

Year and Model | % of Average Repair Frequency |
Mercedes-Benz SL Reliability And Durability: Cons | ||
Year | Body/Powertrain | Comment |
2004 | 2dr Hardtop conv. 302-horsepower 5.0L V8 7-speed shiftable automatic RWD |
breaks a lot and will be costly after warranty. full 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL review |
2002 | 2dr Hardtop conv. 302-horsepower 5.0L V8 5-speed automatic RWD |
room for improvement here. Although the r129 wasn't a product of the doomed Chrysler merger, I sense that my 02 model suffered from some of the lack of attention to detail that doomed other early-millennium Benzes like the S class. I don't like being left by the side of the road and this car did so twice; once when an undetected oil leak took out the crankshaft position sensor, shutting down the car in the fast lane of an interstate just a few hundred feet short of a very busy and long interstate bridge. The other time a mystery battery drain left the car disabled, and when the Mercedes local dealership was dispatched to restart the car, the jump process fried the stereo head (tech comment: "it wasn't supposed to do that", but the dealer refused to do anything about it, and at that point I wasnt using cassettes anyway, so the head was replaced with something more modern). In very hot weather, the convertible top would just decide it didn't want to open; the latches would release, the top would start to retract and just..stop. Wouldn't complete the cycle until it cooled down. The trunk lid finisher -- a red reflective lens that contains the third brake light -- would never stay sealed, and water would accumulate inside the trunk lid, safely stored therein until the trunk was opened, at which point the water would discharge from a point near the hinges into the trunk itself (and on whatever you had in the trunk). full 2002 Mercedes-Benz SL review |