We have a pretty well-developed compendium of knowledge on the W220, grouped in the W220 S-Class Encyclopedia. The last section of the Encyclopedia deals with buying information that you may find useful. The '03 and on are solid cars; the '04 was the first year the MOST fiber optics bus was used, which allows for 3rd party additions far more easily than the earlier D2B bus. It also uses a DVD-based navigation system, superior to the CD-based earlier models. Its phone system is by far the easiest and least expensive of any W220 to convert to Bluetooth, if it doesn't have a handsfree (or any) phone already. Read more at http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w22...s-encyclopedia-start-here-2.html#post10079489
The Encyclopedia covers (fairly exhaustively) the problems owners have encountered over the past 16 years; don't be put off by it. NO ONE has all of the problems, and the knowledge base does a good job of providing less expensive fixes for most of them. As one example, the car has either an Airmatic (pneumatic) or ABS (hydraulic, computer controlled) suspension system. For Airmatic, the fix CAN be as simple as a $30 relay. Or, it may be struts and a pump. Arnott Industries has brought out remanufactured Airmatic struts (superior to OE) that cost about 1/4 what a dealer would charge for new.
I just traded an '05 (60K miles) I had for 10 years (without Airmatic problems); I'd have been happy to keep it another 10. But, because of garage space limitations, I had to reduce the number of cars I had, and I bundled it with my 450SL in trade for an S550 (W221) when the opportunity arose.
The Encyclopedia covers (fairly exhaustively) the problems owners have encountered over the past 16 years; don't be put off by it. NO ONE has all of the problems, and the knowledge base does a good job of providing less expensive fixes for most of them. As one example, the car has either an Airmatic (pneumatic) or ABS (hydraulic, computer controlled) suspension system. For Airmatic, the fix CAN be as simple as a $30 relay. Or, it may be struts and a pump. Arnott Industries has brought out remanufactured Airmatic struts (superior to OE) that cost about 1/4 what a dealer would charge for new.
I just traded an '05 (60K miles) I had for 10 years (without Airmatic problems); I'd have been happy to keep it another 10. But, because of garage space limitations, I had to reduce the number of cars I had, and I bundled it with my 450SL in trade for an S550 (W221) when the opportunity arose.
