Mercedes SL, 1989 to 2002 (R129)
Looking for owners views on this car - i've scoured the PH archives and there doesn't seem to be a good collection of info on this model, so any info you can provide would be helpful.
Let's start with this:
Let's start with this:
GregE240 said:
I bought my R129 back in 2005 from a PH-er, whose mum had owned the car from new. It had a FMBSH, which for a 1990 car, is pretty damn good. Looking through the receipts, the car wanted for nothing, and also went through a few batteries! More on that in a bit...
Mine is a 1990 500SL - the badges swapped around in conjunction with a facelift in the mid nineties. Being of 1990 vintage, my car has the M119 V8 engine, which truly is bulletproof, and also no cats, so at the time it was advertised with 326hp. Going through a 4 speed automatic, it shifts, with 100mpg coming up in no time at all. The only Achilles of the M119 engine is the distributor caps, so ideally you'd want evidence of them being changed for the later (and much improved) replacements. Symptoms of dissy caps which are shot is poor idling / hunting, and maybe a misfire or two. If you ever need to replace them, for goodness sake buy the Bosch pattenr replacement, rather than the MB ones or others. The MB caps are twice the price of Bosch. The non-OEM are, in a word, s
t. Go by my experience!
The only things I'd watch for? Firstly, service history, at either MB or a recognised indie. The latter, it could be argued, is better than a clutch of MB stamps on these old girls as they will be serviced by blokes who serviced them day in, day out, i.e., just like the blokes at Auto Class and other good indies. An MB mechanic would need to refer to the Workshop Information System as soon as the bonnet is opened. Also, bear in mind that many of ther parts on this car were bespoke for the SL - you will see this by parts starting A129 xxx xxxx - this is a euphemism for "bloody expensive". As an example, I had the wiper motor replaced this year, cost was £160 as opposed to most other Merc wiper motors which retail at around £40.
Final items to check? Electrics and THAT roof. Check all the electrics work, that the windows drop with one touch, and go up okay. On the facelift models, the window will drop about an inch when you open the door in order to facilitate closure - early ones do not so may need a gentle slam! The only electrical gripe I've had was the column stalk which packed in - in the rain one wet Saturday morning. This was mildly irritating as it left me with no wipers or main beam! That was a rare occurance though, according to the experts.
Finally, the roof. It has at least one ECU controlling it, about 12 motors and a st load of hydraulics. So, if you see a car with the hard top on (which all should have), INSIST that it is removed, and the roof demonstrated. It should raise and come down with no drama, all in relative silence. If it does not, WALK AWAY - seriously. Do not take any bluff from the seller that it needs this, or that. I have personally seen other SLs with failed roof mechanisms that not even the experts can fix - there is an SL60 AMG that I've seen on E-Bay about 4 times with this very problem. Needless to say, roof problems are blank cheque and bend over-type money. The main ECU alone is over £1,000.
But....please don't be put off. If you can find a car that has been loved, with not many owners, and used regularly, then you will have bought an epic car, that chews long drives and spits them out with contempt. There are several owners on here, and also a wealth of experience on www.mbclub.co.uk and www.mercedesshop.com forums.
Hope this helps. Oh...the battery. Mine has gone through about a dozen in its lifetime. Why? Simple. If you leave it standing, the battery flattens itself in just over a fortnight, and its beyond saving. I know of several owners who this has happened to. I think its the MB alarm on it which seems to have a higher draw than other alarm systems.
and this:Mine is a 1990 500SL - the badges swapped around in conjunction with a facelift in the mid nineties. Being of 1990 vintage, my car has the M119 V8 engine, which truly is bulletproof, and also no cats, so at the time it was advertised with 326hp. Going through a 4 speed automatic, it shifts, with 100mpg coming up in no time at all. The only Achilles of the M119 engine is the distributor caps, so ideally you'd want evidence of them being changed for the later (and much improved) replacements. Symptoms of dissy caps which are shot is poor idling / hunting, and maybe a misfire or two. If you ever need to replace them, for goodness sake buy the Bosch pattenr replacement, rather than the MB ones or others. The MB caps are twice the price of Bosch. The non-OEM are, in a word, s
t. Go by my experience!The only things I'd watch for? Firstly, service history, at either MB or a recognised indie. The latter, it could be argued, is better than a clutch of MB stamps on these old girls as they will be serviced by blokes who serviced them day in, day out, i.e., just like the blokes at Auto Class and other good indies. An MB mechanic would need to refer to the Workshop Information System as soon as the bonnet is opened. Also, bear in mind that many of ther parts on this car were bespoke for the SL - you will see this by parts starting A129 xxx xxxx - this is a euphemism for "bloody expensive". As an example, I had the wiper motor replaced this year, cost was £160 as opposed to most other Merc wiper motors which retail at around £40.
Final items to check? Electrics and THAT roof. Check all the electrics work, that the windows drop with one touch, and go up okay. On the facelift models, the window will drop about an inch when you open the door in order to facilitate closure - early ones do not so may need a gentle slam! The only electrical gripe I've had was the column stalk which packed in - in the rain one wet Saturday morning. This was mildly irritating as it left me with no wipers or main beam! That was a rare occurance though, according to the experts.
Finally, the roof. It has at least one ECU controlling it, about 12 motors and a s
t load of hydraulics. So, if you see a car with the hard top on (which all should have), INSIST that it is removed, and the roof demonstrated. It should raise and come down with no drama, all in relative silence. If it does not, WALK AWAY - seriously. Do not take any bluff from the seller that it needs this, or that. I have personally seen other SLs with failed roof mechanisms that not even the experts can fix - there is an SL60 AMG that I've seen on E-Bay about 4 times with this very problem. Needless to say, roof problems are blank cheque and bend over-type money. The main ECU alone is over £1,000.But....please don't be put off. If you can find a car that has been loved, with not many owners, and used regularly, then you will have bought an epic car, that chews long drives and spits them out with contempt. There are several owners on here, and also a wealth of experience on www.mbclub.co.uk and www.mercedesshop.com forums.
Hope this helps. Oh...the battery. Mine has gone through about a dozen in its lifetime. Why? Simple. If you leave it standing, the battery flattens itself in just over a fortnight, and its beyond saving. I know of several owners who this has happened to. I think its the MB alarm on it which seems to have a higher draw than other alarm systems.
GregE240 said:
My old man has my car at the moment (we are moving house, so for dad to borrow it meant it didn't need packing lol), he is averaging early 20s to the gallon, about 20-22 I guess?
Later SL500s post facelift (96 from memory) had the 5 speed 'box, which gives you another 1-2mpg.
UPDATE: Just looked at Ken Rockwells R129 history at: http://www.kenrockwell.com/sl/r129history.htm
He reckons the best to own is an SL500 from '96 with the 32-valve engine (M119) and the 5 speed auto. Not playing mine down at all, I'd probably agree with this. Although ignore his disparaging words about the 4 speed transmission - it is truly bulletproof, and such is the torque, a 5th gear is a luxury.
Later SL500s post facelift (96 from memory) had the 5 speed 'box, which gives you another 1-2mpg.
UPDATE: Just looked at Ken Rockwells R129 history at: http://www.kenrockwell.com/sl/r129history.htm
He reckons the best to own is an SL500 from '96 with the 32-valve engine (M119) and the 5 speed auto. Not playing mine down at all, I'd probably agree with this. Although ignore his disparaging words about the 4 speed transmission - it is truly bulletproof, and such is the torque, a 5th gear is a luxury.
phib said:
I can vouch for the w129 model especially the 320sl mine is a very late 1999 ( new v6 model) just done 168 mile trip to the coast and back roof down wind deflector up heated seats on .....heaven !!!!
Not hugely quick but get about 25-29 mpg and 60 in 7.5ish cruses at 85 leptons all day
Things I would recomend :
Hard top
Heated seats
The orthopedic seats
Wind deflector
The little things make all the difference bust cost little at this stage of its life here is mine :
Any more?Not hugely quick but get about 25-29 mpg and 60 in 7.5ish cruses at 85 leptons all day
Things I would recomend :
Hard top
Heated seats
The orthopedic seats
Wind deflector
The little things make all the difference bust cost little at this stage of its life here is mine :
r129sl said:
My 1999 SL500 currently shows 146,000miles. I have owned it since 2003 when it had 40,000miles on the clock. The car has performed without fault and has given me a great deal of satisfaction: I do not believe there is a better grand touring car out there.
I have serviced the car strictly in accordance with or ahead of the manufacturer's schedules at the Mercedes dealer, where I have established a positive relationship with the knowledgeable and enthusiastic mechanical staff. I have also pursued a course of (relatively) expensive preventative maintenance, replacing major components before they fail. I believe this is the reason why my car has performed so well.
There are very few good R129s on the market at any one time. There are lots of dogs. This is because a good example is worth a lot more to its owner than it will fetch in the market. I would be lucky to get £10,000 for my car yet there is nothing I could replace it with at any price: a used R230 SL500 would set me back £30,000 and I know it well be less satisfactory, so why should I change? And bad ones cost a lot to fix.
Condition is absolutely everything. Look at a lot of cars and avoid any car that looks unduly worn. Make sure everything works, especially the roof. Everything on my car works; the exterior and interior are almost as new, yet it has covered nearly 150k miles. Look for evidence that the owner has maintained the car without regard to cost. One immediate sign of skimping is tyres: if the owner cannot afford to put Michelin, Dunlop or Continental tyres on the car (the only brands homologated for use with this vehicle), what else has he skimped on? Avoid after market wheels, especially AMG copies. Mileage is nothing to fear: lack of use kills these cars but they are difficult to overuse.
All of the engines are adequately powerful. Obviously, the 2.8litre six (early cars straight six, later cars Vee) is slowest and the 7.3litre V12 is fastest. There is little difference in running costs between the sixes and the V8s (they cost the same to insure and they give very similar fuel consumption); the V12s are heavier on fuel. None of the engines should suffer any significant failure, but if it does happen, the V12 will be more expensive to fix. The V12 is not, however, temperamental: it is an extraordinarily high quality power plant. The V8 is 911 fast.
The cars were facelifted once in 1995 and again in late 1998. Post-98 cars have new power plants, namely the three-valve per cylinder m112 and m113 V6 and V8 motors in use across the range until recently. These are more flexible and give markedly better economy than the earlier engines, though some say they are not of such high quality. Both m112 and m113 won Ward's Engine of the Year, though, as did the m119 in its time. A post 1998 car shows its exhaust and has SLK-style rounded door mirrors. Post 1995 cars have only two vents on each wing (as opposed to three on cars built between 1989 and 1995) and rounded bumpers. Post 1998 cars have very high levels of standard equipment.
The panoramic glass roof is an excellent extra. Heated seats are vital, in my opinion. Most everything else is nice but not essential. I would like orthopaedic seats.
I cannot stress enough how positive my experience of this car has been. I regularly cover 800+ miles in a single day and I can think of no other car which even comes close in providing comfort, speed and ease of use.
I have serviced the car strictly in accordance with or ahead of the manufacturer's schedules at the Mercedes dealer, where I have established a positive relationship with the knowledgeable and enthusiastic mechanical staff. I have also pursued a course of (relatively) expensive preventative maintenance, replacing major components before they fail. I believe this is the reason why my car has performed so well.
There are very few good R129s on the market at any one time. There are lots of dogs. This is because a good example is worth a lot more to its owner than it will fetch in the market. I would be lucky to get £10,000 for my car yet there is nothing I could replace it with at any price: a used R230 SL500 would set me back £30,000 and I know it well be less satisfactory, so why should I change? And bad ones cost a lot to fix.
Condition is absolutely everything. Look at a lot of cars and avoid any car that looks unduly worn. Make sure everything works, especially the roof. Everything on my car works; the exterior and interior are almost as new, yet it has covered nearly 150k miles. Look for evidence that the owner has maintained the car without regard to cost. One immediate sign of skimping is tyres: if the owner cannot afford to put Michelin, Dunlop or Continental tyres on the car (the only brands homologated for use with this vehicle), what else has he skimped on? Avoid after market wheels, especially AMG copies. Mileage is nothing to fear: lack of use kills these cars but they are difficult to overuse.
All of the engines are adequately powerful. Obviously, the 2.8litre six (early cars straight six, later cars Vee) is slowest and the 7.3litre V12 is fastest. There is little difference in running costs between the sixes and the V8s (they cost the same to insure and they give very similar fuel consumption); the V12s are heavier on fuel. None of the engines should suffer any significant failure, but if it does happen, the V12 will be more expensive to fix. The V12 is not, however, temperamental: it is an extraordinarily high quality power plant. The V8 is 911 fast.
The cars were facelifted once in 1995 and again in late 1998. Post-98 cars have new power plants, namely the three-valve per cylinder m112 and m113 V6 and V8 motors in use across the range until recently. These are more flexible and give markedly better economy than the earlier engines, though some say they are not of such high quality. Both m112 and m113 won Ward's Engine of the Year, though, as did the m119 in its time. A post 1998 car shows its exhaust and has SLK-style rounded door mirrors. Post 1995 cars have only two vents on each wing (as opposed to three on cars built between 1989 and 1995) and rounded bumpers. Post 1998 cars have very high levels of standard equipment.
The panoramic glass roof is an excellent extra. Heated seats are vital, in my opinion. Most everything else is nice but not essential. I would like orthopaedic seats.
I cannot stress enough how positive my experience of this car has been. I regularly cover 800+ miles in a single day and I can think of no other car which even comes close in providing comfort, speed and ease of use.