Post articles/videos about your ride from when it was new!

"AMGtech - now with more recalls!" (amgtech) 04/14/2016 at 16:14 • Filed to: Retro review

4

78

Wobbles was doing one of his dream garage things last night, so I was looking for my car’s (‘01 E55 AMG) original msrp, and came across this article that I really enjoyed reading and lined up perfectly with all of the reasons I bought it. Post yours too!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

DrScientist > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:19

1

found this gem a month or so ago.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:25

0

EL_ULY > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:25

1

Top Gear Winter Olympics Old XC90 vs newish Audi Q7

Top Gear Review of Z4 by Hammond

SVTyler > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:28

0

Car & Driver had nice things to say:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/ford-s…

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/fo…

So did MotorTrend:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first…

These three reviews convinced me to buy the car and they were all right, this thing’s awesome and I love it to death.

Urambo Tauro > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:29

1

I’m surprised I was able to find one this old:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Okay, so it’s one year off. 1994 and ‘95 models were almost 100% identical anyway.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:30

0

I can’t find one specifically for the sedan so a ‘95 Coupe review will have to do.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/1995-b…

Also this picture from C&D (I think) that I absolutely love.

Aannnnnddd a Motor Week review:

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:31

1

Here’s an ad for a 3rd gen 4Runner.

Twism > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:31

1

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2005-d…

They perfectly nailed the roominess, the comfort, the cheap plastics, the crappy front suspension...

10 years later, this review is still pretty accurate.

Land_Yacht_225 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:32

2

Original Car and Driver Comparison between the 2003 BMW 760 and the Mercedes S600.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/20…

Not to brag, but apparently I could tear a 575 Maranello a new one if I so desired.

Party-vi > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:36

0

Boosh. Acura CL Type-S vs BMW 330ci .

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 04/14/2016 at 16:47

0

What about the safari?!

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:51

0

Just watch any mid-90s GM review and you'll get the gist on that. They're all the same.

CaptDale - is secretly British > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:53

1

I have an 06, but 90% the same car

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 04/14/2016 at 16:56

0

I like how they got all the other cars to be red. That was an excellent ad, and that’s coming from an owner of the second car.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 16:57

1

Car and Driver seemed to like it.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/audi-a…

CaptDale - is secretly British > CaptDale - is secretly British 04/14/2016 at 17:11

0

Also

AfromanGTO > CaptDale - is secretly British 04/14/2016 at 17:31

1

AfromanGTO > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:32

1

AfromanGTO > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:34

1

I like this 04 one.

AfromanGTO > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:35

1

AfromanGTO > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:37

1

http://www.motortrend.com/news/sport-cou…

AfromanGTO > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:38

1

http://www.motortrend.com/news/sport-cou…

CaptDale - is secretly British > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:43

1

i FORGOT ABOUT THE ADS!!!!

CaptDale - is secretly British > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:43

0

HHHHHNNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!

CaptDale - is secretly British > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:51

1

I love this one

Jayhawk Jake > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 17:52

0

That wasn’t hard

CaptDale - is secretly British > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 17:53

0

Eww, that kit is awful!

Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 17:54

1

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Flat6ForLife, Drives a Flat4 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 18:19

1

I’m a freshman in college and I’m living three hours away from my car. I’m slowly dying without it.

whoarder is tellurium > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 18:58

0

Couldnt find my model year specifically, so this is the first version G35 before the refresh and moar HP:

Muh Audi A8:

AfromanGTO > CaptDale - is secretly British 04/14/2016 at 19:57

1

The RA6 body kit is pretty horrible. lol

Some people want it, and act like it is made of gold....

CaptDale - is secretly British > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 20:00

0

Well I looked it up and I didn’t think it was too bad on a black one, but the gold is a bad color to start with (yellow was the worst) and the kit seems kinda of unfinished. I love the functional Ram Air though.. HHNNGGG

marshknute > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 20:08

1

Here’s Motor Trend’s take: http://www.motortrend.com/news/2008-chev…

And because imagery should never be subtle, here are their photos of it next to some horses. Get it? Horsepower!

AfromanGTO > CaptDale - is secretly British 04/14/2016 at 20:26

1

The kit leaves a lot to be desired is being nice about it. You’re not a Brazen Orange or Yellow Jacket fan. lol “Functional” ram air, you’re better off getting an over the radiator air intake.

CaptDale - is secretly British > AfromanGTO 04/14/2016 at 20:34

0

No I am not. I know that. I’m sure my k&n makes more sense, but its still cool.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > CaptDale - is secretly British 04/14/2016 at 21:55

2

That’s cool. I loved these when they came out. Didn’t realize until now how close they are in performance to my E55.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > SVTyler 04/14/2016 at 22:01

0

I drove lightly modified one about ten years ago and was very surprised at how good it was.

benJAMIN > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/14/2016 at 22:39

0

I spent a solid month and a half looking/test driving cars, then I read this review on C&D - http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-d…

I hadn’t even considered a Charger, other than a Scat Pack, There were two main problems with the Scat Pack Charger: they are few and far between, and it doesn’t help the ones I could find were $47k or greater. I decided to go test drive a new B5 Blue Pearl Charger R/T with the road and track pack, and fell in love. Quite the departure from my Focus ST, but I needed more room, and was tired of the manual in Houston traffic. Ended up buying that B5 R/T for $38k(MSRP was right at $43k) and couldn’t be happier. Now all I need to do is figure out what to do for an exhaust setup!

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 04/15/2016 at 00:11

0

WAIT dude. the last car in the paper ad in the line. that looks like an escort RS cosworth

SVTyler > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 02:22

0

Yeah it’s a great little car out of the box, especially considering what you’d expect from an early 2000's Ford product. Do you remember what mods the car you drove had?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > whoarder is tellurium 04/15/2016 at 02:28

1

I’ve always liked G35's, and thought they sounded better than that review have them credit for.

That Colin McRae comment though :(

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > AfromanGTO 04/15/2016 at 02:47

2

I think the idea of a wide body kit on a goat is pretty cool, but they should have only made the fenders and quarters wider, rather than add a bunch of extra crop like black tail lights and useless side scoops.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > SVTyler 04/15/2016 at 02:49

0

The only thing I remember is a very aggressive clutch that had no slip whatsoever. But I know it had some other mods as well, probably at least intake and exhaust (whether they helped it or hurt it though I don’t know).

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > marshknute 04/15/2016 at 02:49

0

Dat juxtaposition tho

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Land_Yacht_225 04/15/2016 at 03:05

0

Sweet! I didn’t know that! Something something ww2...

How is your car doing by the way?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Flat6ForLife, Drives a Flat4 04/15/2016 at 03:14

1

I’m not a Subaru person at all (I tried, really I did) but I like these. Have ever since playing them on the original gran turismo. Very fun little cars, and good looking too.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 04/15/2016 at 03:19

1

90's reviews are awesome.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > DrScientist 04/15/2016 at 03:24

0

Non-beetle Porsches are best Porsches!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 04/15/2016 at 03:25

1

I think you mean best gen 4runner

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Jayhawk Jake 04/15/2016 at 03:36

0

That was almost cheating :)

Never realized how quick those things actually are, or how good they sound!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > EL_ULY 04/15/2016 at 03:38

0

Yay moose!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 04/15/2016 at 03:40

0

Those are fun little cars. One of the ladies at my store has one with a stick. I’ve worked on and driven it a few times. Not bad. Not bad at all.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Party-vi 04/15/2016 at 03:46

1

I don’t know if that counts. They didn’t take transmission issues into account. Too soon? Sorry. Seriously good cars though. 90% of an M at a much lower cost to own. It always surprises me how well they handle and how smooth/linear the engines are.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > benJAMIN 04/15/2016 at 03:50

0

A colleague of mine has a scat pack challenger and loves it. Could use more rear tire though.

Party-vi > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 07:17

1

There wouldn’t be any transmission issues if it had a clutch :(

Jayhawk Jake > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 07:56

0

They only sound good inside because of the fake engine noise. But it's fun!

StndIbnz, Drives a MSRT8 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 08:24

1

http://www.motortrend.com/news/performan…

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 08:49

0

That one in the video is a pre-facelift one which looks much better.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 04/15/2016 at 09:53

0

Agreed. But I think facelifted ones are better in every other way.

benJAMIN > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 09:56

0

Yup! I have no clue why Dodge skimps so much on the rear tire. I only have 245s(!!!!) on the rear...

Urambo Tauro > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 09:57

1

It’s refreshing to ignore the last two decades and look at the context of what the car meant at the time of its release.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 09:58

0

Eh. They’re not that great.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Jayhawk Jake 04/15/2016 at 10:19

0

I always forget about those fake exhaust noises.

Land_Yacht_225 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 10:21

1

Back to her old self now. Changed the air filters out and the throttle seems to be lagging less. Check engine light eventually went off again, and stayed off to pass the state inspection. She even handled a trip to Hilton Head Island and back with no problem.

Still trying to figure out how I’m gonna come up with enough money this summer to pay back the repair cost and keep the car.

However, I do have a question. What is your experience with “the 70 mph vibration”and poorly calibrated front wheel hubs/bearings?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 04/15/2016 at 10:21

0

But they’re not bad. There are a lot of worse cars to have.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > benJAMIN 04/15/2016 at 10:22

0

Maintenance costs, and just cost in general, would be my guess. Wider tires cost a lot more money.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Urambo Tauro 04/15/2016 at 10:23

0

Exactly.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 04/15/2016 at 10:29

1

I had a vibration at about 60, I had the wheels re balanced and then put some extra pressure in some of the tires to balance it. It's gone now so...

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Land_Yacht_225 04/15/2016 at 10:32

0

Glad to hear it.

Ummm... Gigolo?

In my experience, assuming the bushings and ball joints are all good, it usually comes down to tires or wheels. Tires can get flat spots from sitting, or just not flex evenly causing excessive road force. Wheels can get bent, or aftermarket wheels generally just fit like crap and don’t balance well. Exceeding the stock size doesn’t help either. These cars are definitely very sensitive to vibrations when they’re not perfectly set up, but 99% of them can be fixed with new bushings, ball joints, or tires/wheels.

CaptDale - is secretly British > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 10:51

0

AGREEDED

Land_Yacht_225 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 11:07

0

That’s my problem. I’ve got brand new ball joints, tie rod ends, and control arms. My mechanic says the bushings are fine, my motor mounts are good. I’ve had the wheels re-balanced twice. The Mandrus Mannheim rims the car came with are I’d say moderately priced (not just chromed pig iron I don’t think), and exact factory sized front and rear, and they’ve got good Continental Procontact DWS tires that were looked at and aren’t severely uneven. I’m just grasping at straws.

I’m just going from post #14 on this: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-…

I just stumbled on that when I was trying to find out where and how to rip out the fuse for the secondary PSE pump to see if I could get my seats working temporarily to confirm it’s a kinked line that’s inactivated all my air bladders.

Land_Yacht_225 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 04/15/2016 at 11:07

0

What kind of pressure do you run in yours? Although, you have the AMG pack with staggered, bigger diameter rims.

AfromanGTO > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 11:11

1

They did make a few sets of wider fenders for GTOs to fit wider tires on, but they were expensive. Yes, the black out 06s tails on the orange GTO is stupid, because all 06 GTOs had black tail lights.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 04/15/2016 at 11:20

1

My rears were replaced at one point and are no longer staggered. And I’m not even sure what pressure, I think it’s around 36-37PSI. I need new wheels badly .

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Land_Yacht_225 04/15/2016 at 14:52

2

You can try the wheel bearings, though they’re rarely bad enough to cause that issue. You can simply pop the dust caps off and try tightening them up a bit if you want, or have a so do out, I don’t know. It’s not hard, just don’t over tighten them.

Did you have the wheels road force balanced? The road force readings should be below 15-20lbs at the most.

I’ve seen those specific wheels cause problems a couple of times before, doesn’t mean yours are the issue though. They can balance fine but still wobble when spinning, if the tech doing the balancing isn’t posing strength and watching them closely it would be easy to miss.

The other option, last option, that you most certainly did not hear from me, is to try tightening the pinion preload on your steering rack. Start with a quarter turn, a quarter turn at a time, don’t exceed one turn. It’s like a 3inch diameter circle thing on the rack with IIRC a 13km but right in the middle. This method is “not approved”, but generally effective with no adverse consequences if done correctly. I may or may not have allegedly been involved with such repairs in the past, as advised from certain technical people way above my pay grade, allegedly.

AfromanGTO > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/15/2016 at 16:46

0

That’s why most GTO owners really don’t like comparing their cars to Mustangs. Especially back in the mid 2000s. It was basically a V8 Euro gran tourer made in Oz.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Land_Yacht_225 04/15/2016 at 22:15

0

Just realized I was a victim of auto correct, a few of my sentences don’t make a bit of sense.

First paragraph should have been “tightening them up a bit if you want, or have a shop do it”

Third paragraph should have been “if the tech doing the balancing isn’t paying attention”

Last paragraph should have been “IIRC a 13mm nut right in the middle”

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 04/18/2016 at 00:14

0

http://www.autos.ca/car-test-drive…

Here’s a Canadian review that seems reasonably fair to me.