6 month ownership report and review of my Mercedes W220 S500. Has my ambitious purchase ruined me yet? :)

Hello, fellow CTzenz!
As you might know if you have been following my channel, I have bought a Mercedes W220 S500 a little bit more than 6 months ago now. I have not shared much of the ownership experience during this period, so have I been quietly suffering and heading for financial ruin this entire time, or have I enjoyed the journey? I am going to share my thoughts on this ambitious element of my bucket list with you, as well as my personal experience below!

A Short Introduction to the S-Class, and my S500

In the unlikely case that you are not up-to-date on what this vehicle is, here is a brief summary to get you up to speed. The S-Class is the flagship luxury car of Mercedes Benz. S is short for Sonderklasse in German, meaning special class. Its equivalent in the automotive world from its main German rivals would be the BMW 7-series, and the Audi A8. Basically, it is like a more mass-produced and much more affordable Rolls or Bentley. Mercedes has always made big, luxurious cars, but the first one to be officially called an S-Class was the W116, which began production in 1972, and since then the S-Class lineage went unbroken for six generations, its comfort, highly advanced features and remarkable safety being enjoyed by successful businesspeople and third-world dictators alike.

Back in the good old days when there were no deep fried memes, dog filters on messenger, and trickery with badge numbers and actual engine sizes at Mercedes, the three letters following the letter of the model stood for displacement. My fourth gen. S-Class (made from 1999 to 2005 in Europe) stems from these honest days, therefore it packs a 5 litre, naturally aspirated V8, placing it near the top end of the model range in this generation, only trumped by the S55 AMG (slightly bigger V8, later supercharged) and the S600 (V12, later twin-turbocharged). I choose the S500, because cars of this generation just keep slowly and steadily increasing in price from the smallest diesel, right up to the biggest NA V8, this model. After this, the leap in price to the aforementioned AMG and 600 is huge. The S500 is the most powerful of the more affordable S-Classes of this generation.

Driving Experience

Let us begin, without beating around the bush, with performance. The big V8 produces 306hp, and 460Nm of torque, quite low in the rev range. This goes through a 5 speed automatic gearbox (of course the S-Class is not available with a manual box, that would be just too Doug DeMuro intensifies plebian!) with a manual shifting mode. Its top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h, and the gears are looong. 0-60 time varies depending on the source. Some sources say 6.5 seconds, some 6.1, but I swear those figures are a bit too high. With a GPS acceleration app I have regularly clocked it at under 6 seconds. For such a big car, weighing in at around 1.8 tons (although this model is the superleggera compared to the previous, 2 tonne W140!) it is quite respectable I think.

So, performance is subjective, depending on what you are used to, but for me, this car is pretty fast. Although the sensation of speed is dampened by the excellent sound insulation, the rattle or shake-free ride, and the relatively high seating position, and therefore it is quite easy to just cruise around unassumingly, look at your speedometer and realise that you are actually speeding. Since the people of Budapest sometimes like to consider the empty avenues as dragstrips late at night, I occasionally joined the fray. Some cars I have beaten without a sweat: first gen. Audi S3, bugeye Subaru Impreza WRX, Nissan 300Z. I have been smoked by a 370Z once, but not crushingly. :) You cannot prepare for the run by revving up your engine, a definite downside of the automatic (and I refuse to rev it up in neutral and then slam it into gear, I like my gearbox in one piece, thank you very much), and you cannot turn off traction control completely, even in its off state it sometimes interferes. Also, it likes to only shift back by one gear from a cruising start, so you really need that manual mode.

Features

But enough boyracer stuff. Let’s talk luxury and features. Here is a list of features, I try to be comprehensive: impact resistant, double-pane power windows with infrared heat protection, electric sunshade in the back, auto-dimming, foldable electric mirrors, auto-dimming interior mirror, electronically adjustable seats (in many directions) with heating, ventilation, adjustable massage function and three memory settings, car radio with 10 speakers, factory amp., cassette slot and CD changer, headlight washers, rain sensing windshield wipers, sat nav, car phone with bluetooth adapter and voice control, dual-zone AC with economy mode, window defrosts, and option to channel air through carbon filters for extra purity. Cruise control with speed limiter, electronically adjustable steering wheel with controls on it. Keyless go, bush button start, Comfort and sport drive modes, buttery smooth air-ride suspension with 3 settings to firmness from comfort to sport plus, automatic, auto adjusting headlights, parktronic radar system, traction control, Electronic Stability Program, Brake Assist System. Many cupholders and storage spaces, huuuuge boot, excellent sound insulation, quality leather seats, and beautiful, genuine wood inserts.

Price to Pay

I think I’ll stop there, you get the point. It is quite a performer and quite a luxury car. So how much does it cost to buy and maintain? First of all, I would direct your attention to a video by Doug DeMuro, which he made on a new Mercedes-Maybach S600. It is not essential for the final verdict, but look it up if you want, what a car that is! Let’s see what the Maybach can do. 0-60 in 4.7 seconds! Impressive! Also, naturally, a lot nicer interior than mine, and a lot more gadgets to play with. Let’s come up with a percentage. How much of the new Maybach is my S500? Overall, let’s say 50…no, let’s be even more cruel to my car, even tough it is a wonderful, clean example, and let’s call it 40% new Maybach. So the Maybach costs 200.000USD, or 56.1 million HUF, my currency. So, 80.000USD, or 22.4 million HUF sounds like a fair price for all this car has to offer, right? I will leave you some time to think about the actual money I paid for the car while you scroll past this picture.

Well, here is the kicker: I paid 1.3 million HUF for it, or 4.600USD, for my fully loaded 2000 example, with 270.000 kms, or 168.000 miles on it. It is exceptional value for money! :)
Seriously, you would be hard pressed to get this performance and luxury in a near-mint used car for this money. Even though I have spent close to a thousand USD for maintenance and improvements since then, they were not necessary because the car was falling apart, but rather to improve and maintain the experience.

The Money Sink

The real downside is, of course, fuel economy, as modern engines get this sort of power, and then some, by employing less displacement and less cylinders, but backing them up with turbochargers to make the most of them, this old-school V8 is a bit of a dinosaur. In the city, it consumes around 16 litre/100km, or 17.6MPG (UK), and around 10 litre/100km, or 28MPG (UK) on the highway. It is not the single least economic thing in the world, but it comes close. :)
And the repair costs, should something go wrong, are also astronomical. My cooling fan was a bit loud, and so I took the car to an automotive electrician. He gave me a quote of 1.200USD for a new factory fan, and 500 for the cheapest Chinese knock-off, so I decided it was fine for now. Yes, when things go wrong it can be expensive on this car, but luckily I have a feeling that they will rarely do so. During my initial 6 months the car has felt solid, and nothing went wrong at all, and I really hope it keeps up this reliability.

So, in conclusion, did I regret buying one of my dream cars from my bucket list? Absolutely no. I enjoy every minute of it. It has been an excellent companion on roadtrips and a comfy place to sit in traffic after a day of work. If you are looking for luxury and performance on a budget, you might want to consider this car.