Looking to purchase a 2007 Benz CL 550 to cruise on the weekend and wanted to know if anyone had any experience with the car?? Its 07 but only has 35k miles and already been modded out (rims, kits, etc). My only worry is maintenance since I cannot get the extended factory warranty. Anyone heard any horror stories on this car as far as maintenance and troubles???

 

are you kidding me. This is one of the worst maintenance car out there. You should definately look up some mercedes forum to read up on the car (mbworld); it has the ABC suspension, which are known to go bad pretty often. It is also top of the line for mercedes, so you can expect top of the line repair bills too.

But with all that said, if you have warranty on the car, it'll be a dream. When everything is working well, you really can not beat the cruising ability of the CL class. I have sat in multiple CLs before and the attention to detail given to upper mercedes class is superb

 

ABC is an issue with the 216 chassis.....heck, it's an issue with all of the chassis. I would not get one without a warranty....because you will be looking at $1500/pop for the ABC issues....and there are several different ABC issues that can arise. You can grab one for $40k nowadays....but you will still be paying $100k car maintenance.

 

Paging Adam!!! It's boss.. Do it

 

07 CL is not that bad, newer Benzs are pretty reliable.

 

I'd say its a hell of a lot more reliable than the previous gen CL or S class, now those were real pieces of junk.

 

w215 was really bad on just about everything, w216 is a huge step up a far more reliable (compared to w215). any mb with abc is a time bomb over time, does all w216 come with abc? i thought it's an option. i know a lot of w221 (s class) don't have abc.

w216 and w221 are quite similar, my s550 was pretty solid the time i owned it (with no warranty). but then again i got rid of it before 65k miles because it's just a matter of time

 

I have friends, clients who owns 07+ S class, ( 6 total ), so far no problems from any of them. One has 95k miles too!

 

Find out what was already repaired/replaced by the previous owner.

Since it's a weekend cruiser, you're not going to rack up the mileage for any major upcoming maintenance item soon.

 

I Know someone that bought a CL550 about a year ago. Forgot if it's a 07 or 08 but it was in the shop twice in like 6 months due to suspension issues. The last time it was not drive-able. Luckily they had an extended warranty.

 

Bottom line is that people do not get rid of good cars, especially when they are modded to the teeth. If its too goo to be true , it usually is. My brother has an 07 E550 with the air suspension and every time he goes in for service they have to fix or replace some part of the suspension. German cars are great.........just don't ever own one without warranty.

I'd say pass !!!!!! There is a reason those cars lose value like a falling rock. In fact the higher end benzs are some of the worst . If you want a reliable high end German car I would stick with Porsche. The Panamera is awesome if the styling is cool to you. I love them. I wanted an S class but after really looking in to it they are nightmares ( relative to an LS) as used cars. Good luck. Just dont let the emotion get in the way of making a sound decision. (I know thats really hard to do)

 

Run, don't walk, but run away as fast as you can if you cannot afford maintenance on a car of this caliber. I know of two owners who have racked up maintenance bills in the thousands for their CL's and it wasn't even anything major (no drivetrain failures but electronics gremlins). They make very good money and could afford it but it certainly deterred me from ever wanting to own one. If the owner is selling it at a great price, there is probably a reason why.

 

ha ha do you hear the chatter on here.
I currently own a 07 CL550 and the car is not as bad as these guys are making it out to be. I also own the previous model. That car was a nightmare after the warranty ran out. I have own my current 550 for over 5 years and I have had 1 ABC issue and that issue was cause by a towing company. Truthfully I probaly wouldn't own the car or any luxury car without a warranty even the mighty Lexus. If your going to own one definately put aside 1k, which you probaly will never use unless your driving the car daily.
I make house payments on this car so I'm not going to do anything to her at the moment. The CL is like a model every so often you have to invest in her to keep her happy. But if you treat her right it's no worry.

 

As with every discussion involving reliability on car forums, individual experiences or anecdotal comments really mean very little.

I'm very happy that you have been fortunate with your car but statistics argue that your experience is the exception not the norm. This would be no different than me touting my 7 as being ultra-reliable as we had zero issues in the first 2 years of ownership....but that doesn't mean that anyone else should expect the same.

blacksc400's experience would be polar opposite of mine and mirror the actual reliability stats.

What would possibly help the OP is what the actual costs of ownership and repair look like with a CL. I know what the costs ran just maintaining and fixing our '09 ML, so I can't imagine how pricy the CL could become.

 

I'm a member of a Mercedes forum and I will say that the newer cars are more reliable. However the ABC seems to be where a lot of the issues on the CL/S-class Mercedes. Unless you have a lot of money for repairs I would pass on it.

These cars can be crazy expensive to maintain and it only gets worse the more miles you put on it.