smokeygt

I figured someone here would have had some experience with an SLR and would like to share. I'm looking at one and cant find anyone with impartial advice.

horns&hooves

I loved mine, but it's a pricey car to fix when things start to break. Go for low miles and shoot for a later production model. I can't stress the importance of a PPI enough. Door weather stripping is a common replacement item (they start to shrink and pull away from the frame) which runs nearly $2,000 for both doors. Also, the 30K service for plugs, wires, and coils is an engine out routine which will run you $10K. If you don't mind spending the money to keep it running it's a pretty sweet car for the price.

amerifrikaner

Great car, but expensive to maintain. Sounds pretty good. One of my wife's favorite cars. Can easily be a daily driver or a tourer.

Better4Worse

The SLR is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, it was a unique marriage of both brands, that'll probably never happen again.

IMHO SLR's will inevitably appreciate in value, slow & gradual for sure, but this car will be celebrated and respected more and more as time elapses.

Its not the most comfortable car to drive nor is it the most challenging one either. Different owners have different opinions, but most agree its a solid drive that's reasonably rewarding.

Most view it as a trophy vehicle that grants that "pride of ownership" feeling , yet can be understated enough that you can drive down a sketchy neighborhood and nobody noticing the difference between it and a regular SL.

Driving the SLR as a daily driver isn't far fetched for some owners, at high speeds (above 125MPH) it can be a challenge to control, but at lower speeds its truly a "Tourer".

Its simple to drive, transmission makes it relatively easy to drive in heavy traffic, huge road presence, those gullwing doors get more looks than you can imagine.

The biggest issue with ownership is the maintenance cost as other pointed out. VERY expensive.

Entry price (currently) isn't too bad, but the service/maintenance still correlates to its original MSRP, and I repeat can be very painful.

If you can swing it, do it.... you won't regret it, plus down the road who knows you might even make a few bucks !

maomao911

It seems while all super cars got a boost in value recently, the SLR has been over looked. You can still buy them at below $300k all day long. Why is this the case? Is it the Mercedes curse?

nuvolari612

I think so - owned a CL65 went from 200k to 55k in just a few years.

Considered picking one up for a dd - it has big presence but tri star burnt went with a Bentley SS roadster.

Seems they are ticking up - heavy maint vs low deprecation and it is striking the 722's do very well.

richk

I had a CL65 as a DD for a year and really enjoyed it. The motor is silly. I have driven the SLR a few times and It felt a little uncomfortable at high speeds. I don't see it doing much on the upside.

nuvolari612

Could pull a house off it's foundation the torque is nuts. Current have the SVR Range Rover it's crazy fast and amazing sound. I don't need back seats this spring will make a change SLR roadster FF F12 all on the radar learned dd depreciation via the Mercedes sedan showroom vs G55 I owned sold a year later at sticker.

C.J. Ichiban

my only beef with the SLR were the seats which I found needed either more padding or more bolstering. it is somewhat of a compromise between the ergonomics of a CGT seat and a SLS seat as a reference.

monster engine, monster torque. you can also send them back to McLaren UK MSO and they will give you a whole new car built on top of yours with CF body and more engine goodies. Think it is around 100k or so?