What would you rather have, a Mercedes 500 SL or an Alfa Spider?

I bought my 1998 SL500 last summer and love it. I replaced all of the convertible top hydraulic cylinders myself, 11 total, not difficult at all and also had the canvas top replaced with a color that complimented the body color. Purchase price was $8,500 US, all repairs and upgrades brought that to $13,200 all in, that included $1,400 shipping car from Atlanta, Ga. to Buffalo, N.Y. and installing a rare 6 disc CD changer in the trunk. I love my Mercedes !

I have owed a 1999 SL320 for 7 years and I am thankful I never saw your video before I bought it, because I never would have and I would have missed out on the best drive of my life! I still have it and apart from replacing the ECU when the roof decided to stop working and replacing the soft top plastic windows the car has cost me nothing but general servicing, road tax and insurance and since I retired the insurance now is negligible! I wanted a 500, but never saw one with a clean interior so when I saw my immaculate 320 that had only been owned by one lady from new until she passed away I had to have it. Cost me £7k and I have been offered £14k for it recently so it should actually cost me nothing if and when I get around to selling it!

These SL-s have nicely appreciated in recent years.

Finally! Great video. I've been waiting for this one

Fascinating video Mario. A real history lesson. Merry Christmas and Happy Motoring in 2022 :-)

Very informative video. Thanks!

Very good commentary! Well done.

Helpful. Thanks. I own a '14 MB e550a cab with 65k miles. Only replaced a parking brake release and tightened some body bolts so far. This helps me set my repair expectations at $10k -$20k for the next 100k miles. Much higher plans than I have spent on other new Japanese sedans getting them to 250,000 mi.

Very good sum-up, and nice to listen to. I didn't know you owned an R129 SL, in fact you owned plenty and only interesting cars. I was aware about the R230 SL 55 because I watched this video a very long time ago. I kind of expected the results because with your other cars costs in mind, I couldn't stop thinking through the video "still surprisingly cheap!" "Wow there we are and still no catastrophic unavoidable repair??" I like this generation SL a lot, my favorite being the 600. It is just impressive how this car was high-end and yet, today it still is, but looks very understated. And when you climb inside, you realize everything is beautifully crafted, it is super quiet and rides like a carpet. But obviously that comes at higher owning costs, and the adaptive suspension is standard, probably to support the weight of the engine. While being an objectively good and a very respected engine among the Mercedes community, I agree on the M113. It's a shame it only has 3 valves per cylinder and it lost power compared to the M119. However, in 55 AMG cars with the supercharger, it rocked. 470 hp is crazy even today. And it managed to stay ultra reliable.

Entertaining and so meticulous. Well done!!

That's the reason I boughgt me a used Mercedes E500 4matic S211 from 2003 this year. It also adds practicality.

Great summary of a MB all time classic

Amazing info, keep up....

Thanks for the summary.

Love those kind of videos.

You are a great youtuber :)

The thing about the stop light switch and ABS light might help, thanks! I love my 300SL r129. I get the rotation on cornering, seems quite sporty, maybe less weight? I don't know. Great video!

Love this video. I have a 2015 R231 SL550 in a Designo Graphite Metallic and have been wanted to add another SL, likely a R129 in a different color - perhaps Irridium Silver. I had a 2002 G500 in Techtite Grey Metallic which appears to be similar to your 91 500SL.

Merry Christmas to you Mario! by the way, that camera is super crisp - is it a new setup? and in case we don´t get another video before dec 31st: 2022 is going to be YOUR KZfaq year, this channel deserves more attention and I believe we will soon see a significant rise in subscribers

nice breakdown, man service is expensive .. kudos for doing some jobs yourself ! I do liquids and minor to medium jobs myself and man am I glad ))

@Swiss Car Guy great video. How about fuel consumption on this ke jetronic version? I imagine you have an objective idea after 4 years of ownership and more than 10.000 km driven. Thank you. By the way, much is a good 500sl worth nowadays? Cheers

Hi. Congrats for video. What about a real fuel consumption on this kejtronic model? Thank you

1996 to 1998 are model year SL 500’s to buy. They have the 119 engine and the 5 speed. They also have modern fuel injection instead of mechanical injection which is very problematic. It is worth the minor loss of power for the improved gas mileage and reliability.

Ciao fratello super video bravo!

love the R129

Hi, great video! I have a 500sl 1992 and have the same issue as you did in traffic having to fully stop in order to open or close the convertible top. Wondering if you remember which is the speed sensor wire and where is located, the one to cut and enable retraction of the soft top while rolling? Thanks :)

Great video!! I own a 1991 500 SL. Bought it in 1999. I live in Florida which is a great place for convertibles. It now has 89,000 miles (143,000 km). I keep it in immaculate condition and only drive it occasionally in nice weather. It is kept under cover in my garage. I love this car and like working on it myself if something needs to be fixed. I am intrigued by the mod you did (wire cut) to allow soft top operation while driving. Do you have a video covering this modification? If not can you provide the info on this?

Deine "cost of ownership" Videos sind sehr interessant, aber noch beeindruckender ist Dein technisches Wissen und die Fähigkeit selber Reparaturen oder Verbesserungen an den Fahrzeugen vorzunehmen. Selber besitze ich den SL65 AMG (R230/2004) seit vielen Jahren und mache mir etwas in die Hosen wegen möglichen Reparaturen die einmal kommen könnten - wo der Wurm drin ist weiss ich ja jetzt (ABC, SBC). Vielleicht kennst Du eine Garage bzw. eine Person die sich wirklich gut auskennt mit dem R230 und wo man mal unverbindlich vorbei gehen könnte um das Auto zu checken. Übrigens, auch ich habe eine ZH Nummer an den Autos ...

So complete…and funny 😂

hello. thanks for the video I watched the movie out of curiosity and you inspired me to open the roof. I will do this cool mod in my only on the switch so that you can activate it at any time. greetings from Poland, SL 500 99

I have a 98 SL500 I love the car almost completely the power top TERRIBLE the rest of the car I love I live in California so I would cycle the top daily but I can’t afford to do that it’s $1000 USD to repair oh well like you said it sure beats a car payment looking and feeling like a million bucks on the daily!!!!

1996 1997 1998 were the best years of this classic.

Thank you for the detailed report and reference for your car. I am extremely interested to buying an almost exactly same car. A 500SL with 105.000km with all the repairs you mentioned and more like both of the fuel pumps and the 12 pumps of the roof. All these for 18.000 euro approximately.I got a bit skeptical about the drivers seat and the sense of the steering wheel... I think that it’s important to give you a proper sense in order to enjoy it as much as possible. Totally is it worth buying it or should I search for a Honda S2000, which is a convertible also but a totally different car. Thank you in advance, greetings from Greece

my dream car,because it was the car i saw in the posters and on the street,i understand

The TCO of the Phaeton is just craazy... 🤑🤑🤑 already saw the numbers in the original video... just mindblowing considering it wanted to be a Bentley but it looks sooo boring in comparison... imho...

11 hydraulic actuat.ors for hard top. chain that may stretch if not replaced. degrading wiring harness hoses and clamps. possible multiple oil leaks ... flex disk replacement.. engine management computer failure. .... after about 10K or more you may have it sorted out

I have a friend willing to sell me his for 300 due to relocation. What you recommend I do to find out the issues on the vehicle?

Shame you sold it when you did. I got a strong feeling the next 5 years is going to be very kind to the R129.

Just found a flawless 1991 75k miles one owner garage kept $8000 us. I'm kinda scared to buy now after hearing this.

9:45 I hope the humbled mechanic was not the brand name dealer. 28:00 I wonder what TCO would be for using brand name dealers where possible. I have not much experience but hope TCO would average ~10% new purchase price for typical ~13k km annual mileage as a guideline compared ~3% DIY not driving much you experienced, else ~6% with typical mileage. Though ~10% might still be possible even if not using main dealers, if driving the unmentionable!

Just bought my sl500 3k 140k miles nothing wrong with it

Just bought one with 49000 miles, curious how much its gonnna be

I bet if you added up all the parts you have sitting around for the R129, and anything else, you might be surprised with how much you mug the be able to get for all of it in aggregate.

Well at least you weren't Gilligan on your journey home after purchasing the car.

Love the Phaeton scary effects lol

If I was swiss I would just buy all your old cars you sell them way better than you get them

How expensive would it be to replace the top on a R129 ??

The person who got the car at the auction for 7000 got the real deal, if he makes a video he will have totally different figures

Man, oh, man, oh, man...I should be purchasing cars from you Mario. Fully loaded and upgraded! When's next on sale?? Comforting thing is that you're not spending money on hookers & blow.

Mercedes Benz the best or nothing!

yea dont be the pedantic.. but sell your car for 7000 and ONE franks.

VW v12... yuck...Nice vide!!

Hah! If you want to live with great car tax come to Turkey... If you have 93 corolla with 1300cc engine you pay like 9 euro for whole year. If you have something not older than 3 years and has more than 2000cc, you need to pat more than 1000 euro. Yeah.. some third world country problems..

If you spent half the time you did making this video researching the car's history, maybe this wouldn't be such an embarrassment. About everything you said was just because you found your 92 for cheaper than a post 96-97 because they're worth more and more reliable. And ask any real Mercedes enthusiast if they go off of Mercedes factory horsepower specs, and you think 6hp means anything. I guarantee you post 96-97's are faster. This whole video is such a joke of you making yourself feel better about a car you know nothing about.