SL320

Fantastic Car the last of the true SLs - But repairs can expensive...

I love this car, even though at 6'4" tall I can only just fit in the drivers seat! It's a pity, for such a large car, that the seat cannot go back just a few more inches. I have had several Mercedes saloons and if I put the seats right back in those even I cannot reach the pedals!

I really like the shape, even over the more modern versions that tend, in my eyes, to look as if they're built on the cheap! Very solidly built, fantastic "old style" Mercedes handling. Plenty of power and quite good economy really. I have just done over 3000 miles in Europe (ending up in Prague) across many Swiss and Austrian mountain passes etc. and it averaged 27mpg!

However... since owning it I have spent more on it than it cost me. I bought a very well serviced car with 125,000 miles and no accidents. I read previously that the engine was "bomb proof", well it is really, but prone to head-gasket failure at about 120k miles. I had the gasket changed and the head reconditioned as the valve guides were worn. Other expenses were: New engine wiring loom (over £1200 from MB), Engine ECU (£1000) after a miss-fire started out of the blue. Air conditioning condenser (£460 + fitting and regassing). New shock absorbers (a service item but still not cheap!). Lastly new front wings (£230 each from MB + fitting and painting) as they do rust. The rest of the car is rust free, but here seems to be a problem with just the front wings, I guess this will apply to all R129s?

After all that I still love the car and will be keeping it for some time to come despite the outlay so far. I just don't want others to think they'll have a cost free time with one, they may well do, but I clearly didn't!

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