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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

merc SL 3.7


peter richards

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thanks dunk had a slight change of mind due to the size of the SLmate has just got one which kind of started my interest and the prices are quite low ,so started looking at the SLK 55 AMG smaller car but a V8 but prices are twice that of the SL and not many about ,05 or 06 i like it has the F1 style nose ,wont get the SL in my garage 

Edited by peter richards (see edit history)
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On 10/9/2022 at 7:40 PM, peter richards said:

thanks dunk had a slight change of mind due to the size of the SLmate has just got one which kind of started my interest and the prices are quite low ,so started looking at the SLK 55 AMG smaller car but a V8 but prices are twice that of the SL and not many about ,05 or 06 i like it has the F1 style nose ,wont get the SL in my garage 

I would look at the face lift 350 slk. The actual figures vs the 55 are not to far off and they are loads cheaper. I think they are maybe 50bhp less? of course the sound and grunt wont be the same but for the money?

And it has the f1 nose to, 2008 onward i think.

Edited by The Raven (see edit history)
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thank you ,it was the v8 that i liked plus the nose ,as long as its 06 tax is 360 i think plus the 350 had balence shaft issues where as the v8 is pretty solid ,still early days itll only be a summer car so running costs wont be to high ,just had a look pretty much the same car ,but is the v8 worth 10k,hmmm not to sure 

Edited by peter richards (see edit history)
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yes sure do dunk not really looked at the 350 till raven said earlier ,found a good head to head on youtube with good info , so then looked at the prices and for a decent 55 lowish miles your looking at 17kish the 350 similar 6k  7k hell of a difference but that v8 is the one to have ,hand built .few with90- 100k are cheaper and for that v8 probably isnt a problem but the rest of it might be

 

Edited by peter richards (see edit history)
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My concern as I said is the balance shaft problem and also i've read oil consumption problems on the earlier engines, there was a really good list 

with 3 outlined problems and engine serial numbers to avoid but I can't find it.

 

I still really like the SL but would be looking at a 400 AMG but with low miles its the wrong side of £30k but on 2017 so a tad younger

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19 hours ago, Dnk said:

2004 to 2010 for the second gen SLK, the 55 would be much more fun with 355 hp & 376 lb/ft  compared to 272 hp & 258 lb/ft for the 350

but you really pay for it.

 

The 350 got a power boost to 300bhp on facelift,

The acutal HP isnt to bad the torque is where the money is. However factor in the huge price difference. Id be very interested in hearing a report of driving both to see if extra cost is really worth it. 
 

The other downside is the 55 can get into the lower tax bands, the 350 on a 2009 will be top wack

  

Edited by The Raven (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...

from my research it looks like a bit of a money pit ,the V8 is ok pretty solid engine ,its the rest of the car ,subframes are like butter apparently ,but might get it changed as its a common fault by merc, the roof can also play up ,and all expensive to fix ,so will carry on looking no rush but can of worms i think 

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4 minutes ago, peter richards said:

from my research it looks like a bit of a money pit ,the V8 is ok pretty solid engine ,its the rest of the car ,subframes are like butter apparently ,but might get it changed as its a common fault by merc, the roof can also play up ,and all expensive to fix ,so will carry on looking no rush but can of worms i think 

Sadly everything I look at is a potential wallet emptier 

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  • 2 weeks later...

well its only going to be a summer car pretty much just like the supra , 55 would of been nice but when i sat down with my sensible head on it just wasnt going to be practical servicing costs are high ,plus running costs ,so i carried on looking and found this one ,ticks a lot of the boxes ,reviews are all good as its the newer engine ,the older ones had ballence shaft issues , so yes went for it ,started off as the thread title said looking at an SL but to big ,then looked at a 55 ,to rare hard to find a good one ,and if you did the price shot up ,so found the 350 kind of the middle ground .

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