Choo Choo: 2001 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG
Why is the W201 generation Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG so cheap? Sure, this next one comes with a salvaged title and a mysterious SRS light illuminated on the dashboard, but this is a monster V8 powered sedan with AMG street cred and pre-Daimler-Chrysler build quality. How can this be cheaper than a used Honda Prelude? Find this 2001 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG here on eBay
bidding for $2,900 with 1 day to go located in Portland, OR.
Perhaps the answer to the question is somewhere buried in the deeply complex and crazy car that is the original E55. It was the first E-class sized Mercedes-Benz to get the AMG treatment for the US market, and paved the way for the maniac E63 AMG that you can plunk down more than six figures at a dealer today.
Under the hood of the 2001 E55 AMG is a 5.5 liter V8 that produces 355 horsepower (up from 349 in the 1999-2000 examples) and 391 ft-lbs of torque without the aid of forced induction. This thing screams old school muscle car and seems to defy the laws of inertia by hitting 60mph from a dead stop in around 5 seconds.
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$2900? No reserve? West Coast?
Okay, rebuilt title. Several owners.
If someone wants to do the due diligence, IF this pans out, it's the bargain of the year. These are sweet real-world cars. Not the nine-tenths experience of the contemporaneous M5, but really nice drivers.
But don't buy it without checking it out…
Modern day muscle car with tire scorching power. The 55 sounds nasty as well!
KBB says in good condition with no rebuilt title it's only worth about $3500, so nobody is winning here…It's not worth the $2900 it's bidding for in that condition.
When did I say… Oh. Never mind.
None of these comments address the real issue being raised: Why is book value on a nice example only $3500? That seems a complete steal for the technology and performance on offer, or do these do murderous things to your wallet and extended family?
Yeah, they are not particularly complex vehicles by modern standards, parts availability is good, I'm not aware of any basic platform durability problems with them.
I know the later 6.3 V8s seem to be prone to the sort of air-injection passage pluggage that also afflicts some E39 M5s.
Holy crap. Sold for $3551. Someone is very happy and doing donuts in the CVS parking lot.