OT: Any experience with the 1996 Mercedes SL 500?

[RFC]

Well, the transmission in my 2003 BMW Z4 went yesterday. My local mechanic, who takes care of my fleet of aging German cars, explained to me that it was not economically efficient to fix it and that I should get another car.

My local Mercedes certified mechanic (not dealer) from whom I have purchased 4 older Mercedes over the years, has a 1996 SL 500 for sale that he has rebuilt.

From the photos, it looks very clean. I'm going to check it out this afternoon.

Have any of you had experience with this vintage of SL's?

Thanks!

[Ken Robb]

I drove one on the track at Laguna Seca when they were new and was impressed with the performance for a fairly heavy car. I think fuel economy is not very good and as is typical for old German cars repairs will be expensive.

What's the price and what has been done and might be required soon? I gather your BMW is an auto trans because installing a good used manual would be pretty reasonable. One of my neighbors has been thinking about selling a VERY clean Z4 3.0 6 speed manual with less than 40,000 miles for about $10,000 I think. He loves the car but now spends most of his time in Baja and it wouldn't be suitable for most of the roads down there.

[Tickdoc]

Old boss had one and no one could touch it. Only his girlfriend and wife could ride in it. Great car, but man that guy was a dick.

[RFC]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

I drove one on the track at Laguna Seca when they were new and was impressed with the performance for a fairly heavy car. I think fuel economy is not very good and as is typical for old German cars repairs will be expensive.

What's the price and what has been done and might be required soon? I gather your BMW is an auto trans because installing a good used manual would be pretty reasonable. One of my neighbors has been thinking about selling a VERY clean Z4 3.0 6 speed manual with less than 40,000 miles for about $10,000 I think. He loves the car but now spends most of his time in Baja and it wouldn't be suitable for most of the roads down there.

You are correct. It is the trans that allows you to shift between "manual" and auto. I understand it is a fairly complex system.

[RFC]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

Old boss had one and no one could touch it. Only his girlfriend and wife could ride in it. Great car, but man that guy was a dick.

LOL! William Hurt drove a SL in "The Doctor" and he was a dick in that movie.

[ZeKGB]

I had a 97 SL500 and they are generally built very well but have a few weak spots that are $$$ to fix. Things to ask about:

- Top hydraulics - if not gone through by now, you will eventually have to do so. Here is a good thread on the location of each hydraulic cylinder, you should check each for signs of leaks. If found expect $1-2k in repair costs.

- Electronic Throttle body - This comes with a 2500 price for a new unit from Mercedes, and if original you can pretty much count on it failing sometime soon. You can roll the dice on a good used unit but just borrowing time. If it's been replaced that's a huge bonus.

Power Steering Pump - These almost always are leaking at the reservoir, and it makes a huge mess and will eventually cause your serpentine belt to fail. Ask me how I know. Anyway for most 96 built SL's you should be able to buy a kit for just the reservoir and related O-rings, but sometime late 96 they went to a unit that had an integrated reservoir that required replacement of the entire pump to fix the leak. I guess they realized that was a mistake as sometime during the 98 production run they switched back. Not an impossible DIY repair if you are handy, but super messy and the pumps are close to $1k from Merc. Lucky 96/97 owners!

Overall it's a fun car to own and drive if you stay on top of the maintenance and a relative bargain at today's prices even when factoring in repair costs. Post some pics and any other info you get including asking price and I can comment further.

[saab2000]

I drove an SL500 once and an S-Class driving friend of mine kind of advised against it. He said every time you have to go get anything fixed it's hundreds more than you might imagine, maybe thousands in some cases. He could afford it. He advised me (not in a condescending way) that I probably could not. He was probably right.

The car itself was intoxicating. Smooth, powerful, good looking, etc. Just a really, really nice car to drive. But you have to be aware that owning it will likely be an expensive proposition.

[zmudshark]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

Old boss had one and no one could touch it. Only his girlfriend and wife could ride in it. Great car, but man that guy was a dick.

Originally Posted by RFC

LOL! William Hurt drove a SL in "The Doctor" and he was a dick in that movie.

Sounds perfect for you.

[BikeNY]

I sold a '97 SL500 for my mom last year. It was my fathers car, and she kept it for a number of years after he passed, but finally decided to sell last year. It was in excellent condition with only 44k miles, and I could only get around $10k for it.

I don't know all of the maintenance costs, but I do remember her having to spend a lot of money on it regularly, even though she barely drove it. The top seemed to come out of alignment all the time, preventing it from either fully opening or fully closing. Fun car to drive, but I wouldn't want to own one!

[azrider]

Originally Posted by BikeNY

I sold a '97 SL500 for my mom last year. It was my fathers car, and she kept it for a number of years after he passed, but finally decided to sell last year. It was in excellent condition with only 44k miles, and I could only get around $10k for it.

I don't know all of the maintenance costs, but I do remember her having to spend a lot of money on it regularly, even though she barely drove it. The top seemed to come out of alignment all the time, preventing it from either fully opening or fully closing. Fun car to drive, but I wouldn't want to own one!

mmmmmmm...............staggered wheels.......

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

Old boss had one and no one could touch it. Only his girlfriend and wife could ride in it. Great car, but man that guy was a dick.

<thread_drift> At a former company we got a new CEO who organized a "get to know each other" dinner for the senior staff. The VP of marketing was bragging about his new SL and the CEO said "that's a woman's car".

Yes, he was a dick.</thread_drift>

[texbike]

The internal model number for the car is r129. There's a lot of information about them on the interwebs including several forums and Bring a Trailer. I've always liked the look of the r129s, but couldn't bring myself to own one due to their weight, complexity, and cost of ownership. There were other cars that I would prefer to have with my limited garage and life space.

Good luck with the research!

Texbike

[KarlC]

Originally Posted by BikeNY

I sold a '97 SL500 for my mom last year. It was my fathers car, and she kept it for a number of years after he passed, but finally decided to sell last year. It was in excellent condition with only 44k miles, and I could only get around $10k for it.

I don't know all of the maintenance costs, but I do remember her having to spend a lot of money on it regularly, even though she barely drove it. The top seemed to come out of alignment all the time, preventing it from either fully opening or fully closing. Fun car to drive, but I wouldn't want to own one!

Nice one and those AMG wheels are REALLY rare !

.

[BikeNY]

Originally Posted by KarlC

Nice one and those AMG wheels are REALLY rare !

.

When I was trying to sell the car, I had way more people interested in buying the wheels than the car!

[glepore]

I have 2 96 MB's, a r129 v12 sl600 and a coupe cl600. In addition to what has been mentioned, the a/c evaps on these cars are suspect for corrosion. There are epoxy sealants that work well if the holes are tiny, or as a prophylactic measure. Replacing one is 2-3k as the dash comes out.

Top hydraulics are necessary at some point, its about 8 hrs or so diy and there is a really good rebuilder (oddly enough named Top Hydraulics). Around a grand if you diy.

If the car has ADS, pm me. Its rare on 500's.

The motor itself is excellent but will occasionally chew up timing chain guides. The cam oiler has plastic pieces that can pop off and cause a tapping noise but no real harm.

My concerns with these cars comes down to what has been let go. They are appreciating but have been cheap, thus folks got into them that could afford upkeep. They can be uber reliable, but can also be expensive unless you have a good mb indy or like to wrench.

The driving experience is, as a guy on the mb board put it to me when I was shopping, that its a Mercedes touring car. Its not nearly as sporty as your z4.
Lots of torque and plenty of go, but the driving experience rewards smoothness and finesse in spades. Its not a sports car, more of a gt leaning towards the t.

I love mine, but its not for everyone.