileage?

Fair enough, as I tend to change my cars after about a year. I decided that a full MB service history could have an influence when I came to sell it. I know full well a good indie deserves to have the work and will carry it out carefully, but people can be stuffy about a car not having a full dealership history.

My feelings about the coil packs are that in my opinion they're not fit for purpose, in my business if one of my products fails I replace it or make it good at no charge as I have considered all design parameters. So I would think that they should be subsidised at the very least. Pi****g in the wind I know but I live in hope.

It's a 2007 with 48,000 miles.
 
Around 48k for coil packs is definitely in the ball park.

I just checked and it was 58k mine were done.
 
ABC....nooooo thanks
 

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