My wife wants an everyday large luxury sedan, and has settled on the S550. The redesigned S-Class is due out this spring (April??) as a 2014 model... She wants the current generation for a discount. Assuming the current generation sells at an appropriate discount we'll be looking for a 2010-13, but most likely an '11 or '12. Almost certainly CPO only. Any updates between model years I need to consider? Any recurrent issues? Any thoughts on the 4.6L Turbo (2012) vs the 5.5L V8 of earlier years? Anyone have insight as to when the price hit on the previous generation is really priced in when a new generation is released? Is it at showing,... when the new model is in the dealer showroom,... later?
We had a 2008 S550 P3 it was very reliable and one of the best cars we owned. I drove the turbo car as well, prefer the NA car and the price was great too. 2007 cars had some issues with transmission other than that these cars are pretty reliable. If you want newest for warranty reasons go for it , but with new model coming they will drop in price faster than a 2008. Good Luck. Either way you cant go wrong with a S550. I will get one again after new car comes out and intial hit of depreciation is done.
Any year will do. Weve been doing them a while. The new turbo has more power. No noticable spooling time either. I like that. Giving a bit of gas to get the downshift is really nicer now. We are showing 19.9 MPG 15K miles average. That is a surprise for regular use luxobarge.
Thanks for the info. The local dealer says they expect the 2014's to arrive 3rd qtr and they have a lot of pending orders already... so they'll have a lot of current gens coming back in.
Love those cars. Can't really go wrong with one of those. Great looking, wonderful drive, full of luxury appointments, excellent machine. I would say its the best Benz in years!!
just .02 here. My favorite S is the W220 series, sleek, large, and maybe the widest since the old barges of the 70's. These newer benz's are getting too narrow and long and the wheel arches a little exaggerated. If you could get this example with an aftermarket warranty you would be set. The nicest one I have seen - Mercedes-Benz Tuning Blog: Mercedes-Benz W220 S500 4matic Designo
Warranty is a must on these cars. Its like maintained an exotic. I got 87k miles on mine and over 50000 dollars in maintenance between me and previous owner, moistly done under warranty.
Nice cars...I had a '02 S-600 but my '07 S-550 blows it away as far as build and quality. Very noticible difference in craftsmanship. '07 and up with pano roof, rear seat pkg and AMG pkg. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not yet. The new generations are just dribbling in. Hoping prices fall another 10K by summer when the new model is more abundant, and then get a CPO.
Nice car, but before you buy, make damn sure the oil cooler has been replaced with the updated seals. My record for replacing those is 4 in one week. Job pay anywhere between 12 and 16 hours depending on the model. The blue tech s series I think is in the 12hr range. Stupid design on benz's part to put that cooler in the v of the engine, buried under the turbo.