In the market for a 2003-2008 SL 500/550. Why? I think it's the most beautiful car made in the past 20 years. Anyway I originally was finding some decent options like ~2004 with reasonable mileage that were affordable and fairly well kept up. Read up on all the typical issues and problems, the knowledge base posts, etc... and feel like I got a decent grasp of what I was getting myself into. But, alas, for not that much more I can get the considerably more powerful motor and obviously am interested in that. I'm getting turned off by the idler sprocket issues and don't want to buy something where I'm paying out of my rear to drop the engine early on in my ownership. One I'm interested in is an '07 with an engine serial prior to the fix. It's a bit rough, in that it appears to have been left out in the sun a lot which has worn the plastics and the paint and seats but I can easily fix all of that. It does lead me to wonder if anything critical has been "deferred" and of course I can't test drive it for a month to see what's going on with it truly.
Question: Am I being too sensitive and talking myself out of what may be a wonderful car?
Context: I want this car for something I'm actually going to drive and hopefully keep. Maybe 6-8k miles/year. I'm very handy and resourceful, and in LA have plenty of access to great indie shops if it gets too challenging for me.
Question: Am I being too sensitive and talking myself out of what may be a wonderful car?
Context: I want this car for something I'm actually going to drive and hopefully keep. Maybe 6-8k miles/year. I'm very handy and resourceful, and in LA have plenty of access to great indie shops if it gets too challenging for me.
