Problems with owning a Mercedes SL

"JDMatt" (JDMatt)
10/28/2014 at 18:26 • Filed to: Mercedes, first world problems, SL

So the other day at work I was dropping off a new porsche panamera for a customer. After the owner picked his car up a guy standing next to his 2005 mercedes SL starts asking me questions:

Is that your car? -no

Do you know how much that car is worth? - probably $75,000

how much can I buy one for used? - probably $35,000.

These questions led to him telling me about the problems with his '05 Mercedes SL. Now I've driven a few mercedes SL's in my time as a valet. They're nice cars, but so Is a BMW 6 series, Audi S5, Porsche 911, Etc. He went on to tell me that since he picked up the car a year ago it's been to the mechanic 4 times, but all for warranty work (gotta love extended warranties on unreliable cars!) but He wasn't worried about paying for the maintenance.

He hated all the unwanted attention that came with owning an SL. He told me about people who either love him for owning a flashy convertible, or people who hated his guts. He told me about people who would purposely mess with him in parking lots. he told me about a time is was waiting to pick one of his friends up outside of a nightclub, and a random drunk girl just decided to sit in his car.

Now I've looked forward to possibly owning a mercedes SL one day. It's not my dream car, but you can't argue with the fact that anybody who's driving one is probably doing pretty well for themselves. 10 years from now, if I have the money but my life is rather boring, I feel like I could change that by buying a Mercedes SL.... with an extended warranty.

DISCUSSION (6)

JGrabowMSt > JDMatt
10/28/2014 at 18:50

As the proud owner of an SL, I think he's wrong. The thing (in my opinion) about the SL class is all down to what you make of it. It's a GT car, it's not made for the drag strip, nor is it made for road courses. It's just a cruiser. It's got plenty of power, and the SL cars handle amazingly, but with that, they wear a badge. This guy would certainly get the same reaction if he showed up to an all Ford show or an all Mopar show. There are people out there that generalize things, and are overall pretty irrational people over things that really either 1) aren't their business, or 2) the result of stereotyping.

Now, I don't go to clubs at all, so I don't really have to ever worry about random people just getting into my car, but the SL class is the top of the line, "everything they've got" car from Mercedes; to buy one and then complain about the attention is pretty backwards.

I have to sink a solid $1000+ into getting new parts put into my SL600 Sport, which at the time, was literally the highest end car you could get in the US from Mercedes. It's most certainly from a different time (considering that the car has a 6 CD changer, tape deck, radio, self adjusting suspension, projector low beams, staggered 18" wheels, a 6.0L 48v V12, a pretty durable and reliable 5 speed automatic, and a fully automatic soft top with a removable hard top. To have all of that, much less from 1997, and bitch about the little things is such a messed up thing. Let's also not forget that I paid less than 1/10th of the original asking price, and should we even try to compare that with inflation?

So I say if you dream of owning an SL, go get it. Make your own experiences out of it, don't rely on what other people deal with. When the cars get driven regularly and well maintained, they do end up needing any more than any other car in the world. Parts break, rubber deteriorates, and all sorts of other things end up happening with age. It doesn't matter whether it's an SL class or a Camry. The SL class is made to be dreamt about, and from my perspective, it's because it's certainly a dream that can come true.

JDMatt > JGrabowMSt
10/28/2014 at 19:06

You bring up a good point. If I buy an SL in a couple years I'll know what I'll be getting into. I know that a mercedes frequently goes into the shop, because my dad owned one for about 3 years while I was in elementary school, and because I spent about a week or two being a lot porter at the service department at a mercedes dealership. Aside from all the bad things that can come with the car, unwanted attention and maintenance costs, it's still a 2 seater, V8, luxury convertible. In the near future I'm going to have my bachelor's degree in business, and while I was studying to get that degree I will have probably valet parked over 50-100 Mercedes SL's. While it has been nice to drive somebody else's SL, it would be 100 times better to be driving my own SL.

E92M3 > JDMatt
10/28/2014 at 19:48

Some people automatically assume all german luxury cars are expensive. I usually get 2 reactions. Either I must be in enormous debt, or my family is well off and provide assistance. Neither of which are true. People used to think my 9 year old M3 was a "new" BMW.

JGrabowMSt > JDMatt
10/28/2014 at 19:51

I disagree a bit on the service. If you pop the hood and actually check on things on even a semi-regular basis, you really don't need to worry about the car being in service often.

The water pump on my SL didn't go until 95k miles. Wheel bearings are original, as are the suspension parts.

The difference between most other SL cars and mine is that mine has 99k miles on it, and the only other two that I know of directly have 35k and 48k.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > JGrabowMSt
10/28/2014 at 20:09

Keep in mind, the car above was quite a bit newer, which means a) being a Benz, reliability likely got worse, not better. Same with maintenance costs. b) The car above looks a lot newer and more expensive than an R129, so people who have something against the wealthy will "target" it more.

JGrabowMSt > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
10/28/2014 at 20:20

Unless it's an SL63 Renntech, I really don't think it's going to be some maintenance monster.

The R129s are hardly cheap cars. Their overall value is low comparatively, but the maintenance is no cheaper.

Most (I'm going to rationalize this) newer SL cars are not V12s. Most of them are V8s. They're a lot easier to get things done on, though the cars are a bit smaller.

I understand your point, but I would fully expect newer SL class cars to be equally or more reliable than the R129s (and the R129s are really reliable from what I've seen).

Put on a similar timeline, I think that 10 years ago, even my SL would have fetched a lot more money compared to today. If someone is going to hate a badge, it doesn't matter what it is.