AMG C55 - Info/advice please....

[neejah]

I had a look at a local MB dealer yesterday, and ended up in an AMG C55 - to say I was impressed was a bit of an understatement!

Lovely car, but......it's a 2003 model estate with "pace car" modifications (not sure on the full extent, but F1 gearshift, huge brakes, F1 wheels & 435bhp) - they've got it up at £38,900 which seems a bit steep (although it's only got 8000 miles on it) has anyone got any ideas whether it's a fair price? There aren't too many about to judge against.

Is insurance likely to be exorbitant? Also is MB finance offering any deals at the moment, is it likely to plummet in value once the new model arrives?- pro's and cons of the C55 would also be appreciated. How would it compare with an older model E55 (I like the look of the '98/99 estate in the PH classifieds and it's considerably cheaper......)

Going back this week to discuss P/X prices & finance - but wanted to get a bit of advice beforehand......

Thanks

Neil

[timberman]

firstly are you sure it's a c55, as that particular model wasn't available until the summer of 2004 and the only "C" AMG available in 03 was the C32.
If it is i'd be interested to know how the 435 bhp has been achieved as the standard car comes with 367 bhp and i dont know of any tuners getting that kind of increase without fitting a supercharger which would be very costly and give considerably more than this figure
also the car comes as standard with paddle gearshift on the steering wheel and very large brakes so I would ask for some evidence to show the pace car mods are for real

as far as insurance and servicing goes, well if its anything like the c32 then not too bad,
expect to pay around £300 for the A service and about £400 for the B

the insurance works out at about £500 per year for myself, me being over 40 and having full no claims bonus

as for pro's and cons well very fast, comfortable, well equiped, discreet and the 55's seem to be pretty reliable .
on the down side petrol consumption is not good and it will depreciate quite badly especially with the imminent arrival of the c63 amg

i don't know of any finance deals available but i would definitely shop around as that price seems very high and i'm sure you can do better

have you tried doing a search on here
www.mercedes-benz.motortrak.com/matrix.php

[iluvmercs]

If I'm correct, Neil is referring to the one which appeared on Autotrader a few months ago, and been with a dealer for a little while now.

Neil, am I right in thinking its the silver one with "63 AMG" wheels in 19 inch diameter, and the Alcantara steering wheel?

timberman:
AMG tuned pace cars to much great power than the standard road cars. I *think* they modified engine internals, the exhaust and ECU on the F1 Pace car. These upgrades were available by special order only from Mercedes dealers, from what I understand. There's a CLK55 "Pace Car" in PH classifies which quotes ~430bhp upgrades, and there was a C43 AMG on ebay a little while ago with 390bhp, as upgraded by AMG. (If anyone wants to amend/confirm what I've said, feel free)

It seems very nice in the pics I saw....if only I had the money, I would have bought it long ago

Go for it

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Monday 14th May 00:21

[timberman]

iluvmercs said:

If I'm correct, Neil is referring to the one which appeared on Autotrader a few months ago, and been with a dealer for a little while now.

Neil, am I right in thinking its the silver one with "63 AMG" wheels in 19 inch diameter, and the Alcantara steering wheel?

timberman:
AMG tuned pace cars to much great power than the standard road cars. I *think* they modified engine internals, the exhaust and ECU on the F1 Pace car. These upgrades were available by special order only from Mercedes dealers, from what I understand. There's a CLK55 "Pace Car" in PH classifies which quotes ~430bhp upgrades, and there was a C43 AMG on ebay a little while ago with 390bhp, as upgraded by AMG. (If anyone wants to amend/confirm what I've said, feel free)

It seems very nice in the pics I saw....if only I had the money, I would have bought it long ago

Go for it

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Monday 14th May 00:21

i must admit thats news to me, i thought that amg stop short of offering any engine upgrades as they feel the cars have enough power as standard...thanks for the info

i just had a look at whats available on line and if the car we are discussing is the one i've just been ogling then it looks a proper beaut

[neejah]

iluvmercs said:

If I'm correct, Neil is referring to the one which appeared on Autotrader a few months ago, and been with a dealer for a little while now.

Neil, am I right in thinking its the silver one with "63 AMG" wheels in 19 inch diameter, and the Alcantara steering wheel?

timberman:
AMG tuned pace cars to much great power than the standard road cars. I *think* they modified engine internals, the exhaust and ECU on the F1 Pace car. These upgrades were available by special order only from Mercedes dealers, from what I understand. There's a CLK55 "Pace Car" in PH classifies which quotes ~430bhp upgrades, and there was a C43 AMG on ebay a little while ago with 390bhp, as upgraded by AMG. (If anyone wants to amend/confirm what I've said, feel free)



It seems very nice in the pics I saw....if only I had the money, I would have bought it long ago

Go for it

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Monday 14th May 00:21

It does indeed have an Alacantra steering wheel, and huge wheels - the link to a picture's below -

http://pictures.autotrader.co.uk/ATD_

It's at MB necastle, and is on their stock list, 2004 not an '03 as I'd said earlier......anyone have any ideas what I should be looking to get them down to price wise?

It all depends on P/X prices etc.......lovely car though!

[timberman]

neejah said:

It does indeed have an Alacantra steering wheel, and huge wheels - the link to a picture's below -

http://pictures.autotrader.co.uk/ATD_

It's at MB necastle, and is on their stock list, 2004 not an '03 as I'd said earlier......anyone have any ideas what I should be looking to get them down to price wise?

It all depends on P/X prices etc.......lovely car though!

hard to say due to it being a bit special

normal c55's of this year and mileage seem to be in the 32/33k range, and any dealer will tell you that any changes from standard will have a zero or even a nagative affect on a cars resale value,
but with this having factory upgrades which would no doubt have increased its retail price quite a lot i suppose that changes things a bit

i would be tempted to make an offer of below 35k and stress that the new c63 is soon to be released with even more power which will have a big negative affect on the cars resale value and give them all the crap they give us about optional extras not really adding any value etc and see what they say.

mercedes don't seem to have the rock solid risiduals they once had so you can usually haggle quite a discount,if the offer i had from a dealer on my c32 recently is anything to go by they probably picked this up for less than 30k

good luck