specifically looking for an E55 AMG with the blown V8. 469 horsepowers. Like this one...
http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?AVi=14&id=8649780&N=4294966961&D=90&ASTc=amg&zip=24153&pD=0&pI=0&pT=400&pC=200&pB=0&No=0&Ep=homepage:homepage%20Make&Rp=R&PP=20&sV=List&CD=662+14+966+240+190+398+9&Q=7b415b6c-67ba-4947-8dba-9e1b1ba0fc4e
anybody ever own one? seems like a fair price to me. What am I not seeing? Where are the weak spots?
Um according to certain people they have a hard time doing a propped burnout. 
I think the major problem is anything to repair is going to be $$$$$. My FIL has an '06 E500 and I don't want to get into how much it was for him to get stuff fixed when something random stopped working. Thank god the wiring harness was under warranty.
Otherwise it's been a rather reliable car.
I saw an older black one today...very nice....this repair cost thing bugs me, pisses me off for some strange reason
I have the been lurking all over the web for an 05ish ish S500. I think the wiiring issues are on the late 90sin cars. From what i can tell the biggest issue is the rear air ride suspension. Fixable but it looks to be about 1500 in parts. Other than that i have heard good things about the mid 2000 mercs
I'd also love to have a modern AMG one day, make mine a C63 =]
I love the e class too though
Around those years Mercedes made the gear that drives the balance shaft in the center of the vee out of silly putty that lasted long enough to get out of warranty. Basically the balance shaft is driven by the timing chain. The gear on the balance shaft wears out, which wears out the timing chain which causes the car to throw fault codes about not being able to keep the cams in time. I am not sure if this effects the AMG motors, but pretty much all the other gas v6 and v8 motors of that vintage have the problem.
The fix involves pulling the motor to tear it down and replace the balance shaft gear and timing chain and then hope it will start up and not throw codes.
bengro wrote: Around those years Mercedes made the gear that drives the balance shaft in the center of the vee out of silly putty that lasted long enough to get out of warranty. Basically the balance shaft is driven by the timing chain. The gear on the balance shaft wears out, which wears out the timing chain which causes the car to throw fault codes about not being able to keep the cams in time. I am not sure if this effects the AMG motors, but pretty much all the other gas v6 and v8 motors of that vintage have the problem. The fix involves pulling the motor to tear it down and replace the balance shaft gear and timing chain and then hope it will start up and not throw codes.
Yikes I had never heard of that one!!! THANKS!!!!! This may explain why I see alot of them for sale with between 70 and 110K on the clock. for no much $$$$.
When we had our third kid we needed to get a larger ride for my wife. She has this unnatural aversion to mini vans so we were looking at crossovers. In the end we ended up with an 06 R350 that had @75K on it. It now has a little over 100K and we have only had 2 issues with it, both related to the air ride.
The compressor burned up, there was a small hole in one of the feed lines and a couple of weekends ago I replaced all 4 of the air springs. If you end up with a Merc and need to replace the air stuff look up Arnott Ind. I got all 4 bags for just under $1000 with a lifetime warranty and the install really was not too bad.
There's a very good reason they depreciate extremely quickly after their warranty runs out....
Hope your wallet is thicker than a New York deli roast beef sandwich.
Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: When we had our third kid we needed to get a larger ride for my wife. She has this natural aversion to mini vans so we were looking at crossovers.
FTFY
conesare2seconds wrote:Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: When we had our third kid we needed to get a larger ride for my wife. She has this natural aversion to mini vans so we were looking at mini vans marketed as something else.FTFY
FTFY 
Klayfish wrote:conesare2seconds wrote:FTFYRusted_Busted_Spit wrote: When we had our third kid we needed to get a larger ride for my wife. She has this natural aversion to mini vans so we were looking at mini vans marketed as something else.FTFY
I call it a mini van from time to time just for the fireworks.
R63 AMG
slefain wrote: R63 AMG
Unfortunately those were way out of our price range. 
A 500 hp mini van would have been fun.
Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote:slefain wrote: R63 AMGUnfortunately those were way out of our price range.
Then Boost an early Caravan till you see Jesus.
Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: I call it a mini van from time to time just for the fireworks.
I'm lucky that my wife has no qualms driving a mini-van, she's all about the practicality. We use it for all types of "soccer mom" stuff...including taking our kids to soccer. How stereotypical can one get?? 
We go to the Philly Auto Show every year, and she always points out the R-Class and says "Now that would be a cool mini-van to have". Besides being out of our price range, it's just not big enough for us anyway. We're already debating what the van's replacement will be...I want a conversion van, she wants a Suburban.
My advice is drive one 1st. To be honest after looking past all the bells and whistles, I wasn't impressed. The performance is dull, it's a luxury drag car at best. When you try to turn it well you'll find out. Again I'm a bang for your buck guy, that gets his kicks out of S/C M3.
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