Was pretty sure they never sold an M5 Touring in the US, but not 100% sure if they sold a 6MT 540i Touring; none showed up in a quickie autotrader search.

A W210 OG E55 is but I'd spring for the S/C W211

 

I like your train of thought.

 

Was it the E55 or the E63 the one with the rampant and epic head bolt failure?

 

^ Quick Google shows M156 which is the *63 AMG engine.

 

lol sweet, so I should be on the lookout for the X55 models.

 

The M113 engine and 722.6 transmission are very reliable. There's some preventative maintenance that needs to be done, but if you have some reasonable DIY skills, none of it is difficult. The SL has no strut conversion available but the E and S class do. If you can get rid of the variable suspension, you've removed a huge failure point.

 

I drove my first S55 AMG the other day ... I believe it was a 2003.

You guessed it, it had ABC warnings on the dash

Otherwise, very clean for the year ... smooth as butter with absurd torque.

 

A MMC W220 S55 AMG would fit the bill.

 

My SL still pops up with ABC warnings every once in awhile. The one that happens all the time is a white "ABC Visit Workshop" warning. These can be a glitch in a sensor or a momentary drop in pressure. It usually goes away within a few seconds and is most common if I haven't driven the car in awhile. A red "ABC Drive Carefully" is a real problem and you're supposed to immediately stop the car and check your ABC fluid level. If the level is low, continuing to drive will destroy the ABC pump and spray metal fragments into the stream, potentially contaminating everything.

I do get a red ABC warning every once in awhile, usually after going over a big dip. But it immediately goes away. Internet troubleshooting says my accumulators are going out, which are big pressure vessels that give a quick shot of pressurized hydraulic fluid as needed. There are 3 of them and they run about $150 each. But I'll also need to refill with Pentosin. Since I did a flush relatively recently, I'm going to wait a little bit since my accumulators are still functional for now.

Did I mention ABC is the crappiest part of these cars?

 

As much as I'd love to get a S55, and they are epic good value right now, I couldn't stomach the ABC part of it. I'd get the S500 airmatic LONG before I got anything with ABC.

 

Awesome, thanks dude. I am really thinking about picking up an early 00's Benz as a toy/fun car to tool around town in. Found a good E55 that looks like it's in good shape but has high miles at 140k. I think at this point, I'm not really going to find much that have low miles but getting good maintenance history is far more valuable than miles.

 

W211 E55 it is then
Probably one of my favorite E class generations. Along with the MMC W212, especially the AMG Estate

 

Airmatic is just as unreliable, if not moreso than ABC because the system has to be air-tight.

ABC can do amazing things. As a system, it is a very impressive technological marvel. From a maintenance standpoint, it's a pain.

 

 

Makes me remember running around 80mph up MoPac in Austin in my grandmother's S430 when the alert came on the dash, something to the effect of "Airmatic Problem, Car too Low"
Self-resolved on the next restart.

 

Agreed but it's a lot cheaper to service and maintain than the ABC system. Also, it can be swapped for coils if you should so desire.

 

I sold the SL55 to Carmax today.

Actually, I got the offer last Friday, but turned it in today. Carmax gave me $16,000 for it.



I did enjoy the ownership, but maintenance was a huge burden. In the 5 years or so that I owned it, I put about 11,000 miles on it. However, this was at the cost of an average of $2,000 a year in maintenance. This was also with me doing most of the work myself. It ultimately comes out to approximately $1.60 per mile in total operating costs. Definitely one of my more expensive vehicles to upkeep. And there was no peace of mind, thinking some kind of catastrophic problem was about to happen.

I have no idea how Carmax is going to sell this, but not my problem anymore.

 

I get it...that's how I felt with my E60 M5. I felt myself cringing whenever I started the car each morning.

 

wow, could only imagine how much it would have been if a shop did the labor.

+1 on the peace of mind, my cousin's husband (now ex) had a SL600, she would also cringe whenever she drove it for fear of something breaking while she was driving it instead of her Lexus.

A friend last couple years ago got a used CLS63 for cheap, he's a gambling kind of guy.

 

to see it go, always loved those, but get the feeling of impending doom. I had that even with my C300.

So, what's next on the block?

 

Having finally set foot into the Merc world I can appreciate this...
especially as I now am addressing a trans issue on my 722.6...
M112 is stout and no oil leaks or anything but I know it's a finicky car...

W210 was the last of the simple Mercs though so I'm hoping to be able to
keep it on the road for cheap. It's a wagon at that so you know there's that
cool factor.

 

Sorry to see, but completely understandable. Carmax doesn't retail anything older than 2009, so off to auction it goes.

 

Well my wife and I are trying our hand at either a barista FIRE or coast FIRE. So for now, just juicing our investments.

If we hit our targets, there's a 3 year plan for either an NSX2 or something Italian.

 

I didn't post about it but earlier this year after a trip, the car started smoking from the engine bay. It turned out the valve cover gaskets were leaking quite a bit of oil onto the manifolds. Since I was going to be in there already, I did the gaskets, changed all the hoses and spark plugs (remember MB have 2 spark plugs per cylinder). It came out to around $800 in just parts alone.

After I got all of that squared away, I took it out and just as I arrived at a gas station, I heard a "pop." ABC hydraulic hose had failed and fluid was flooding out from the front right strut.

One tow and a $1,000 repair bill later, I just got tired of it and decided it was time to go. New owner is going to get fresh plugs and all that. Oh well.

 

Oh yeah, and driving to Carmax the second time to sell it, the car developed a check engine light. I actually turned around to home and get my scanner. It was some O2 sensor code, which I cleared. But I took my scanner with me to Carmax in case the code came back (it didn't).

 

I have the vc leak onto the manifolds but I kinda like the smell.
The engine has been pretty solid save for a MAF code, and plastics, and regulators...and now the trans.
Yeah, it has not been that solid.

I'll finish making it cool and likely get out of it...
Honda has spoiled me as far as not having issues.

 

 

I knew what FIRE was but not barista or coast FIRE so I had to google them
Congrats, both of my daughters also wanna FIRE at some point (they're in their mid-late 20's)

damn, your MB was playing Christine to the very end