Hi,
I've seen a 98 S reg AMG E55 at a local dealers priced at 15995 with 90k on the clock... looks mint outside and in, and has full MB history.
Any opinions?
I know servicing, types brakes etc will be expensive for this sort of car, but are there too many miles on the clock for this to be a sound buy?
I thought Mercs were supposed to be pretty bulletproof, but maybe these AMGs one are different?
Thanks!
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Looking on AutoTrader, the car is reasonably (rather than bargain) priced. I don't think it's at all a high mileage - it's six years old and so has done 15k a year on average. That's actually about what you'd exect for a car like this - people who could afford the new purchase price were unlikely to be bothered about fuel costs either and drove them accordingly.
That said, there are similar lower mileage cars out there for the same money, e.g., Quentin Willson's old car (apparently) with 63k on it, which is in Stratford upon Avon. Use the AutoTrader search on the left to get an idea.
If that's the kind of car you want, and are willing to accept that if it does go wrong, it will be expensive (and that could happen to a 63k car - very low mileage really - or to this one) then with a bit of haggling, it could be a good buy.
Mercedes Benz quality is being sniped at a bit and you will get comments to that effect on here, but it's probably better than most, even if it's not quite a Lexus. However they are not immune to ageing or simply to faults. I would almost certainly get an inspection done on this car before buying - £16k is a lot for a six year old car and if your only considerations are reliability and build quality then buy a new Avensis or Accord. Ideally, I would get it done by a local Mercedes specialist with experience of the car and a good reputation, whom I would then use for maintenance.
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I like E55's - very stealthy and nearly half the price of an M5.
Should be good for a lot more miles, engine is unstressed, only about 60bhp/litre. As you say, it will eat brakes and tyres so that would be your main cost. Also depends when the next service is due and if it's a major one or not.
That one is up on the miles though, will be difficult to sell over 100k miles I think. I'd conduct a national search, e.g. there's one near me (on Autotrader) with 65k miles for £15,500
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Its the miles that bother me... I do about 30k pa, but was only thinking of getting the E55 to keep for a year, so a 60k'r at the same price would make more sense.
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90k is barely run-in for a Mercedes.
I've been in loads Mercedes taxis in Europe with well-over half a million miles on them (800,000km). The difference between 90k and 60k is negligible by comparison. They'll be largely motorway miles anyway. I would personally care more about getting one that's been looked after properly than one that's got 20k less on the clock.
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Twenty minutes ago I walked past an S-reg E-class MB. Consistent with all the reports of quality problems with MB cars of this age, there was a horrible run of rust around the boot lid. Beware.
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