I'll try to be interesting.

"Land_Yacht_225" (nadenator) 11/07/2015 at 23:56 • Filed to: None

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How marvelous! I now get to share all my adventures in the automotive world with you lovely people! I do promise I will try to be interesting. Well, not me per say. Although I will try to chime in with my thoughts of general automotive goings on from time to time, my 2004 Mercedes-Benz S600, the BaronesS, is the interesting one. Consider it a cathartic article series. You all get to listen to my suffering as I lavish many, many monies on the car I’ve always wanted to own, despite its well known penchant for excessively expensive repairs to over-engineered systems.

I’m fairly mechanically inept, so I don’t really do any more than oil changes. And unlike some lucky Range Rover owners, I only qualified for a very basic selective service warranty from a sketchy company who’s labor rates wouldn’t cover a Midas brake job and only pay for rock auto aftermarket replacement parts because the car had over 100,000 miles when I bought it. Consider these stories then, the real ownership experience of a decade’s old $140,000 high performance German car. This isn’t an S500 with airmatic struts you can replace yourself. This is active body control hydraulic suspension. Tune up? 24 spark plugs worth. Coil packs? $1,500 a piece because you’ve got an entire V12 worth of spark to produce on each side of the V12. The most recent trip to the mechanic was a $3,100 rebuild of the front suspension including control arms, ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, steering rack boots, wheel balancing, and a fresh alignment. But that’s an article for after I can find the itemized receipt from the shop. (My dad picked up the car and doesn’t remember where he put it and I’m across the state at school right now). But you know what, it’s worth it to drive such a special car. And I look forward to sharing my thoughts.

JGrabowMSt > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:06

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I need to know more about how this became one of your dream cars, and I certainly need to know how you stumbled upon it while being a student.

I say this because we share a special bond that is Mercedes V12 ownership.

Any regrets for not holding out for an S65 AMG?

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:09

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Welcome! And the car is awesome.

JR1 > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:12

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Glad to see you found your way over.

pjhusa > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:12

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Cathartic experience is cathartic

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:25

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Welcome! Gotta say I love how the oppo Mercedes crew is growing.

bobkustofawitshz > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:31

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Welcome! The W220 S-class has always been one of my favorites... I will own one someday. Looking forward to hearing about yours.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 00:36

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Brah ! I also drive a 2004 S600 ! Welcome to the V12 oppo club. Isn't abc great

6Cylinder > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 02:28

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S class burnout or gtfo.

911e46z06 > 6Cylinder 11/08/2015 at 03:08

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I think all 3 s600 owners in the thread need to have a burnout competition. Winner gets 1000 internet points.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > 911e46z06 11/08/2015 at 03:09

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I'm looking for cheap bad tires for this very purpose

911e46z06 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/08/2015 at 03:15

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Youre a goddamn hero

$kaycog > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 09:42

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Welcome to Oppo! Lovely car!

Renescent > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 11:03

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Welcome! I have an AMG C55 and think my next one needs to be an S Class ;-)

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 11:39

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Biturbo? My boss/friend has a 2005 S600 V12 twin turbo. Pretty amazing car, even more amazing is the cost of repair. Oil change? Gotta use super expensive special Mercedes unicorn spooge. Shocks and struts? Remortgage your house. Of course, the first thing he did was add a methanol injection system and a tune. Now he’s trying to get custom wheel adaptors so he can run the same bolt pattern as his sleeper Buick and swap his drag slicks between the two.

Does yours have the radar cruise control? That’s the only feature absent from my friend’s car and the one he was most excited to get, but couldn’t find.

6Cylinder > 911e46z06 11/08/2015 at 12:57

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Yes!

Land_Yacht_225 > 6Cylinder 11/08/2015 at 13:10

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My car requires a $2,200 valve cover gasket replacement before I can wind her up past 3000 rpm. Otherwise I’ll just be splattering 0W40 all over my exhaust manifold and the coil packs and probably making the oil leak worse.

When this has been rectified, I agree: burnouts must occur.

Land_Yacht_225 > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 11/08/2015 at 13:19

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Biturbo indeed, Starting 2003 they all were. Oil isn’t actually bad at all. You can do your own oil changes and Walmart actually sells Mobil 1 0W40 in 5 quart jugs...you just have to buy two since the old girl takes 9.5 quarts. Shocks and struts...it’s a little misleading to refer to hydraulic active suspension with many feet of hydraulic lines and a $5000-to-replace radial piston hydraulic pump as expensive shocks and struts.

Radar cruise control, or Distronic? So glad you asked! Yes! I do. Shopped around forever to find one with it! Had to have it. Also bought one with the rear 2 person individual bucket seat package by sheer coincidence. Save for Designo and the AMG bodykit, she’s fully loaded!

Land_Yacht_225 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/08/2015 at 13:20

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They want $900 for a suspension flush and I have a stuck valve in my rear valve block...shoot me.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 13:41

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Ooh. If you can do an oil change, you can probably do a pentosin flush. Have you put in the upgraded 3 micron filter yet ? It helps with the stuck valves.

Land_Yacht_225 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/08/2015 at 14:09

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My mechanic only uses the 3 micron filters. They said you need STAR to make the car do a full flush of all the fluid in the system? And I really don’t want to risk missing anything up. The pump is too fragile and expensive. I’m just greatful there are no leaks and it works when the car is running and under pressure. Unfortunately the next thing on my list is a very overdue set of front brakes.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 14:27

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Yeah, Distronic. That’s the word! Does it work as billed? I was always curious about that. How have your annual operating costs been so far? Owned it for long?

Also...

*sits in back seat moving around front seat*

huehuehuehuehuehue

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 14:42

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Ah. Brakes are fun. And cheap...

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 14:46

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I have the opposite lol. No distronic or buckets in the back, but I have the AMG package and mocha designo.

Land_Yacht_225 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/08/2015 at 15:23

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Doesn’t get any duller than grey. You don’t know how horribly badly I want that interior. That is the most perfect orangey-brown-cognac color.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 11/08/2015 at 17:34

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Yesss. Grey/black is just boring . That's pretty much the reason I bought this one. Have you done anything about the lack of Bluetooth ?