A friend has a 95 V12 with 80K, one owner miles in excellent shape. He is willing to sell it to me for $17.5. Any issues that I need to be aware of that are unique to this model? Would you buy it?

 

Make sure it was a maintained car or be ready for some expensive repairs in the future.

And remember that this car is a V-12 and people seem to forget that a V-12 means more cylinders meaning it needs more fluids, spark plugs and such, which in turn makes regular maintainence a bit more expensive than the "normal" car on top of it being a Mercedes.

But at 80k there should be no major issues. In the future maybe a few little electronic things might start to act funny, but that's in any car, nevermind.

Enjoy, and buy.

 

Thanks for the response, it is a one owner maintained at an MB specialty shop. I will need to confirm Tranny, Differential, and brake fluid changes as well as coolant.

 

@BlackWolf: I need more inf about 95/S600, help me pls!
Thanks!

 

i know that any V12 is a really problematic engine, it needs a lot of attention. Did u think about extending your warranty, just in case?

 

I nearning purchase a 95/S600, so I needs more inf and experience about this car!
What problems it frequent to meet with ?

 

Hopefully someone will chime in, I found a 2000 S430 in April 06 that I am very pleased with. Recently, I got 32 MPG with the criuise on 65.

 

The S600. Top of the line Mercedes Benz sedan or coupe.
This is one of the most complex W140 engines made and these are the type of cars that you don't want just any mechanic near, then again, many mechanics won't touch it. So that means when something breaks, it usually means a trip straight to a specialist, even with repairs you can scrape by with a S500, and many MBZ specialists charge a premium, especially when they hear "V-12"
V-12 must equal loads of money. Well, it was a car that did cost over one hundred thousand dollars in it's new days in 1995. One of the most expensive luxury sedans on the road, with the next step up being something like a Bentley or Roll-Royce on the price list.

Word on the street is that it usually cost about $5k a year to maintain on average that is if you have a bunch of problems that could've been fixed when they was small and some problems you can't see. Of course as the car ages, the eletronic gremlins start to come out and play, and tell you the truth, just about any car choked full of electronics will have gremlins later in life. Air conditoner tends to need some work in some cars. Also, this is the time that plastic parts tend to start to go dry, crack, or break. Check it before you buy, because sometimes them plastic parts are important and the breakage of them can lead to them costly V-12 repairs. Another commone complaint is the front brake pads tend to wear out quicker than usual, but I think it's just mostly due to the sheer weight of these things coupled with the V-12 motor.

But it's not all bad and not as scary as I probably made it seem. Most of the things that happens usually happen on all cars but the difference the room for error is a little smaller due to all the on board monitoring systems and electronics and it being a high performance motors. For example, in most cars, a dash light comes on and you can drive for days until it breaks. A mercedes S600 dash light comes on, it may kick into safe mode and you'll find ya self crawling at 10 miles per hour, and it could be something simple.

This car offers unmatched comfort, quietness, smoothness, prestige, and good curb appeal.

The key thing is just remember that this isn't your "everyday" Ford Focus and the repair bill will prove that when something goes wrong or if the car wasn't maintained properly to begin with. But over all it's a good quality car and with a good mechanic, you can keep it running for a while. V-12s in general becomes a money pit sometimes because repairs wasn't done right to begin with. There is no just doing things sloppy on this car or you will have problems forever. Repairs must be done right or the cash spent will add up.

A good maintained conditioned S600 is good, but a bad one will frustrate you unless ya made of money.

 

He's right.

 

I've got a 96 S600 and I love it! Yup, it'll cost more to maintain but it's worth it in my opinion. I've got 60,000 on mine. I'll sell it to ya for $18,000 if you want to come to Virginia to get it.