1988 Mercedes-Benz 500-Series

560 SL Other

8 Cylinder 5.6 Liter

Automatic

wdbba48dxja090630

Clear

Gasoline

This is a beautiful 1988 560sl. The car was well taken care of as you can see. It does have a small dent in botton of driver door that can be fixed with no problem. The bad... Motor problems.. No compression ..so take it for what it is. No Reserve!!! I do not have the money to fix. Please come see the car any time you like or call anytime. 714-290-9213 This car has the Jump Seats so it does seat 2 adults and 2 small people. It does fold down and have seat belst. Cool option for this car! The seats have been re-done and the dash has a small crack. Other then these issues this car is great. Please come look, fix this car yourself and save big!!! The engine of this car which is a 5.6 liter V8, produces 227hp with 279lb/ft of torque. Not bad numbers but the car weighs approximately 3780lbs. with the hardtop. This car is supplies with two tops, a removeable hardtop which weighs 100lbs. and a built-in manual soft top. Driving with the hardtop on qualifies this car to be called a coupe. At freeway speeds my sound level meter registered 70dB. But when I had the soft top up, the meter then registered 78dB. This is quite a big difference in noise level. Part of the problem with the soft top is that unlike other manufacturers of the time, Mercedes decided to only use two layer soft tops which is just enough to shield you from the wind and sun. Unfortunately, if you live in a high or low temperature climate, be prepared to use either your A/C or heater in max mode. The soft top is not very well insulated. Also, the soft top is manual but takes approximately one minute to put up for one person. Lastly, the ventilation only uses a two-speed fan. Surprising that they didn't install a variable speed fan since the car comes with an automatic climate control system. In regards to the interior, the leather seats are very comfortable on long trips due to the supportive nature of the seats. Some people, especially older individuals, may not appreciate the floor-hugging aspects of the seats. Remember, this car is a sports car. The only thing these seat lack are adequate side support during spirited driving. All instruments are within easy reach and are easy to see. One thing people may not realize is that in order to operate the fog lights, you need to pull on the rotary light switch. For a two-seater, there is ample room even for two six-footers to get comfortable. One thing missing in this car are power seats. At the time, Mercedes wanted to stay with their sporting roots and not increase the weight of the car by added luxury features such as power seats or power soft top motors. In a sense, this is one expensive manual sports car. At least it has power windows and a power passenger side mirror. The driver side mirror is manual. In regards to the drivetrain, Mercedes made one of the best drivetrains at the time. Shifts from the four-speed automatic are smooth. Power from the V-8 comes quickly without any chatter or loud noise. One big reason the engine lasts so long is that an oil change on this car requires 8.5 quarts of oil! More than twice as much as newer cars. Trunk space in this car is approximately 7.0 cu. ft. and that is whether the soft top is up or down. The soft top stores in its own area separate from the trunk. In regards to the driving experience, on long trips on the highway, this car has a very compliant ride. When the road becomes winding, this is where this car's dated suspension originally designed in 1971 is its Achille's heel. Spirited side ways motoring takes some getting used to. There is in my opinion, too much body lean for a sports car. Also, the recirculating ball steering is very sensitive to input. It is what people call a sneezed induced steering. A sneeze could cause you to steer into the next lane. For comparison, the slalom speed of the 560SL actually beat the Porsche 928 of its time. Passing cars is a breeze. Much of the literature shows that the 0-60 times were approximately 6.8 seconds. With this much speed comes a price. The car is rated for 14 city and 17 highway on a gallon of gas. Premium gas no less that fills a 22.5 gallon gas tank on board. With the top down, there is only a small amount of cowl shake. Much less than my 1999 Saab 9-3SE convertible I have. With the hard top installed, it feels as solid as any Mercedes sedan. It is amazing what that hard top can do to eliminate the cowl shake in this car. For extra options on the car, there was only one, heated seats. Everything else was standard which included a Becker AM stereo/FM stereo cassette, four-speed automatic, power windows, power passenger side mirror, fog lights, alarm, driver's side air bag, cruise control, ACC, driver's folding armreast and limited-slip differential. Top down motoring is fun in this car provided you purchase a windscreen. Without it, long trips become tiring because of the wind swirling throughout the cabin. I would recommend using the hard top for your long trips. Because it is an S-class Mercedes, repair work and maintenance is very pricy when compared to domestic offerings. I would say that parts alone can easily be twice as expensive when compared to companies such as GM or Ford. This would be the only downside to owning a Mercedes.