0ldCh0d

A rusty W220...albeit a pre-facelift model, but rusty as fuck. Bet it still drives well though ?????

I would love to take this on the Autobahn, I might plan to do that next year sometime. I can only imagine how good the C32 would be on the Autobahn...that would be amazing. I also agree with you regarding the comfort of a Mercedes, I used to get a sore neck & leg after driving the Audi for a long distance & cramp in my right leg also, however, in the Mercedes, I don’t suffer from any of that after doing a distance in it. I went down to Newcastle on Monday just past there & it was an awesome journey in the Mercedes, I got out in Newcastle feeling as good as I did when I set off.

Very well said, I couldn’t have put that any better. That’s completely true. I thankfully did not buy the car from an auction, it was a private sale & bought from a respectable man, who was only selling it due to his ill health, he said that he would cry when he saw it going away & I genuinely do believe that, I would have aswell if it had been me. He had looked after it as it should have been, it has been serviced when it should have been (the service book is testament to this, plus all receipts for any work that has been done to it over the time he has owned it) I certainly didn’t buy it blind, as you say, that would have been a crazy move. I can say that I did expect it to cost a bit more to run than my Audi A4 2.0T Quattro that I had up until I bought the Mercedes, but the truth be told, it genuinely has not been a massive expense between the running of them, but I was prepared for that. On a run at 70-80 mph, it averages 28.3 mpg, I only know this because I checked it on the computer display. Yes, it will cost me more to service than the Audi did, but as you say, it was a £100k car back in 2003, & it’s still going to cost that bit more to service it etc even now. The Mercedes is a sublime driving car, you get out of it after a long distance still feeling as fresh as you did when you set off. I certainly don’t miss my Audi, that’s for sure. I have just covered around 100 miles in it today, it’s just one of they car’s that every time you drive it, You love it more.

Exactly, I agree with you 100% on your comment. You only hear about the one’s that have FTP’d, yet there are hundreds of thousands of W220’s worldwide & the vast majority of them are running about still. Yes, they will have their problems over time, but so do other manufacturers, there is no such thing as 100% total reliability with any vehicle. They are designed to fail or break from time to time, some issues/problems more expensive than others. overall, I am very happy with the big thing, it might be 17 years old now, but it runs & drives like it is new. Thank you also for you comment, it is a lovely big thing.

It’s sublime, it shifts seamlessly as it should, you barely even notice it. I also had heard bad thing’s about the 7G-tronic transmission, like valve body’s & conductor plate issues etc. But this one is extremely good. As for the 5 Speed Auto (722.6 transmission) these are pretty much bullet proof, & if the conductor plate fails, it’s relatively straightforward to replace, unlike the 722.9 (7G-Tronic) which if the conductor plate fails, the valve body also needs to be replaced at the same time.

The fibre optic cables are the orange ones, they plug into each part of the stereo system, so one will be plugged into your amplifier & then so on, they can be unplugged & checked fairly easy. when you unplug the fibre optic plug, have someone turn on the radio & you look at the plug, you will see a little red light flash inside the plug as you are looking at it, if it flashes red, this is working, so plug it back in & then follow the orange cable to the next part & do the same thing, if you come across one that doesn’t flash, this will be your problem. It sounds confusing, but it’s genuinely fairly straight forward to check. if you have any doubt, just look up Mercedes Fibre optic cable check, there is a wealth of information on how to check the cables & trouble shoot them. again, I am not saying 100% that the fibre optic cabling is your problem, but it is certainly worth checking incase it is. & if it’s not, then sack my advice ???

No, I have not done that yet, but I will give it a go over the weekend. I have not done that on it since I’ve had it.

I am a Mercedes licker, I love them, more so big Mercedes like the E class (W210, W211 etc) I was originally looking at E55 AMG’s, but the W211 E55 are still pricey despite their age now, so I then looked at the E500 W211, but I only seen one late model & again, that was pricey. I had not thought of a W220 S Class until this one popped up on my search radar, So I decided that it was well worth a look after asking the seller lots of questions about it (suspension working as it should etc) when the seller told me that it was working as it should, I arranged to go view it & when I seen it in the flesh & got taken out a run in it, I knew then that I was buying it & I am so glad that I did. Regarding your C32, One of my friends had one of these around 10 years ago now & took me out for a blast in it, it was seriously quick, the supercharged V6 engine in these are something else, I remember being pinned back into the passenger seat when he nailed it. I agree with you, all the naysayers about fuel economy & being a money pit etc are just scared of the thought of running a big engined car. Mercedes & High Mileage go hand in hand if they are looked after, even Sprinter vans do gung ho mileages. I like your C32, they are an appreciating classic now, with Values only going to go one way & that’s up.

Thank you for your comment, it is indeed a lovely looking car, the engine is sublime, it is effortless when on the move & silent when running & idling. Believe it or not, the car is actually a lovely light metallic blue (quartz blue light is the name of the colour) & not silver, despite it looking silver in the pictures. The interior is royal blue. & yes, it certainly does hide it’s miles well, to drive it you would have absolutely no idea it had done 20,000 miles short of 200,000 miles, it really does drive like nothing else.

Because it’s a facelift model, it’s a 7g transmission, I also thought that it was a 5 speed when I first bought it, but I had the VIN number decoded on a Mercedes website & it is a 7g transmission, which was a pleasant surprise. That’s when I also found out that it was an L (long wheelbase) model also.

I am not saying that it is the fibre optic cabling for certain, but it is worth a look, someone has previously been messing around with the fibre optic cabling in my S500, I got the radio & sat nav etc working for about 3 days & then it went back to what it was doing when I first got the car, no sound, nothing, just the head unit turning on..doing it’s checks & then saying system unavailable, then turning itself off. I plan to investigate it further soon.

I know I have not posted on here for a long time, but I thought that I would share my new daily wheels... it’s a 2003, 53 (Facelift) S500 L (long wheel base) just ticked over to 180,364 miles (I got it at 179,220 miles) What a car, it is NOT greedy on fuel despite everyone telling me before I got it that it would be, it’s not. 5.0 V8, 306bhp 7 speed Auto. its seriously lovely, riding on the airmatic suspension. barely above idle speed at 80mph & for it’s size, it’s seriously quick when it is needed. Also, the silence inside is amazing, you can barely hear any noise, it’s so silent & insulated from the outside world. Yes, I know that most people will tell me about the horrors of the W220 Mercedes-Benz S Class, but this is a good one, no rust or rot (early examples up until 2002 were notoriously bad for rot everywhere) the 2003 facelift model onwards were not as bad. & my one is not blighted with any rot. Here it is, after being fully valeted today.

Regarding your BOSE stereo set up, have you checked the fibre optic loop? (orange cabling) My new Daily is a 2003 53 S500- with the BOSE setup & at the moment it has stopped working (head unit is the comand system, which powers on but then comes up system unavailable & turns off. It has something to do with the fibre optic cables, if one goes down, the whole thing goes down (like Christmas tree lights, it is wired in a loop) Might be worth a look before spending on a new amp.

I know this is commenting on an old post, but, My Dad’s work has got these new Scanias, I am not sure what BHP they are (but they are not fancy, they are tractor units with small wheels) & he say’s they are “utterly shit” & he prefers the hired in Mercedes Actros Or M.A.N’s that are always hired to replace the Scania’s as they (the Scania’s) keep breaking down. He also said that they are gutless when driving uphills etc...I am sure he said they are limited to 54mph also. I will ask him, but he hates them. before the Scania’s, his work had Iveco Strallis units, he also said they were shit, unreliable & I do know that they were always going wrong, even the Iveco mechanic who used to come out when they broke down, told him that they were shite

I just checked my daily’s MOT which was mot’d in December 2019.....it’s still MOT’d until.....December 2020.