That was a massive oversight

"Land_Yacht_225" (nadenator) 02/02/2016 at 15:55 • Filed to: None

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A friend of a friend of mine recently asked me to aid my expertise in shopping for a new vehicle after his old BMW died (a 1995 530i - the 3.0 V8 version - with nearly 300,000 miles on the clock). And being that he is aware of what I drive, he was naturally curious about the prospect of joining the W220 club. He did his research, and came to the table surprisingly knowledgeable. He knew that the safest bet, mechanically, was an older, N/A 55 AMG, a 2001-02 model. I agreed, it is a brilliant powertrain and had to admit I’d never seriously shopped for one as they appear in the wild in pretty abused states most commonly, in my experience. But I did a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! because I knew there had to be a few good ones out there.

There are. Very many. But that isn’t the surprising thing. No. The shocking statistic is that, of the 16 2001-2002 S55 AMGs listed nationally including pictures (the only way to adequately judge options), 8 are equipped with Distronic radar cruise control. That’s a 50% occurrence of an option it took me a year and a half to find on an otherwise adequately equipped car in the rest of the lineup. The end reason I bought an S600, because I couldn’t find it on an S500 which had all the other options I wanted. I thought the original S55 was more like its Kompressor successor, sporty interior, heavily bolstered seats, leather sport steering wheel, etc.

Nope. Of the 8 with distronic, 6 have a wood and leather steering wheel with matching gear stick. 2 have power adjustable rear seats which are heated and ventilated. All 8 have ventilated and heated front seats, with 7 including at least heated rear seats. Also, the original body kit was pretty subtle.

So, what I’m seeing here is that I could have bought an older, cheaper W220 with ALL the options I wanted AND with an engine I don’t have to have a panic attack over every time I go to start it, for fear of a misfire. Great. That was a huge oversight. I love the brutality of an AMG, but in my mind it has always taken the “luxury” out of the S-Class. Thats exactly why my searches for a W220 never included any AMG variants. I’ve always wanted a 55 or 65, but it would have to share a garage with a normal variant I could drive every day. Well, I was wrong. Note to self, early AMG S-Classes just have bigger engines and monoblocks.

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I’m particularly smitten with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! :

Maybe it’s the color. It just seems a little more unique than the others. Different wood package in the interior too.

My citroen won't start > Land_Yacht_225 02/02/2016 at 15:58

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Maybe it’s the orientation of the picture, but those tires and wheels don’t look right.

JGrabowMSt > My citroen won't start 02/02/2016 at 16:03

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No they don’t.

Needs more Monobloc

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > Land_Yacht_225 02/02/2016 at 16:04

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I’m probably the only one who thinks that the pre facelift w220 looks better then the post facelift.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Land_Yacht_225 02/02/2016 at 16:38

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Have you driven a 65? I don’t think they’re terribly brutal and are still incredibly luxurious. Maybe I’m desensitized?

Oh, and make sure he knows about ABC!

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 02/02/2016 at 16:39

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SNAP OUT OF IT ! Pre face lift 220s are horrific . Those are the cars that give the W220 the bad rep it has because of the bad electronics. Run away ! Either way, bring him into the W220 opposphere. We need more !

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Land_Yacht_225 02/02/2016 at 17:07

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I believe the 530i is an I6, not a V8.

Land_Yacht_225 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 02/02/2016 at 17:07

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Ok! Geez! Relax! I’m not trading mine in on it. V12 or nothing, I’m spoiled for life.

And I’m faltering on the superiority of post-facelift COMAND. CD’s 2-5 in the six disk changer in the trunk have become rather hypothetical than actually accessible and the in-dash is coughing up CD’s so weakly now that I have to keep a needle nose pliers in the glovebox and grab onto the CD edge to remove it if I want to change disks.

MM54 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/02/2016 at 17:33

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Nope! The earlier 535 was a fairly large I6, the 530 was a little V8. I test drove one once, it was in terrible condition in every way except the engine itself, which was very pleasant.

MerkySaab > JGrabowMSt 02/02/2016 at 19:20

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Fap fap fap

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Land_Yacht_225 02/02/2016 at 20:11

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I'm kidding(for the most part). When I first got my Bluetooth tape adapter my tape deck just couldn't spit it back out. But for whatever reason, now it can. Also pre facelift COMAND makes me question my sanity. It's infuriating.