My mom want's to sell her camry and buy either and 450 sl, 560 sl Mercededes Benz or 635 CSI BMW. Of these two cars what would be the cheaper of the two to keep maintained and work on. Is their an IPD type of place for them? I've looked at a few Sl and frankly have been dissapointed in the level of refinement offered in the benz compared to the BMW. They are both nice looking cars I guess, but I shure don't know about keeping one going. Can't belive that MB dosn't offer a manual gearbox. It would be my hope that one of these car's would be more reliable then the probamatic s80's. Also, is rust a huge issue in these cars? I would guess that safty should be pretty good?

Thank's and happy bricking!

The choices are: B M Trouble You, Break My Wallet, Bitch Moan Whine, or a Benz...eeeeek

I had a BMW 3.0 CSL; loved the car; hated the cost of the parts; hated the fact that I was always at my Dad's shop working on that instead of my true love, my Opel GT. I kept the Opel; I still have the Opel; the BMW...off to greener pastures. I gave up.

I never owned a MB; I've priced parts for customers of mine who had sticker shock from other repair shops. I had sticker shock at what MY cost was on the parts. I think opening the hood must cost $200.00.

Of the two, and I don't know this for a fact, I think the BMW would be more "creature comfort" pleasing, but the MB would be more dependable.

I have to ask, if they have the money for this kind of car...have they driven an S60? The turning radius is tons better than the 850 or S70, yet it's basically that same drive train that has been around, modified, and perfected since 1993; it's nubile; it's quick; and with a warranty, and the purchase of an extended warranty; it's a good bet. I'm not particularly fond of the new cars. I think they are over computerized pains in the ass, but, if I "had" to buy one, and it couldn't be the C70 convertible, this is the way I'd go.

I have owned both the 450Sl and the BMW 635 CSI and I would recommend NEITHER!

(Unless they have unlimited funds and their mechanic has a good loaner car program).

My BMW mechanic worked by appt only, and was very tempermental....if you offended him in any way, he would ban you and your car from his shop....sorta like the Soup Nazi.

We would all be on our best behavior in his shop.....I did back flips when I sold both of these Cows.

Good luck, they will need it.
CC

For you, the motorhead in the family - so it sounds - the lesser of two evils is the one that the parents will take ALL care of without your spending time for either fixing or consulting.

I read the earlier posts, and this is my best advice. I was the motor head in my family for years. BTDT.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

They all get rust. The M-B is probably a little more reliable, and the BMW is probably more expensive to fix, only because you've selected about the rarest production model short of the M-cars. For some things on that car, it's cheaper to buy ANOTHER car than to have it serviced at BMW. People with either of those models get used to going in and receiving $2000 bills- regularly.

Nothing is cheap for either the SL models or the big BMW. The 635 does have a lovely (and expensive to fix) straight-6. Those MB models all have aluminum V8's. It's expensive too, but more or less bulletproof. The only issues I've heard of with those cars is the 380SL, the earlier model, supposedly has a weak timing chain. That was fixed with the 450SL.

A friend recently restored a 1983 380SEC, which is like an SL but a longer hardtop coupe. Beautiful, impressive car for the time, and would have been devastatingly expensive to restore if not for his connections in the auto repair industry, and his own incredible patience with taking apart this beast. It did feature a good bit of rust behind the plastic lower rocker panels.

At least they all carry decent resale value when you decide you've had it with fixing them. For me, buying an older one would come down to condition, period. Rusty car? Pass, there are other better ones out there. Come on, people spent $45K on these things 15 years ago... most people kept them garaged and protected their investment.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 229K, 88 744GLE- 218K, 82 245T-181K Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 231K, 87 244DL, 239K, 88 245DL, 246K

I have heard that the air suspensions on the Benz are brutal to replace when they fail, and they all will fail eventually. Both the MB and the BMW will be real expensive, so let her get either one. Once the sticker shock on the repairs starts to hit, (and compared with Camry prices, yow!) it will be easy to move into a Volvo instead.