Color me blue. This 2004 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG is finished in Bright Blue Metallic, which is a shade I’ve never seen on the W211 E55 before. Almost every E55 of this generation was painted is painted in some sort of silver, grey, black, or beige, and bright colors like this are very rarely ever seen. Nary a green or navy blue to be found. Even better, wait until you see what is inside! There is one problem however…I hope you speak Dutch.
Believe it or not, March is here. Funny to say that since it happens every year, but spring fever is going to get hot and heavy. Especially since, well, you know the drill. With spring, comes convertible season. At least for us who live anywhere else but California and Florida. The options are pretty wide when you are looking for top down cars, but dollar for dollar, the R230 SL55 AMG continues to be one the best values out there. As expected, most of these don’t have many miles on them. Even with that, $25,000 buys you a decent example. However, this 2003 up for sale in Florida has an impressive 98,000 miles. Even better? It’s from the original owner.
It feels like the W211 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG is flying under the radar a little. Well, at least for now. Maybe it’s their subtle looks or lack of screaming exhaust note, but then again, that was the entire point when this car was new. Keep in mind, this was right when the horsepower wars started between Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, which ultimately prompted V10s in both the E60 M5 and C6 S6. Looking back now, the E60 M5 is basically considered radioactive in terms of reliability, and people seem not to want to sign up for an aging Lamborghini-esque V10 that requires carbon cleaning and new intake flaps every so often. That leaves the E55, the car with a big supercharger on it, as the most reasonable example to own out of the three. I think we set the bar pretty low here.
All of a sudden it’s March! You know what that means. Four more weeks of winter for us in the northern part of the country and then we’ll maybe start thinking about spring. In all seriousness, hope springs eternal when the calendar turns and we’ll be preparing for car season. What better way to kick it off by looking at a Mercedes-Benz convertible with a supercharged V8 with nearly 500 horsepower?
This 2003 SL55 AMG up for sale in Arizona is finished in the classic Brilliant Silver Metallic, but when you open the doors you get your hair blown away with a red leather interior. Personally, I love it. I love even more that it has just 14,000 miles as well.
Hard to believe it has been over a year since the last time I looked at a Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Estate. Time flies when you’re having fun I suppose, but I came across this 2005 up for sale in California that caught my eye immediately. Its really not any different than every other E55 Wagon I look at, but I thought it would be interesting to see where the market is at on these cars now that we head into 2020 and Mercedes-Benz is thankfully still gracing us with AMG wagons that are fast enough to put most exotics to shame. So are these still commanding strong money? Or are they starting to soften just a little? I think I have one of the answers to that question.
Earlier this year I took a deep dive into what the R230 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG is and where it might be headed into the future. It is a car that can hold its own without a doubt, but certainly is not at the top of anyone’s list when it comes to buying a convertible for around $25,000. However, today we have a 2005 that might change everyone’s opinion at how these things look. This SL55 up for sale in California is painted in the very rare Orion Blue and shows just under 30,000 miles. The condition is nearly perfect and frankly, I love it very much. Where do I send my money?
Cars and watches go together like peanut butter and jelly. Naturally this leads to car and watch collaborations in every shape and size. Usually it involves sticking a watch face inside the car and then the watch manufacturer making a line of watches with the cars logo on it. Today, we have exactly that. This 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLS55 AMG is an IWC Ingenieur edition of which only 55 examples were ever produced. When you think about how many cars Mercedes probably makes in a year, only making 55 of something is a really small number. The short of it is they all are painted in dark titanium grey metallic with matte titanium trim, and on the inside you got the IWC Ingenieur inscription on the gauge cluster clock. That’s about it. This was purely a cosmetic change and unless you know this was an IWC Ingenieur edition, you’d have no idea that this was even a special edition. Maybe this is a good thing?
Now that I’ve exhausted all of the nice Mercedes-Benz R129s currently on the market, I wanted to wander over to the R230 to see how things are going with the first SL with a folding hard top. The R230 was a giant leap forward in terms of styling and technology compared to the R129 as now the normally boxy and square roadster suddenly didn’t have a flat edge on the entire car. It was what needed to be done to keep the car relevant in the new millennium with the legacy buyers coming back as well as capture the hearts of all the new money buyers that wanted a sleek roadster that didn’t feel like an old man or woman’s car that was driven to the country club on a Sunday morning to play golf. It is tough to stay that Mercedes didn’t succeed in that as even now that the R230 is 17 years-old, it still doesn’t look or feel that age. Sure, some of the tech is dated, but getting in of these cars doesn’t scream ”this car can legally buy cigarettes next year” old.
Of course, with the introduction of the SL500 and V12 SL600 in the R230, Mercedes stepped up their game in the US market by giving customers the SL55 AMG that was a hit as soon as they landed on dealer lots. A 0-60 time in 4.4 seconds thanks to 493 horsepower and 520 lb⋅ft of torque, the SL55 wore the crowd of the fastest automatic transmission car in the world for a short time before the big brother SLR came on to the scene in 2003. The SL55 continued to be the model of choice over the more expensive V12 SL600 until it was replaced by the SL63 in 2008. The SL65 AMG joined the lineup in 2005 with its twin-turbocharged V12 making an insane 604 horsepower and 738 lb⋅ft of torque, but also carried a price tag starting at $185,000. Needless to say, the SL55 remained the best bang for the buck at a still very expensive $115,000, but was a bargain compared to competitors Ferrari 360 and Aston Martin’s DB7 Volante in terms of both purchase price and cost of running. Today, the SL55 sits in that no man’s land of not old enough to be considered a classic and not modern enough to be considered by people who want to be impressed by a bunch of tech. Add in the fact that the running costs can scare some people off, a Corvette seems like a much better buy for the convertible crowd who take Sunday cruises to the Daily Queen. What does that mean for prices on these beasts? Very good things if you are willing to commit to owning one. At least this example up for sale in North Carolina proves that.
When it rains, it pours. For a vehicle that North American only saw 192 of, I have come across three W211 Mercedes-Benz E55 Estates for sale in less than three weeks. Last week it was a 2005 in The Hamptons that needed some help and the week before that it was an even rarer 2006 also in New York that was replaced by a Ferrari FF. Today, we have another 2005 that is up for sale in sunny Jacksonville, Florida that thankfully looks to be in prime shape. This S211 painted in Brilliant Silver Metallic checks in with 145,000 miles and thanks to a few little Mercedes software tricks, has some nice little features that I don’t see all that often.
Last week I looked at a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Estate that drew quite of bit of reaction from the comments. I say that as a good thing because most were pretty happy with the condition but thought the price was a little high (which I can say I don’t really disagree with). Well wouldn’t you know it, another W211 E55 AMG Estate popped up for sale with even fewer miles, in the same area and an even a cheaper price. I thought this might be an answer to what everyone was looking for. There’s just one slightly big problem with this one though: it is by far the worst condition E55 Estate I’ve ever come across.
