Buying guide · 1998–2005 · M113 E50 · 306 PS
Mercedes S 500 W220
Everything that decides whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
16-page guide, A4 and phone · 2-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included
In the guide
What the Mercedes S 500 W220 guide covers
- 01Every fault this engine has, and how much work it is
- 02Why the year on the registration changes the corrosion odds, and why standing overnight is the cheapest test you will ever do
- 03Why a W220 rusts from inside the panel, and which corrosion is bodywork and which is structure
- 04What is simply twenty years old — and can be left alone
- 05The inspection card: the whole viewing on paper, in order, to take with you
- 06What to say to the seller, and what to keep to yourself
From the guide itself
This is how it reads
This is what one of the ten looks likeLast Real Engines
8 · COMAND, and the display
An hour or two · the facelift brought a newer COMAND with a larger screen
Pre-facelift cars have CD navigation and it is obsolete; the facelift moved to DVD. Expect to live with it or bypass it.
Leave it until it annoys you enough.
And this is how the card readsLast Real Engines
- Standing, before it is started
- Running
- On the move
What €24 buys, put next to what it saves
The suspension turrets are structure, not bodywork. If they have corroded, the repair is a week or more in the workshop of structural welding — the largest job in this guide. It is also the one thing you can only find by putting it on a ramp — which is why this guide keeps telling you to. The guide is €24. It will not stop any of that from being needed — but it does tell you which of them you are looking at before you agree a price, and that is the whole of the difference between paying for a car and paying for someone else's postponed maintenance.
VAT included · sold by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record · questions first? buyersguide@lastrealengines.com
Start with the free guide
The six questions that decide whether this car is a good buy
- Has it stood overnight, and does it stand level in the morning?
- Is it a pre-facelift or a facelift car?
- Has anyone looked at the suspension turrets?
- Has the Airmatic compressor been replaced, and was the relay replaced with it?
- Does the battery hold when it is parked for a week?
- Is there a folder, with names in it?
Start with the free guide: what this car is, and the questions that decide whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.
Before you buy
Questions
What exactly do I get?
The full guide as a PDF, 16 pages in A4, plus a phone edition to read at the car; and the inspection card, 2 pages to print and take to the viewing. €24, VAT included.
How is it delivered?
Straight after payment you get a download link for the guide, the phone edition and the card. No subscription, no account.
Can I get a refund?
EU consumer law gives you fourteen days to change your mind. For digital content that right ends the moment delivery starts, provided you agreed to that at the checkout. If the file will not open, or you were sent the wrong car, write to us and we will fix it or refund it.
Who handles the payment?
Lemon Squeezy, who sell the guide to you as merchant of record. They charge the VAT at the rate of your country, send the invoice, and email you the download link. We never see your card.
Why are there no prices in it?
Because a price we cannot verify is worse than no price, and because a price would be wrong for most of the people reading it: workshop rates across Europe differ by a factor of two or three. What does not change is how much work a job is, so every point says whether it is an hour, half a day, a day, or a week in the workshop. Ask your own workshop for its hourly rate, and every hour in the guide becomes your own number.
Is this advice about a specific car?
No. A guide tells you what to look at; it is general information about the model and not advice about a specific car. Have every car inspected before you buy by someone who knows the engine.
More Mercedes-Benz guides
Going to look at a Mercedes S 500 W220?
Take the guide and the card with you.
16-page guide, A4 and phone · 2-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included