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"MtrRider Just Wants Doritos" (MtrRider)
11/20/2013 at 20:21 • Filed to: None

For most of us, owning a V12 sports car is something of a dream. For !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , you can have the dream with a folding hardtop included. All things considered, it might be a good idea to opt for the extended warranty but other than that, you're paying Camry money for a V12 luxury sports car.

DISCUSSION (16)

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:24

Kinja'd!!!

I have some interesting tastes in dream V12 vehicles from Germany...

wbizarre - OEM fetishist > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:25

Man, people pay nearly $40K for Camry's?

Manuél Ferrari > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:26

I like it. Especially if that extended warranty is available.

Cars like this could become a classic. N/A V12s could be extinct soon.

If only it had an MT. Then it would be YES YES YES no matter how risky.

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > wbizarre - OEM fetishist
11/20/2013 at 20:26

Yes, they do.

Vandelay Industries > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:26

doesn't all carmax cars come with 6/100K warranty?

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull
11/20/2013 at 20:26

I think it's a Lambo, dude

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > Vandelay Industries
11/20/2013 at 20:27

On the site it specifies a 30 day warranty and the extended one os an option.

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:27

Well played. Well played indeed.

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:48

You're also paying Camry money for yearly maintenance. I'd still take this over the Camry even if I'm living on ramen.

getchapopcorn > MtrRider Just Wants Doritos
11/20/2013 at 20:55

CP — maintenance is close to the same as the 63 and 65 amg, you can have close to same year, 10k-20k less miles for close to the same price, fake wood paneling, horrid red/black combo — and either way maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.

You'd be better off dropping another 15-20k on a years new model, with much less milage, better interior, and extended warranty. Or you could watch this one - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-B…

JGrabowMSt > Manuél Ferrari
11/20/2013 at 22:25

My dilemma precisely, just, with an R129 SL600. Even if you find a higher mileage model, if it's well kept and up on service, it could be well worth the investment.

Manuél Ferrari > JGrabowMSt
11/20/2013 at 22:34

They are tanks. Sure the maintenance is expensive but the cars are solid. And I think this SL and the R129 will be a future classic despite how many of them were sold. The R107 never did it for me. And the R231 just looks off to me.

I think the pre-refresh R230 is the classiest SL since the 60s, followed very closely by the R129. And IMO the R230 is the best looking convertible hard top out there. The recent convertible hard top sport sedans have weird lines when the top is up. This car looks perfectly normal with the top up. I don't care that most of them were driven by dentists and accountants because eventually they will all trade their cars in for the new models and this one will only be kept by enthusiasts.

I wonder what an SL600 with aftermarket exhaust sounds like. Will need to check that when I get home. Still at work and blocked YouTube to keep people like myself from messing around all day, haha.

JGrabowMSt > Manuél Ferrari
11/20/2013 at 22:56

Tank barely touches it. The SL600 is such a drivers' car. It literally eats up the miles. Now, I don't enjoy spending well over $100 a week on gas driving it, but there are perks to the car. Even as chilly as it is, when it's around 50 degrees, I'll still put the top down. At 16 years old (going on 17), the top can still go up/down at most red lights, and since it's fully auto, people just stare at it.

I have really come to love the R129s, and just being used to it, I can tell the 320's, 500's and the extremely rare 600's apart. The SL600 is way more of a future classic than the 500 though. The SL500's were sometimes falsely badged as a V12 as well, and are very common. The SL600 is the future classic (I've discussed this at length with some friends before) of the bunch. It's totally a class of it's own, and even nearly two decades old, the 1997+ models are the super important ones. From 1997-1999 they had garbage wiring harnesses, but post 1999 went back to better ones. Even at that, the maintenance is terribly expensive. Considering how cramped the engine bay is, it's understandable. I mean, if I were a mechanic, I would fully expect to be paid well for the amount of work that would have to go into maintaining the car. I expect to do some of the work on it myself, but there will certainly be jobs I can't do at home with it, or I wont be able to do easily.

It would be a damn shame to see the cars get messed with. I have not heard any specific cars with aftermarket exhaust. I do know that aftermarket headers cost $6000. The car is a sleeper, it's meant to be quiet and enjoyable. Just don't anger the car, it's got an extremely brutal dark side. If you're going to do any pedal mashing, you better be prepared to handle it, because that car is seriously fast, and unexpectedly so. For a car with a weight listed as 4960lbs in the door panel, it gets up and hauls ass like nobody's business. I wont miss the twice weekly fillups when I get my DD back, but I sure will miss everything else about the car. She's a heart breaker. That's why I'll likely buy one next year. Next fill up, I'm going to check the tank average, and get an idea of how well it does, but the winter blend gas will undoubtedly screw with that a little.

Just to be clear though, while that newer R230 series has a classy look, the R129 is just as classy, and could be had for half the cost.

Manuél Ferrari > JGrabowMSt
11/21/2013 at 00:34

I definitely think the R129 is just as classy. In some ways I like it better than the R230. It has a really clean look. The only reason I give the R230 the slight edge is because it somehow pulls off looking retro without being a direct copy of a retro design. I like how the R230 makes me think about the 1950s Mercedes SLs without directly copying the look of a prior car. But I also love the R129 a lot. I still remember when it first came out when I was a kid. I saw the R107 all the time and didn't care much about it. But when the R129 came out and made the cover of a car mag I was blown away. It was modern German muscle and the V12 version was a monster.

If I had a classy Merc and got an aftermarket exhaust it would be a dual-mode exhaust. I wouldn't want it to be loud all the time. I would just want the ability to let the V12 sing when out on the open road.

JGrabowMSt > Manuél Ferrari
11/21/2013 at 17:47

I never really thought about it like that, I can definitely agree with that about the R230s!

I will say, I'd love to just throw a butterfly valve dump somewhere after the cats before the resonators on the 600 so those ponies can sing the song of their people. Just not sure I'd want to make any major changes to the rest of the system.

Manuél Ferrari > JGrabowMSt
11/21/2013 at 18:00

Come to think of it that is exactly what I would do! Why touch the exhaust when your solution would accomplish exactly what I want?

Thanks for that. I'm going to research that solution for my current cars.