Thursday, January 9, 2014

1999 Mercedes-Benz SL 500

Haven't blogged in quite a while so, as usual, starting back up with another Random Vehicle Blog.  The random program has selected...

1999 Mercedes-Benz SL 500

The random selector seems to really like these red SL 500s.  I think it selected a '98 I once had just a few blogs ago.  I actually owned this car before that one, and while similar, they were very different experiences.  People love to say a used car is "like new", but they rarely are.  This one, however, lived up to the billing.  I bought this car in St. Louis in 2003 with about 40K miles on it, but if you didn't look at the odometer you would swear I had just swiped it off the MB lot.



This was my first SL, and I really loved the car.  The motor is fantastic and it couldn't ride any better.  My one complaint of these is a lack of legroom.  For some reason, in spite of the fact that they are actually rather large convertibles, Mercedes designed the subwoofer to be located behind the drivers seat.  As a result, the seat only goes back so far without the back rest automatically having to tilt more upright.  In order for me to get the seat back as far as I like for my legs, I have to be sitting almost straight up - great for posture, not so great for comfort.  I just couldn't get my 'gangsta lean' on.  I wasn't crazy about the cream colored interior either.  It was OK, but the shade was just a little too light and almost yellowish.



If I had kept the car I would probably have changed the wheels, but that's it.  The person who owned this car before me really knew how to take care of a fine machine.  I took care of it as well, but probably over-paid a bit to get it.  This was also the first car I had owned with a satellite radio system.  It was on there when I got it and I guess the subscription was paid up because it worked the entire time I had the car - pretty cool.  These now older SLs will always be classics, and are A LOT of car for the money you can pick them up for today. 


   

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