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Fresh off last week’s 2018 Mercedes-Benz G65 AMG, I thought I’d look at one of the first vehicles equipped with the M275 engine, the W220 S600. This engine replaced the god awful M158 V12 that lasted a few short years and was by far the better engine for the job. It was so good, they literally put it in almost every vehicle in their range for the next 15 years, including that G65 that I just mentioned. You would think an old twin-turbocharged V12 would be nothing but trouble, but they are fairly easy to live with as long as you remember it is an old twin-turbocharged V12.
This 2004 S600 up for sale in Texas comes in with just a little over 32,000 miles and seems to be in top shape. Admittedly, it isn’t the most attractive car ever in terms of looks and of course the tech is a bit dated, but for the price, is it worth look?
Red is a funny color when it comes to cars. Coupe or sports sedan? Sure, looks great. Full-size luxury sedan or SUV? Are you out of your mind? Even when it is offered on a SUV, it is usually in a much softer red that borders on burgundy. Same with the full-size sedans, a soft red. However, sometimes you do find the rare luxury sedan finished in the brightest red you can think of and it catches you off guard. Wouldn’t you have it, this is exactly what we have today in the 2003 Mercedes-Benz S500 I found up for sale in Poland. It is literally called “Magma Red” and isn’t shy about it. The thing is, I’m not sure if I like it just because it’s different or because it actually looks good.
Last week I took a modest dive into cars that have been produced in the past 20 years or so and how they are in a bit of strange spot. Too new and insignificant to be collectible, and generally not worth the trouble. That in turn, with a few exceptions, sends prices to floor. Today, we have another example of that.
This 2001 Mercedes-Benz S430 is a perfect storm of a car that seemingly no one wants. A pre-facelift W220, it is finished in tan over tan with the less-powerful 4.3 liter V8. I don’t need to rehash my thoughts on how the pre-facelift W220 was a massive disappointment compared to the end-of-production W220, but it seems I’m not alone on this one. The good news is that this car is in really nice shape for having over 100,000 miles. The even better news is that is cheap. Really cheap.
I’d never thought I’d type this, but maybe it isn’t such a bad idea to buy a W220 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG. Okay, maybe that was a little too broad. What I mean is maybe it isn’t such a bad idea to buy a W220 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG if you really want a crazy powerful sedan and have lots of discretionary income to support such a purchase or you were seriously considering last week’s mess of a S600. I think that statement gets a little closer to my point, or maybe it is just one of those situations where it isn’t nearly as bad as it could be.
In the shock of the century, the W220 SL/CL/S65 AMG cars seem to be holding up fairly well considering what could actually go wrong with them. After all, this is what happened when the engineers at AMG turn the dial up to 9, with a 10 only being the SL65 AMG Black Series. Just encase I didn’t make this clear, I’m not saying these are cheap or inexpensive to keep running, but rather the same situation as living in Siberia and saying “Hmm. -8°F today, not that cold at all”. On the price end of the equation, it seems that these have hit rock bottom and dare I even say are actually being sought after by enthusiasts. So when a really sorted example pops up like today’s S65 in Los Angeles, should you actually give it consideration?
As we are now into a new decade, I figured now is a good a time as any to remind you to never buy the car I’m looking at today. What is it? The 2001 Mercedes-Benz S600. Not just the 2001, but any vehicle that comes with one of the worst engines ever made, the M137. This engine was so bad, that it only lasted three model years the US spanning from 2000-2002 in the S600 and CL600. Mercedes quickly admitted their errors and switched to the M275 in 2003, and that was so durable that iterations of it are still in production today. Why exactly was this thing so bad? Lets refresh our memory.
