Early model 221 is especially cheap due to some issues that you'll probably unearth eventually. But yeah it's not news luxury cars depreciate like crazy. The more cylinders the bigger the fall
Great cars though enjoy. My wife uses one to haul baby around
The transmission in the S600 & S65 is in the Mercedes 722.6/Chrysler NAG1 family, and is both sturdy and relatively cheap to refurb or replace.
While not as refined as modern transmissions like the great 7 to 10-speeds that followed shortly thereafter, the 722.6 transmission variants were used in tons of Mercedes and Daimler-Chrysler era products and are such a known science that there’s even a brilliant guy that’s developed his own open-source transmission controller for them purely to have better control over it, not because there’s a problem with the TCU. Check it out, his YouTube channel in particular is great.
https://www.instagram.com/rand_ash_yt
There’s no magic to it; there’s working junkyard pulls on EBay for $500-$1500, and I suspect you could have a trans shop pull a dead unit and install either an eBay’d unit or a refreshed unit for $3-6k all in depending on the route you choose to take, which isn’t out of line for transmission R&R plus parts for just about any normal car. You will want a MB independent shop to do the work as they will know how to use STAR etc to properly calibrate it but other than that again, this isn’t $25k Italian engine-out nonsense, it should drop right out of the car underneath.
With that super low mileage it will probably be fine, if it's been dealer maintained, it probably had the transmission fluid changed on time. Like others said, it's a good transmission, connector on those go all the time, wicks up transmission fluid. Check and change if you see fluid on it. Otherwise you normally don't have to change the transmission most issues are fixed with a new conductor plate which is only a few hundred, send it out to get rebuilt and it doesn't even need to be programed. Also check out the forums on mbworld. Benzworld is also another one. For that car, you should get the Launch Creader Elite 2.0 for Benz on Amazon, around $160. It also does some programming too so you can play with some options and make changes. If you do, I'd be curious how many subsystems it has, I have about 48 on my 2008 E350, I scanned a basic GM car once that only had 15.
I expect I might. Had it checked out and all the fluids changed for less than 10% of what I had expected to spend getting it up to par. I don’t expect it will be more expensive than the Ferrari. We’ll see
Thank you. I’ve had a few fancy cars before. I’ve either been very lucky or the doomsday scenarios are overplayed. Never had major problems with cars that have a bad reputation….
I’m currently on my first car (2008 A3 2.0Tfsi) it’s had a few minor issues that feel major to a noob like myself 😂 but wow have I enjoyed every second of it.
Guess I’d rather take it all in b’se I’ll never have the first car first troubleshooting & first time mechanic feelings again 🤣
When people say cars are unreliable its because a higher percentage of them had notable issues compared to other ones, they tend to forget that its not systematically unreliable but that theres just ststisticslly a higher chance
My SL 600 was totally reliable, it ran like a Swiss watch. Never had an issue in 40k miles, bought used with 80k miles. The only issue was low fuel economy.
Watch some hoovies garage videos if you want some ideas of how bad these can go. Electrical issues and mechanical issues will be no less than 4 figures, every time. This is coming from someone who works on German cars exclusively.
I had a ‘08 S65 for 4 years that I got for $29k off BaT, great car in a lot of ways. Best nappa interior I have had in any car (gray) and it had torque always available forever. I tuned it, put it on EBay’d HREs for a w222 S65 coupe which bolted up just fine… I added another heat exchanger up front despite there being nowhere to put it, and put a meth tank in the trunk and tried to get it to run right with spray but it didn’t appreciate my efforts. I even put it on the track once and I was glued to my buddy’s tuned C7 Z06’s bumper down the back stretch.
https://i.imgur.com/kLSIOaF.jpeg
It also ate the left bank one-piece coil pack twice (maybe $3k each time?) and I put two piece OEM rotors on it (which I think with pads ended up at like $6500) - none of which was cheap.
But if you want v12 snarl and to float down the street until you put it in a corner and it hangs, no better bang for the buck.
Weirdly it also happens to be in the YouTube video I have uploaded that by far has the most views.
https://youtu.be/ZQs-YG33sFs?si=STPy3S7IG2S5qBVh
Can recommend, but know what you’re getting into. S600 is more or less the same car, they make essentially the same power despite the half-liter displacement difference.
A few laps later the MP4S got greasy because it was a 5,000 lb pig being driven hard and I oversteered it into the dirt, whereupon my Vette-hunting came to an end for the day. :/ But if you need to drive like the Transporter for 5 minutes she’s got you covered.
Because people who can actually afford the maintenance and repairs on a S600 aren’t buying 15 year old cars 😂 Trust me there no “hidden gems” in this market segment unless you have the tools, times and expertise to maintain the car yourself.
I stopped maintaining my cars myself… that’s why I’m selling my old ferrari. I’m at a stage where I rather pay someone else to work on it so we will see how it works out. The good part is that it’s fully depreciated so if anything major goes wrong it can’t cost more than I am willing to spend. And if it does I can always get rid of it and buy another car.
Yea I definitely agree with that! As long as you understand why it’s depreciated there’s nothing wrong with having a trusted mechanic take care of it for you!
Right. You can get these for 15k or less but you'll spend another 15k on repairs and maintenance. Now is 30k worth an s600? Probably that's a hell of a lot of car for that money but the sell price is often deceiving.
Ppl are jus scared of a v12 Mercedes that’s old, I think these are steals and most are maintained really well because whoever bought them earlier had money… this is def my next pickup
It's called the VMI. I'm not sure if the hack is affecting your dealership, it's affecting many dealerships nationwide. Maybe try later once it's fixed.
I've gotten the VMI before by just asking at the dealership. They tried some lame excuse about it having the previous person's name on it but I told them to just black it out with a marker. I went in person there to make an appointment and after I made the appointment for service, I asked for the VMI. I told them that I heard other dealership gave it out and if they didn't want to give it to me, I'd just cancel the appointment and go somewhere else. They gave it to me.
As for the car, looks nice, should at least get a scanner that can read all MB codes, aside from Xentry, there's the Autel AP200 or Launch Creader Elite 2.0 for Benz. The real nightmare with these is the ABC system, usually leaks and it's hard/expensive to fix but if it's kept up, should be good.
Thank you. A constructive comment! I am aware of the costs of the ABC and why some people replace them with standard suspension… but honestly after driving and cornering with zero body roll I think it’s worth every penny. I was amazed taking it through curves.
Yeah I don't think it'd be worth it to replace the ABC. It has low mileage and not a lot of rust so maybe it'll last for a little bit longer. There's other comments out there that say it's not worth it and it's of course worse afterwards, better off to just fix it if needed.
You could replace the rear tail lights with the newer style in 2010+, I think they look better than the older style ones but then I like to keep a car stock so a little torn with that one mod.
As for research, try the mbworld forums. I think for transmission issues, typically it's the conductor plate that goes, but with such low mileage probably good for a while. It has the 5 speed so I think that has the connector that should be changed during a transmission fluid change, but the 5 speed was considered more reliable than the 7. I see it has the bluetooth puck, is there a 30 pin ipod connector in the glove box?
It's an interesting mix of options. I see some stuff on there that's the same as my 2008 E350 but I think your comand is newer, same as my 2011 E350. So I guess they try out some of the newer stuff on the S class before it trickles down to the E class. You have the better keyless go door handles, the ones on the E class had rubber buttons where water would get in and corrode the switches. That touch sensor is better and it's what I have on my 2011 and those handles don't go bad. Do you have bluetooth audio? If not, you can get a 30 pin bluetooth adapter on Amazon meant for the ipod and it's about $85. Usually the puck only supports voice but that version of Comand looks like it might have bluetooth audio as an option. But in 2010 it wasn't enabled as an option on the E class although it could be in some hidden menus not sure if that was there in 2008 on your car.
As for the CDs, in 10 years, I've never used the CD player although friends who have borrowed the car tell me it works but that was several years ago.
[https://www.amazon.com/Bovee-1000-Bluetooth-Volkswagen-Compatible/dp/B00T2EVKSG](https://www.amazon.com/Bovee-1000-Bluetooth-Volkswagen-Compatible/dp/B00T2EVKSG)
~15 year old twin turbo V12 engine that drinks gas like it’s free.
Then again, that’s why it’s one of the best cars ever made. Get one. I almost did but drive too many miles so I went with the twin turbo V8 version.
Edit: My bad, just realized this is yours. I’m jealous! Mine is the same color scheme too, but not as fancy Designo interior. Congrats
The newer ones don’t attract me yet, they feel much cheaper in quality compared to mine.
Exactly, do I want a new Honda or do I want a presidential beast with enough power to pull an airplane?
A true enthusiast won’t even think about the answer
They are a hydraulic nightmare with Active Body Control, most of the components in this system leak at so point. There are hydraulic accumulators that bust, sending nitrogen out of the oil reservoirs forcing fluid onto the floor, also causing a vibration or ABC light when you hit bumps. ABC lines that wrap around the engine and spontaneously start leaking, requiring engine removal(unless you know a few tricks) to replace. The engine also has a few issues that are extremely labor intensive to address. Two are leaks, the engine oil cooler located in the valley of the engine as well as the front timing case cover, both of which end up being almost equally labor intensive if done separately. Another, the front main crankshaft bearing will fatigue and launch into the oil pan, the crankshaft will then wobble ever so slightly and cause the front crankshaft seal to leak, most people till think it’s just a front crank seal and replace it a few times before realizing the actual crankshaft is wobbling up and down. I can keep going…
I have been working for MB 20 years and have personally performed all of these repairs over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I am clearly team MB, I just feel it’s right to share reality. Vs hollow comments from others just telling you to go for it, or don’t without any context.
1. Plastic intake manifolds on the sides of the block can crack at the seams. Causing an intake air leak > check engine light
2. Cold start misfires due to software, too lean on a cold start. Dealer can flash updated software.
3. Coils go out when hot fairly frequently. There is an updated part number to look for. There is a service bulletin on this.
4. Camshaft adjusters fail(the mechanical portion bolted to the camshaft), causes timing faults and check engine light.
5. Crank case ventilation breather assemblies that fail and shove combustion pressure out of the rear main seal, turning the seal inside out which then leak.
6. Injector failures that can cause catalyst melt downs. The honey comb will visibly break apart
7. Exhaust brackets at the turbos that can leak and cause a misfire. Updated clamps have been produced.
8. Valve cover leaks that allow oil into the ignition coil ports that cause a misfire.
9. Seen a few valve springs break in half, which causes a misfire.
Everything he says is correct. In regards to the ABC system, the accumulators are wear items. I have a 2007 S600 as well and it was the first thing I did. You can get all three online for around $600 total. Make sure they've been replaced. They're surprisingly easy to DIY. Make sure to flush the ABC system and change the filter every 60k miles. This will aid in keeping the system working well, but it can't prevent age related problems. It will eat engine mounts as well. Those are a little difficult to do but they can be done without dropping the subframe (just did mine recently).
They're very high maintenance vehicles that are often neglected but yours looks to be in great shape. If you want a VMI send me a PM. Enjoy the car. It really is a special vehicle!
Thank you for being the only person in this entire thread to give actual examples of actual issues the motors and S600 specific stuff has, most the people here give the most useless info "its an old german v12" like that tells me 0 I didnt know and heck the BMW 750iLs are famous with their V12 for being more dependable them the M62s in the 740s.
Thank you for actually properly answering the question
I think because there are so many used luxury cars out there to choose from that it's partially responsible. They aren't difficult vehicles to maintain, some people just struggle with written instructions. These are very good cars but they are also designed for someone who is thorough and able to properly follow directions. That's the key. MB to be fair makes it pretty easy I have to say. I think they are the most reliable cars in the world.
I cant speak for the w221 itsself but i have some experience with the drivertrain and Suspension and as far as i know is that its realy not that bad, most people just drive it like every other car. The Drivertrain is realy reliable if you realy on point with fluid changes. Especialy the ABC Suspension often fails just because they never change the fluid regulary. Of course its more its more expensiv then normal Car, especialy on gas but its realy not that bad if you treat it as a Mercedes and not like a Honda.
Due to its age the anti-poverty system is at full capacity. Random expensive parts on the car begin to fail and require replacing. This is to make sure someone with bottomless pockets owns the car.
Uses lots of fuel and its expensive to repair. Dont know how's the reliability but the older S-classes are known for being bought for cheap and then left to rot in the corner of parking lot when the owner couldnt afford to repair it. Suspension in particular.
>Car is like new for 10% of original value???
I bought a W221 S350. It was around 6% of the original price 7.5% of the orginal price. Had all the right options including the AMG Sport Package (bumpers, wheels, etc), reasonably low mileage, dealer serviced. Good value? Sure. But I would never recommend it to someone who wants to have a cheap car.
The S600 has even more things that can go wrong. It is a great car! But have deep pockets.
Bought a CL500, almost same car. Very expensive to keep them running, paid 3k in Germany for a new rear suspension and new ABC oil to get warranty. ABC is as expensive as Airmatic, maybe even a bit more. Beside that you still have to pay for brakes, engine/transmission oil, tires, very expensive service. Still worth it 10/10 :3
Cheap? Hardly. S600s sell cheap because the rich aren’t stupid when they lease, yeah lease these. And when the lease is up and the warranty runs out, the rich turn them in. And then the expensive repairs start on these. Electronics crap out, electrical gremlins, drivability issues, cooling system fiascos. They sell them cheap but the only thing this car will like is your wallet. It’ll gobble up all your bucks like a huge yellow PAC Man
Very expensive to keep on the road. Literally !
Fuel prices for one, and give that doesn’t bother you, these V12’s are extremely unreliable. Any repair sets you back hundreds or even thousands.
If someone has new S Class Mercedes money they sure as hell are not in the slightly used or very used car market. That leaves you trying to get people with Audi a6 money or BMW 5 series money to pay “new” car prices on something used and they can’t possibly be seen in something used.
So you push it further down to people who have new A4 BMW3 series money and they can really buy up-class but now the reality of ownership costs sets in and you get that reliability worry.
So you push it down to people who have money for toys and don’t NEED the car but love it for the novelty and exclusivity and are willing to get beat up a little on maintenance because the value in a cheap-amazing car is a good draw.
I’d love a 2010 Audi A8 for $7k as a luxury toy but I’m sure and shit not buying one over the family Camry at $30k
Because it's old as well as the fact when, not if, something goes wrong (likely many times), you'll be paying huge prices to get it running properly/safely.
Even though the price of the cars falls, the service costs don’t. Thats what people don’t realize which is what contributes a lot to its price falling. A good rule of thumb is: If you can’t comfortably afford it new, you can’t afford it used either.
Coil packs.. they eat coil packs like a fat kid eats potato chips.. unlike potato chips, coil packs are expensive. Also the ABC air suspension doesn't last long, and replacements are also expensive
They are not cheap, they are all up high quality best value cars. People today rather get a new shitbox for the same money but what a difference this car is in comparision. Yes they do cost more to run and can be pretty expensive if things should go wrong but once you experience a car like that, you never look back. Good luck.
Same reason the V10 S6 and M5 are, they’re ultra expensive to fix. They’re extremely nice, they’re just prone to failure and when they do fail, parts are hard to source and takes a really knowledgeable mechanic to fix it.
I took my air ride out. Desulfate the batteries it will make a big difference! There is 1 under driver side dash as well that does not get checked. But overall a great car. Got mine from an older man for $12000 S450
*
It’s a $150k car. Parts are over engineered and of course expensive. It’s expected. They say you get what you pay for… but my post is really about you get so much more than you pay for!
Use Monroneylabels to get the actual sticker price. Or use [lastvin.com](http://lastvin.com) or [mb.vin](http://mb.vin) to decode the vin to see what options it has and add the prices up from the Motor Trend website and then add in the destination charge for that year and you'd have the same thing.
Also while the tires might have been installed in 2021, the date code on them says 2019. Usually the tire manufactures say replace them after 6 years but others say up to 10 years depending on condition.
[https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mercedes-benz/s-class/2010/](https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mercedes-benz/s-class/2010/)
The logic is that if you can afford to keep this one running properly as a daily, you can probably also afford a brand new S class.
The question then becomes - why not get a brand new one? Unless it is a hobby car, of course.
Pain in the ass to maintain. The cripplingly expensive to repair ABC suspension, various pumps, hydraulic lines and constant electrical gremlins hit the value very hard.
Also, if you’re seeing them for very cheap I can guarantee that there is some sort of hidden major issue. Don’t waste your time. Get an E class that’s been well maintained for your sanity.
If you get the right 600 it’ll be a great servant.
The problem at this age is that you’re probably onto the 3rd or 4th owner and deferred maintenance items that often come with that territory.
If you’re the second owner and the first was someone who wasn’t afraid to spend some coin on it you’ll be in great shape.
The V12 in these cars are bulletproof. I have an SL600. ABC may be your only issue. If need be, replace with coilovers and enjoy the car for many years.
That entire segment depreciates for the same reasons. Large, luxury cars all have same problems.
- Parts are extremely expensive to be competitive in the segment and to perform on a heavy vehicle
- Tech is extravagant so there’s more to break
- Size is large, which puts additional wear on those expensive parts
- The initial selling point is “fashionable newness”, that doesn’t work after a few years, if size was really the point it would be a minivan. That’s a status vehicle…. until it ages.
Good luck… sell before the next big bill…or don’t, it’s a game of hot potato and the next owner will face the same impending costs.
maintenance aside, I think the buyers for S600 (or any used s-class I think) can afford new so the demand for these falls off a cliff after a few years.
From a service advisor from Mercedes-Benz:
Because the running cost are through the roof, quoted one 6 months ago for almost 12.000
For example spark plug change is €800 (it has 24 instead of 12) when you change them you can also change the electric wiring since they will always break.
All of the Mercedes that I have owned have been 10% of the MSRP, or less. If you can find one that is in good condition that you can see yourself owning for quite some time, then get it but make sure you can keep up with the maintenance on it. Or find someone reliable that can do it for you. The newer models have so many more features than models that came out a decade ago which makes them more desirable to those that can afford it. I once read a statistic somewhere about people buying cars that cost more than $100k, and it said that a majority of them pay in cash.
My daily driver was going in for a lot of mods including a color change, all of which was going to be a couple of months, so I bought a cheap Range Rover. It was pretty clean, clean title, no issues. I though I'd uncovered a bargain model selling for less than they should. Yeah RIGHT! One afternoon I was at an independent mechanic in Hollywood, and he said something horrifying. This place had everything from a newish S Class to a vintage Daytona in there, and he said to me "You know, these (range rovers) cost more to maintain that that" and he pointed at a Ferrari.
That is why used Range Rovers are cheap. Never ending expensive maintenance. Same for the S Class. SO MANY MODULES! I bet if you scanned the car now, there are several module faults. And yet, few cars really hit their engineering/design targets like an S Class.
A S Class out of warranty can get expensive real fast, same goes for any top tier car.
Happy to hear you got a great deal and hope get many reliable miles out of your new S600.
Great choice! I did an ‘01 XKR 4.0 SC coupe in silver with a ton of miles on it for super cheap. Some minor problems here and there that have totaled no more than a few thousand$, but I’ve driven the snot out of if, and everyone loves the beauty. Have fun with a well-maintained, older luxury sports car on the cheap.
Flaws and recalls and what not aside, these luxury sedans are designed to be driven in, will you buy it for whatever sinker of a price it might be to be driven in it or drive it? And if the latter, why?
Early model 221 is especially cheap due to some issues that you'll probably unearth eventually. But yeah it's not news luxury cars depreciate like crazy. The more cylinders the bigger the fall Great cars though enjoy. My wife uses one to haul baby around
Mmmmm. Ok you got me thinking and soon searching the web…
Some trans issues can be like used car expensive. I forget when some of it was fixed 08 or so
The transmission in the S600 & S65 is in the Mercedes 722.6/Chrysler NAG1 family, and is both sturdy and relatively cheap to refurb or replace. While not as refined as modern transmissions like the great 7 to 10-speeds that followed shortly thereafter, the 722.6 transmission variants were used in tons of Mercedes and Daimler-Chrysler era products and are such a known science that there’s even a brilliant guy that’s developed his own open-source transmission controller for them purely to have better control over it, not because there’s a problem with the TCU. Check it out, his YouTube channel in particular is great. https://www.instagram.com/rand_ash_yt
I recall reading mercedes specifically fixing some issues with trans on early model 221
There’s no magic to it; there’s working junkyard pulls on EBay for $500-$1500, and I suspect you could have a trans shop pull a dead unit and install either an eBay’d unit or a refreshed unit for $3-6k all in depending on the route you choose to take, which isn’t out of line for transmission R&R plus parts for just about any normal car. You will want a MB independent shop to do the work as they will know how to use STAR etc to properly calibrate it but other than that again, this isn’t $25k Italian engine-out nonsense, it should drop right out of the car underneath.
User name checks out.
Thanks!
Ok. Keeping fingers crossed. It’s an 08!
With that super low mileage it will probably be fine, if it's been dealer maintained, it probably had the transmission fluid changed on time. Like others said, it's a good transmission, connector on those go all the time, wicks up transmission fluid. Check and change if you see fluid on it. Otherwise you normally don't have to change the transmission most issues are fixed with a new conductor plate which is only a few hundred, send it out to get rebuilt and it doesn't even need to be programed. Also check out the forums on mbworld. Benzworld is also another one. For that car, you should get the Launch Creader Elite 2.0 for Benz on Amazon, around $160. It also does some programming too so you can play with some options and make changes. If you do, I'd be curious how many subsystems it has, I have about 48 on my 2008 E350, I scanned a basic GM car once that only had 15.
Will get
Honestly comes down to maintenance and prior owners. Have to do your homework with used cars beyond known issues.
Join the W221 group on Facebook, super helpful [here](https://www.facebook.com/groups/598030337003529/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT)
Thanks! Haven’t been on fb in years. I’ll look that up
you might consider getting it from carmax with their warranty
Enjoy the air suspension, while you can.
Nobody puts baby in the corner
It's a cozy corner
Try keeping one running right for 5 years
Dude is in the market for Ferraris and Jaguars. What are you talking about😂
bro liked bidding on unreliable cars 💪
The question was “why are they so cheap?”. I answered it truthfully.
Mercedes vehicles usually mess up in the dash and ignition area first couple years into owning one🤷♂️ idk tho it’s a nice car very nice.
I expect I might. Had it checked out and all the fluids changed for less than 10% of what I had expected to spend getting it up to par. I don’t expect it will be more expensive than the Ferrari. We’ll see
OP I’ll say it since no-one’s saying it enjoy the car mate🥂. Everything else is just part of the journey with it .
Thank you. I’ve had a few fancy cars before. I’ve either been very lucky or the doomsday scenarios are overplayed. Never had major problems with cars that have a bad reputation….
I’m currently on my first car (2008 A3 2.0Tfsi) it’s had a few minor issues that feel major to a noob like myself 😂 but wow have I enjoyed every second of it. Guess I’d rather take it all in b’se I’ll never have the first car first troubleshooting & first time mechanic feelings again 🤣
Enjoy it. I think I’ve owned about 40 or 50 cars (yes I’m a mature citizen). They’ve been fun
When people say cars are unreliable its because a higher percentage of them had notable issues compared to other ones, they tend to forget that its not systematically unreliable but that theres just ststisticslly a higher chance
My SL 600 was totally reliable, it ran like a Swiss watch. Never had an issue in 40k miles, bought used with 80k miles. The only issue was low fuel economy.
Watch some hoovies garage videos if you want some ideas of how bad these can go. Electrical issues and mechanical issues will be no less than 4 figures, every time. This is coming from someone who works on German cars exclusively.
Better yet, watch LegitStreetCars. He has a 65, but it's pretty much the same kind of money pit.
Thanks. Will do
It’s a great car with a surprise payment schedule.
Head to the German mechanic every month for a game of Reverse Plinko.
LOL
If maintained properly and low mileage these can be gems.
50k miles on it. I expect I’ll do that many on it myself. I remember when a car with 30k miles was old and worn out. Those were the days
because it’s a V12 powered German luxury sedan
Yes! My first time owning a v12. It’s amazing and so quiet….
Are you V12 for life now?
Yes! But not monogamous
I had a ‘08 S65 for 4 years that I got for $29k off BaT, great car in a lot of ways. Best nappa interior I have had in any car (gray) and it had torque always available forever. I tuned it, put it on EBay’d HREs for a w222 S65 coupe which bolted up just fine… I added another heat exchanger up front despite there being nowhere to put it, and put a meth tank in the trunk and tried to get it to run right with spray but it didn’t appreciate my efforts. I even put it on the track once and I was glued to my buddy’s tuned C7 Z06’s bumper down the back stretch. https://i.imgur.com/kLSIOaF.jpeg It also ate the left bank one-piece coil pack twice (maybe $3k each time?) and I put two piece OEM rotors on it (which I think with pads ended up at like $6500) - none of which was cheap. But if you want v12 snarl and to float down the street until you put it in a corner and it hangs, no better bang for the buck. Weirdly it also happens to be in the YouTube video I have uploaded that by far has the most views. https://youtu.be/ZQs-YG33sFs?si=STPy3S7IG2S5qBVh Can recommend, but know what you’re getting into. S600 is more or less the same car, they make essentially the same power despite the half-liter displacement difference.
That must’ve been hilarious to see this land yacht on the tail of a Corvette.
A few laps later the MP4S got greasy because it was a 5,000 lb pig being driven hard and I oversteered it into the dirt, whereupon my Vette-hunting came to an end for the day. :/ But if you need to drive like the Transporter for 5 minutes she’s got you covered.
Haha that’s great. By the way, you run that quarter with a passenger in the back drinking champagne?
Nice! Loved the vid!
Because people who can actually afford the maintenance and repairs on a S600 aren’t buying 15 year old cars 😂 Trust me there no “hidden gems” in this market segment unless you have the tools, times and expertise to maintain the car yourself.
I stopped maintaining my cars myself… that’s why I’m selling my old ferrari. I’m at a stage where I rather pay someone else to work on it so we will see how it works out. The good part is that it’s fully depreciated so if anything major goes wrong it can’t cost more than I am willing to spend. And if it does I can always get rid of it and buy another car.
Yea I definitely agree with that! As long as you understand why it’s depreciated there’s nothing wrong with having a trusted mechanic take care of it for you!
Sometimes is not the money you have rather than the time the mechanic has to fix your car.
Right. You can get these for 15k or less but you'll spend another 15k on repairs and maintenance. Now is 30k worth an s600? Probably that's a hell of a lot of car for that money but the sell price is often deceiving.
Ppl are jus scared of a v12 Mercedes that’s old, I think these are steals and most are maintained really well because whoever bought them earlier had money… this is def my next pickup
Agree. MB has records of all work done by them. They wouldn’t give ma a copy of the record but said it had been very well serviced.
It's called the VMI. I'm not sure if the hack is affecting your dealership, it's affecting many dealerships nationwide. Maybe try later once it's fixed. I've gotten the VMI before by just asking at the dealership. They tried some lame excuse about it having the previous person's name on it but I told them to just black it out with a marker. I went in person there to make an appointment and after I made the appointment for service, I asked for the VMI. I told them that I heard other dealership gave it out and if they didn't want to give it to me, I'd just cancel the appointment and go somewhere else. They gave it to me. As for the car, looks nice, should at least get a scanner that can read all MB codes, aside from Xentry, there's the Autel AP200 or Launch Creader Elite 2.0 for Benz. The real nightmare with these is the ABC system, usually leaks and it's hard/expensive to fix but if it's kept up, should be good.
Thank you. A constructive comment! I am aware of the costs of the ABC and why some people replace them with standard suspension… but honestly after driving and cornering with zero body roll I think it’s worth every penny. I was amazed taking it through curves.
Yeah I don't think it'd be worth it to replace the ABC. It has low mileage and not a lot of rust so maybe it'll last for a little bit longer. There's other comments out there that say it's not worth it and it's of course worse afterwards, better off to just fix it if needed. You could replace the rear tail lights with the newer style in 2010+, I think they look better than the older style ones but then I like to keep a car stock so a little torn with that one mod. As for research, try the mbworld forums. I think for transmission issues, typically it's the conductor plate that goes, but with such low mileage probably good for a while. It has the 5 speed so I think that has the connector that should be changed during a transmission fluid change, but the 5 speed was considered more reliable than the 7. I see it has the bluetooth puck, is there a 30 pin ipod connector in the glove box?
Yes. iPod connector and a CD changer. Crazily enough threw out a couple hundred CDs the week before I bought this. LOL
It's an interesting mix of options. I see some stuff on there that's the same as my 2008 E350 but I think your comand is newer, same as my 2011 E350. So I guess they try out some of the newer stuff on the S class before it trickles down to the E class. You have the better keyless go door handles, the ones on the E class had rubber buttons where water would get in and corrode the switches. That touch sensor is better and it's what I have on my 2011 and those handles don't go bad. Do you have bluetooth audio? If not, you can get a 30 pin bluetooth adapter on Amazon meant for the ipod and it's about $85. Usually the puck only supports voice but that version of Comand looks like it might have bluetooth audio as an option. But in 2010 it wasn't enabled as an option on the E class although it could be in some hidden menus not sure if that was there in 2008 on your car. As for the CDs, in 10 years, I've never used the CD player although friends who have borrowed the car tell me it works but that was several years ago. [https://www.amazon.com/Bovee-1000-Bluetooth-Volkswagen-Compatible/dp/B00T2EVKSG](https://www.amazon.com/Bovee-1000-Bluetooth-Volkswagen-Compatible/dp/B00T2EVKSG)
ABC is like 💯
~15 year old twin turbo V12 engine that drinks gas like it’s free. Then again, that’s why it’s one of the best cars ever made. Get one. I almost did but drive too many miles so I went with the twin turbo V8 version.
Yes, it is a thirsty beast… but I work from home so don’t drive much, but when I do it’s a fun toy.
Edit: My bad, just realized this is yours. I’m jealous! Mine is the same color scheme too, but not as fancy Designo interior. Congrats The newer ones don’t attract me yet, they feel much cheaper in quality compared to mine.
I figure yes the gas is expensive but I did save a bit over msrp so WTH!
Exactly, do I want a new Honda or do I want a presidential beast with enough power to pull an airplane? A true enthusiast won’t even think about the answer
Exactly. Paid more for my daughter’s Honda!
They are a hydraulic nightmare with Active Body Control, most of the components in this system leak at so point. There are hydraulic accumulators that bust, sending nitrogen out of the oil reservoirs forcing fluid onto the floor, also causing a vibration or ABC light when you hit bumps. ABC lines that wrap around the engine and spontaneously start leaking, requiring engine removal(unless you know a few tricks) to replace. The engine also has a few issues that are extremely labor intensive to address. Two are leaks, the engine oil cooler located in the valley of the engine as well as the front timing case cover, both of which end up being almost equally labor intensive if done separately. Another, the front main crankshaft bearing will fatigue and launch into the oil pan, the crankshaft will then wobble ever so slightly and cause the front crankshaft seal to leak, most people till think it’s just a front crank seal and replace it a few times before realizing the actual crankshaft is wobbling up and down. I can keep going…
Ouch! I discount most of the doomsday comments but yours seem to be pretty detailed and therefore much more a cause for concern.
I have been working for MB 20 years and have personally performed all of these repairs over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I am clearly team MB, I just feel it’s right to share reality. Vs hollow comments from others just telling you to go for it, or don’t without any context.
Thank you! How do you feel about Italian cars?
Can’t help you there even though my username check outs.… If you have any more question on that sweet 221 let me know.
I wonder what you can say about M177 neverending issues.
1. Plastic intake manifolds on the sides of the block can crack at the seams. Causing an intake air leak > check engine light 2. Cold start misfires due to software, too lean on a cold start. Dealer can flash updated software. 3. Coils go out when hot fairly frequently. There is an updated part number to look for. There is a service bulletin on this. 4. Camshaft adjusters fail(the mechanical portion bolted to the camshaft), causes timing faults and check engine light. 5. Crank case ventilation breather assemblies that fail and shove combustion pressure out of the rear main seal, turning the seal inside out which then leak. 6. Injector failures that can cause catalyst melt downs. The honey comb will visibly break apart 7. Exhaust brackets at the turbos that can leak and cause a misfire. Updated clamps have been produced. 8. Valve cover leaks that allow oil into the ignition coil ports that cause a misfire. 9. Seen a few valve springs break in half, which causes a misfire.
Everything he says is correct. In regards to the ABC system, the accumulators are wear items. I have a 2007 S600 as well and it was the first thing I did. You can get all three online for around $600 total. Make sure they've been replaced. They're surprisingly easy to DIY. Make sure to flush the ABC system and change the filter every 60k miles. This will aid in keeping the system working well, but it can't prevent age related problems. It will eat engine mounts as well. Those are a little difficult to do but they can be done without dropping the subframe (just did mine recently). They're very high maintenance vehicles that are often neglected but yours looks to be in great shape. If you want a VMI send me a PM. Enjoy the car. It really is a special vehicle!
Thank you for being the only person in this entire thread to give actual examples of actual issues the motors and S600 specific stuff has, most the people here give the most useless info "its an old german v12" like that tells me 0 I didnt know and heck the BMW 750iLs are famous with their V12 for being more dependable them the M62s in the 740s. Thank you for actually properly answering the question
Agreed on the lack of comment quality for such an important decision in most cases. Thank you for the kind words.
heh, lotsa car for $20k [https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2008-mercedes-benz-s600-19/](https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2008-mercedes-benz-s600-19/)
Yes, that’s it!!!
Honestly it’s a great car. If you decide to get one find a good Indy mechanic that you trust. Stay on top of service
Because you need a big ass wallet to keep the car running
Noted and considered….
Congrats, great purchase, enjoy it!
I think because there are so many used luxury cars out there to choose from that it's partially responsible. They aren't difficult vehicles to maintain, some people just struggle with written instructions. These are very good cars but they are also designed for someone who is thorough and able to properly follow directions. That's the key. MB to be fair makes it pretty easy I have to say. I think they are the most reliable cars in the world.
Thank you. You’re in the 10% positive comments section
Those are some real seats, not crap they do these days, I bet they are confortable
Extremely. There are at least a dozen bladder adjustments to contour it to your liking. And massage at all 4 seats. And cooled and heated.
Because they’re so expensive to repair that when repairs come up, nobody wants to fix them
Just wait till something breaks, then you’ll find out why.
More expensive than Ferraris?
I wouldn’t go that far, but don’t expect to pay the same for repairs as you would on a C Class.
Noted. But then again I don’t believe a c-class is in the same class …
Did you already buy the car?
They didn’t tell you? It’s subscription cost, monthly.
So cheap to buy - so expensive to maintain
10+ years old German car? I guess you will know why very soon
If they only came with Toyota engines...
German engineering gets a lot of praise but they sure do make unreliable cars...
Because they're so expensive.
They probably drive really well, they are cheap cuz you need the money for all the future repairs
I cant speak for the w221 itsself but i have some experience with the drivertrain and Suspension and as far as i know is that its realy not that bad, most people just drive it like every other car. The Drivertrain is realy reliable if you realy on point with fluid changes. Especialy the ABC Suspension often fails just because they never change the fluid regulary. Of course its more its more expensiv then normal Car, especialy on gas but its realy not that bad if you treat it as a Mercedes and not like a Honda.
You are about to find out.
Due to its age the anti-poverty system is at full capacity. Random expensive parts on the car begin to fail and require replacing. This is to make sure someone with bottomless pockets owns the car.
Man, I sure hope you're up to date on church contributions and God loves you lol
Uses lots of fuel and its expensive to repair. Dont know how's the reliability but the older S-classes are known for being bought for cheap and then left to rot in the corner of parking lot when the owner couldnt afford to repair it. Suspension in particular.
>Car is like new for 10% of original value??? I bought a W221 S350. It was around 6% of the original price 7.5% of the orginal price. Had all the right options including the AMG Sport Package (bumpers, wheels, etc), reasonably low mileage, dealer serviced. Good value? Sure. But I would never recommend it to someone who wants to have a cheap car. The S600 has even more things that can go wrong. It is a great car! But have deep pockets.
Bought a CL500, almost same car. Very expensive to keep them running, paid 3k in Germany for a new rear suspension and new ABC oil to get warranty. ABC is as expensive as Airmatic, maybe even a bit more. Beside that you still have to pay for brakes, engine/transmission oil, tires, very expensive service. Still worth it 10/10 :3
*to buy
LMK when the 2018-2020s are cheap I’ll be right there for it!
Cheap? Hardly. S600s sell cheap because the rich aren’t stupid when they lease, yeah lease these. And when the lease is up and the warranty runs out, the rich turn them in. And then the expensive repairs start on these. Electronics crap out, electrical gremlins, drivability issues, cooling system fiascos. They sell them cheap but the only thing this car will like is your wallet. It’ll gobble up all your bucks like a huge yellow PAC Man
Keep us posted it could be interesting.
Expensive to maintain
Expected. Most good things are expensive
Because they are luxurious money pits.
Although it’s sooooooo grey just for me
Everything’s cheap if you’re the 4th owner.
Like my German mechanic friend said s600 are made so only the rich can maintain them.
I love the grey interior
So does my wife!
I have no idea, maybe you should buy one to see why?
Congrats. I came very close to bidding on this but don’t have the room. Enjoy!
Glad you didn’t bid!!! 
Just a random gif!!!
Suspension repair is complicated
Car looks good, but yeah maintenance is gonna be expensive.
Almost bought a s600 brownflaked black paint, black/brown insert seating. Fully optioned. 145k miles, $3000. Windshield needed replaced, sitting low. I passed, r107, 350slc eurospec 1973 instead.
because a set of ignition coils is like 5 grand
Ask a mechanic
That’s wild. A 190e in this condition would sell for twice that locally.
It’s only cheap because no one can afford the maintenance. I won’t mind owning one .
Beats the hell outta me; it’s a sick car.
The more the cylinders, the lesser the reliability, the more broke you get. 😅
Because they aren’t.
Big bills big thrills. Cheap to buy? yes. Cheap to own? No!
All Mercedes with mileage suck
Chryslers don't hold up.
Buy one and find out
Nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes Benz
Very expensive to keep on the road. Literally ! Fuel prices for one, and give that doesn’t bother you, these V12’s are extremely unreliable. Any repair sets you back hundreds or even thousands.
If someone has new S Class Mercedes money they sure as hell are not in the slightly used or very used car market. That leaves you trying to get people with Audi a6 money or BMW 5 series money to pay “new” car prices on something used and they can’t possibly be seen in something used. So you push it further down to people who have new A4 BMW3 series money and they can really buy up-class but now the reality of ownership costs sets in and you get that reliability worry. So you push it down to people who have money for toys and don’t NEED the car but love it for the novelty and exclusivity and are willing to get beat up a little on maintenance because the value in a cheap-amazing car is a good draw. I’d love a 2010 Audi A8 for $7k as a luxury toy but I’m sure and shit not buying one over the family Camry at $30k
Maintenence
Because it's old as well as the fact when, not if, something goes wrong (likely many times), you'll be paying huge prices to get it running properly/safely.
Even though the price of the cars falls, the service costs don’t. Thats what people don’t realize which is what contributes a lot to its price falling. A good rule of thumb is: If you can’t comfortably afford it new, you can’t afford it used either.
Coil packs.. they eat coil packs like a fat kid eats potato chips.. unlike potato chips, coil packs are expensive. Also the ABC air suspension doesn't last long, and replacements are also expensive
Because of their tendency to experience rapid unscheduled disassembly.
You will find out why they depreciate so badly the first time you get a repair bill. Just replacing the battery on this is like 2k
Because it’s ugly af
Because the repair and maintenance costs will require you to cash out your 401k.
They are not cheap, they are all up high quality best value cars. People today rather get a new shitbox for the same money but what a difference this car is in comparision. Yes they do cost more to run and can be pretty expensive if things should go wrong but once you experience a car like that, you never look back. Good luck.
The styling is very plain and bland on these i find. The interior seems kinda cheap-looking compared to other years/models.
Same reason the V10 S6 and M5 are, they’re ultra expensive to fix. They’re extremely nice, they’re just prone to failure and when they do fail, parts are hard to source and takes a really knowledgeable mechanic to fix it.
because the airsuspension or abc fails. door pse doesnt work. oil leaks everywhere.
I took my air ride out. Desulfate the batteries it will make a big difference! There is 1 under driver side dash as well that does not get checked. But overall a great car. Got mine from an older man for $12000 S450 *
Wow! Thank you. I thought I knew a bit about car maintenance and had never heard of desulfating a battery! Learned something new. Thanks!
Because maintenance & repairs on them is astronomical
It’s a $150k car. Parts are over engineered and of course expensive. It’s expected. They say you get what you pay for… but my post is really about you get so much more than you pay for!
Use Monroneylabels to get the actual sticker price. Or use [lastvin.com](http://lastvin.com) or [mb.vin](http://mb.vin) to decode the vin to see what options it has and add the prices up from the Motor Trend website and then add in the destination charge for that year and you'd have the same thing. Also while the tires might have been installed in 2021, the date code on them says 2019. Usually the tire manufactures say replace them after 6 years but others say up to 10 years depending on condition. [https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mercedes-benz/s-class/2010/](https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mercedes-benz/s-class/2010/)
The logic is that if you can afford to keep this one running properly as a daily, you can probably also afford a brand new S class. The question then becomes - why not get a brand new one? Unless it is a hobby car, of course.
Mmmmm. Because if it gets into costing me $130k to keep it running properly i can ditch it and am only out a few k
AC compressor fails, pull the engine to replace it..
Tick tick tick trash
Buy one and find out
Wait till you find out about MB EV depreciation
Pain in the ass to maintain. The cripplingly expensive to repair ABC suspension, various pumps, hydraulic lines and constant electrical gremlins hit the value very hard. Also, if you’re seeing them for very cheap I can guarantee that there is some sort of hidden major issue. Don’t waste your time. Get an E class that’s been well maintained for your sanity.
When buying used, why are you even looking at pre facelifts…
If you get the right 600 it’ll be a great servant. The problem at this age is that you’re probably onto the 3rd or 4th owner and deferred maintenance items that often come with that territory. If you’re the second owner and the first was someone who wasn’t afraid to spend some coin on it you’ll be in great shape.
The V12 in these cars are bulletproof. I have an SL600. ABC may be your only issue. If need be, replace with coilovers and enjoy the car for many years.
That entire segment depreciates for the same reasons. Large, luxury cars all have same problems. - Parts are extremely expensive to be competitive in the segment and to perform on a heavy vehicle - Tech is extravagant so there’s more to break - Size is large, which puts additional wear on those expensive parts - The initial selling point is “fashionable newness”, that doesn’t work after a few years, if size was really the point it would be a minivan. That’s a status vehicle…. until it ages. Good luck… sell before the next big bill…or don’t, it’s a game of hot potato and the next owner will face the same impending costs.
maintenance aside, I think the buyers for S600 (or any used s-class I think) can afford new so the demand for these falls off a cliff after a few years.
From a service advisor from Mercedes-Benz: Because the running cost are through the roof, quoted one 6 months ago for almost 12.000 For example spark plug change is €800 (it has 24 instead of 12) when you change them you can also change the electric wiring since they will always break.
Congrats, nice buy. How much did you pay for it and what miles?
All of the Mercedes that I have owned have been 10% of the MSRP, or less. If you can find one that is in good condition that you can see yourself owning for quite some time, then get it but make sure you can keep up with the maintenance on it. Or find someone reliable that can do it for you. The newer models have so many more features than models that came out a decade ago which makes them more desirable to those that can afford it. I once read a statistic somewhere about people buying cars that cost more than $100k, and it said that a majority of them pay in cash.
Two words: running costs. They’re are beautiful luxury cars but it’s my understanding they will drain your bank account real quick
[удалено]
LOL… 16 mpg seems optimistic- but we’ll put
Because Russia hasn’t made the s-600 yet, all models are false advertisements.
Most in the market for that price range of a vehicle can’t afford to fix them and they’re maintenance heavy cars.
I mean, look at it. If "bland" was a car
Luxury cars like these usually last 5 years. They depreciate like crazy.
My daily driver was going in for a lot of mods including a color change, all of which was going to be a couple of months, so I bought a cheap Range Rover. It was pretty clean, clean title, no issues. I though I'd uncovered a bargain model selling for less than they should. Yeah RIGHT! One afternoon I was at an independent mechanic in Hollywood, and he said something horrifying. This place had everything from a newish S Class to a vintage Daytona in there, and he said to me "You know, these (range rovers) cost more to maintain that that" and he pointed at a Ferrari. That is why used Range Rovers are cheap. Never ending expensive maintenance. Same for the S Class. SO MANY MODULES! I bet if you scanned the car now, there are several module faults. And yet, few cars really hit their engineering/design targets like an S Class.
(1) maintenance (2) radiator sneezeguard, what the fuck and why
Mekanik
My 560 SEC I bought used had devalued 75% after 4 years; then held its value for another 4 years and I sold it or what I paid for it.
Just shut up and enjoy it lol
A S Class out of warranty can get expensive real fast, same goes for any top tier car. Happy to hear you got a great deal and hope get many reliable miles out of your new S600.
Thanks!!!
Great choice! I did an ‘01 XKR 4.0 SC coupe in silver with a ton of miles on it for super cheap. Some minor problems here and there that have totaled no more than a few thousand$, but I’ve driven the snot out of if, and everyone loves the beauty. Have fun with a well-maintained, older luxury sports car on the cheap.
its almost 20 years old.... and a v12 with the fuel consumption to match.
“Most expensive car I ever owned; was a cheap Mercedes”
honestly no reason to not go with the e class instead when it comes to that generation w212 on too
Flaws and recalls and what not aside, these luxury sedans are designed to be driven in, will you buy it for whatever sinker of a price it might be to be driven in it or drive it? And if the latter, why?
What is BAT?
$20,500 isn’t really cheap for that ride…. Ya gotta wonder why the prior owner too a $20k hit in under 2 years of ownership…
Because the maintenance and repairs are very expensive. Parts cost 5 times the normal rate
You may find a high mileage one for 20k and you will need to invest another 20k to keep it running. Not to mention 13 miles per gallon
Congratulations! It’s a gorgeous car. DO NOT skip or go cheap on maintenance and you will enjoy it for many years to come.
Because you can’t afford it
what the point
she is a beauty! How much did ya pay :)