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May Add a 500E to my Fleet

2K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  szvook 
#1 ·
I'm thinking about adding a 500E to my fleet. What is the best year to buy and how much would I expect to spend? What is the horsepower? Are there many performance upgrades available?
 
#2 ·
JNice - 5/22/2005 8:52 PM

I'm thinking about adding a 500E to my fleet. What is the best year to buy and how much would I expect to spend? What is the horsepower? Are there many performance upgrades available?

The 1994 is the most collectable and the most money ranging from$20k to $40k. 92 is most common but boasts the most ponies @326hp. The 93 and 94 come w/ 315hp. And yes, there are many upgrades for these cars as you will find after researching further. Hard to find lower miles w/ good history/maintenance that havent beed beaten to death but these things absolutely drive like a dream. You just wont believe it if you havent had the opportunity yet! Autotrader is the best place to find this car regularely as there are 6-20 of them at any given time. 500ecstacy is another super site devoted to this car w/ a $100 lifetime membership. The guys there are absolute Gurus on this subject. This will be a car in my rapidly growing collection too within the next year or two. Also, consider getting a euro version which has a few more features not found on US models. the going rate average for this car now is between $14 to $20k w/ miles ranging from 70k to 150k. good luck, BC
[:0]
 
#3 ·
Oops, i screwed my post up! sorry. I was going to say, i see your in Michigan and theres a real nice 1992 smoke silver w/ tan guts there. Ive talked to the owner twice and his name is Phil. Car has 70k miles and hes trying to get $17k for it due to a new home purchase. thats on autotrader. With these miles, assuming they are legit, this is very fair for this car and i was considering it for myself. That color is a light tan paired w/ the tan interior w/ tinted windows looks smashing!! Ill run a car fax on it and get the story.
 
#5 ·
Car is on its second owner. Never hit, legit car. 1st owner traded it in late 2000, car bought in 1/22/2001 by the current seller (PHIL), cars been in Michigan all its life. I cant believe that car hasent sold, but most of these cars sell out of Ca, not the midwest where peeps dont really even know what they are.
 
#6 ·
bc2885 - 5/22/2005 5:42 PM

Oops, i screwed my post up! sorry. I was going to say, i see your in Michigan and theres a real nice 1992 smoke silver w/ tan guts there. Ive talked to the owner twice and his name is Phil. Car has 70k miles and hes trying to get $17k for it due to a new home purchase. thats on autotrader. With these miles, assuming they are legit, this is very fair for this car and i was considering it for myself. That color is a light tan paired w/ the tan interior w/ tinted windows looks smashing!! Ill run a car fax on it and get the story.
how good are you at haggling?
i think the miles warrant a lower price
then again i know nothing about blue book pricing
i probably will double check on my suggestion with kbb.com later
 
#7 ·
The 500E is a 5.0L V-8 producing 326 BHP, enough to take you to the grocery store, or to wipe out the 1995 BMW M5 at high speeds. It was built in conjunction with Porsche, at thier factory on the same production line as the Porsche 959 supercar. It will launch you from 0-60 in 5.9secs with a top speed of 155mph restricted. Derestricted it can reach speeds of above 170mph. The best model years to purchase would be 1993/1994 facelift E 500's. They have updated trunk, hood, headlights and a few other cosmetic bits compared with the 1991/1992 500E's. I would recommened you buy a low-miles 500 with Full Mercedes-Benz service history if avaliable. Always HPi check the vehicle and get it checked for accidents etc.

Full Review of E500E avaliable on http://www.e500.org. There are some performace upgrades for the 500E model. For example, BergWerks, located in California (http://www.bergwerks.com/) produce a 100BHP NOS Kit for the 500E. They also provide a 1st Gear Start module, which starts the vehicle in 1st gear everytime, for increased acceleration. There is also various exhaust upgrades and performace chips, although i'd think the car is powerful enough. The 500's all had ASR's and Mercedes didnt add the feature of switching it off, so many aftermarket dealers can perform this trick to turn off the ASR, the 500E will really burn some tire!!! This can also be done at home, although I have never done this! 500E's can take alloys up to 18/19" with low profile tires. The 500E's suspension setting is self-levelling. The automatic gearbox is 4-speed. Hope this helps, and good luck finding a good 500E.

Regards,
Mo
 
#8 ·
Having had an E500 I can't recommend them highly enough......fantastic cars!

A number of things to look for which are critical on the E500's;

1) Engine wiring harness: Made from biodegradable insulation. Due to the extreme temperatures under the hood, the insulation on the harness will degrade at some stage and if your luckly you will just have to pay for the harness itself which is $1000+. If you're unlucky and you don't catch it in time, you run the risk of the ECU, Coil Packs etc being fried...cost $4000.

Make sure you find if it's been replaced, if not knock the price off the asking price as the harness WILL fail, especially as the youngest cars are now 11 years old.

2) CAT's....if you have rattling cats get the price knocked off...$$$$ to replace.

3) Warning lights: are any of the coming on...if things like the SRS lights are coming on, you potentially have some major bills coming your way.

4) Gearbox....has it had regular oil changes and is it changing up nice and smooth....if not walk away or factor the cost of a rebuild into the price.

5) Engine: Rattle on start up?....timing chains need changing. $$$ to replace.

6) SERVICE HISTORY: If the car has no service history or an incomplete service history....walk away. Its just not worth taking the risk. These cars need to be maintained correctly and if they have been, they last for ages and can really take the mileage.

I would rather buy a 140,000 mile car with service history than one with 70,000 miles and no history!!

Summary: Great cars, Great build quality, fantastic engines, Awesome performance.....one of the ultimate Q cars!
 
#9 ·
Thank you all for your response!! Much appreciated!!
 
#10 ·
1) Engine wiring harness: Made from biodegradable insulation. Due to the extreme temperatures under the hood, the insulation on the harness will degrade at some stage and if your luckly you will just have to pay for the harness itself which is $1000+. If you're unlucky and you don't catch it in time, you run the risk of the ECU, Coil Packs etc being fried...cost $4000.
Just to clarify...the upper wiring harness is currently $514 from Rusty at www.*.com.. I just replaced mine last week. Car only has 59,000 miles, and every wire in the harness was exposed. It only takes about an hour to do-it-yourself. More info can be foud at www.500ecstasy.com
 
#11 ·
menaceboy - 5/22/2005 11:03 PM

bc2885 - 5/22/2005 5:42 PM

Oops, i screwed my post up! sorry. I was going to say, i see your in Michigan and theres a real nice 1992 smoke silver w/ tan guts there. Ive talked to the owner twice and his name is Phil. Car has 70k miles and hes trying to get $17k for it due to a new home purchase. thats on autotrader. With these miles, assuming they are legit, this is very fair for this car and i was considering it for myself. That color is a light tan paired w/ the tan interior w/ tinted windows looks smashing!! Ill run a car fax on it and get the story.
how good are you at haggling?
i think the miles warrant a lower price
then again i know nothing about blue book pricing
i probably will double check on my suggestion with kbb.com later
Blue book has very little to do with the sale price of these cars! It is usually market driven by private parties, not NADA/kelly values. The car is worth so much more than book value would suggest!
 
#12 ·
bc2885 - 5/23/2005 4:18 PM

menaceboy - 5/22/2005 11:03 PM

bc2885 - 5/22/2005 5:42 PM

Oops, i screwed my post up! sorry. I was going to say, i see your in Michigan and theres a real nice 1992 smoke silver w/ tan guts there. Ive talked to the owner twice and his name is Phil. Car has 70k miles and hes trying to get $17k for it due to a new home purchase. thats on autotrader. With these miles, assuming they are legit, this is very fair for this car and i was considering it for myself. That color is a light tan paired w/ the tan interior w/ tinted windows looks smashing!! Ill run a car fax on it and get the story.
how good are you at haggling?
i think the miles warrant a lower price
then again i know nothing about blue book pricing
i probably will double check on my suggestion with kbb.com later
Blue book has very little to do with the sale price of these cars! It is usually market driven by private parties, not NADA/kelly values. The car is worth so much more than book value would suggest!
depends on how torn up the last owner left it then huh
aww i wish i had an e500e
92 94 any fricken year
 
#15 ·
abbam - The best model years to purchase would be 1993/1994 facelift E 500's.
Are you referring to the cosmetics of the 1993/1994's as the premise to better years for the 500 model?

Just in one way the 1992 models are better, the wiring harness are made better then the 1993/1994's models and do not break up as much. My wire harness is almost like new, and I saw a few wire harnesses at my mechanics shop from a 1993 and 1994 models (with a bit more miles on the clock then my 1992) and they looked really bad.
 
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