I noticed a '93 300SL for sale. I was planning on checking it out. Could anyone give me any information on what to look for trying it out. It is supposed to have a new convertible top. It has the hard top off on it right at the present. He said it has the 3.2L engine 6cyl in it, and blows ice cold air. It's priced in the 8K amount?

Too much ! Unless it's under 60k miles and like new condition.
Get an SL from 98-99 Those are nice. Hard to find, but possible

96 was the first year for the updated SL. ( The easy way to tell, 1 large and 1 small round speaker in the door 95 and older , no visible round speakers 96 and up. )

_ALL_ 91 ish to 95 ish Mercedes models suffered from biodegradable wiring insulation. ( see also late 80's Volvo, similar year Jaguar. ) Deterioration starts with the engine harness and creeps to the under dash area. There have been reports of cars burning down due to under dash insulation failures. Early cars also suffer fires when the aux heater pump locks up causing the HVAC button panel to light off.

The 6 cyl cars are somewhat unloved making them a good deal. Power is enough for a 4,000 Lb car and it will pull down 20 + MPG in mixed driving. Yes the V8 has 100 more HP, but only gets 16 ish MPG.

I'm not sure how he put a 3.2 motor in a 300 car. I'm pretty sure all 3.2 had electronic injection where the 3.0 has CIS mechanical. The CIS injected cars are going to be $$ to make right when components wear out.

The market for former high end cars is down and the 90 -01 SL is just another used car at this point so hold out for a good one.

For reference, last year I bought a very nice but beginning to become somewhat neglected, 124,000 mile southern 97 SL 320 Sport for $ 6,100. I've put ~ $ 2,500 in 18" tires, 2nd set of AMG wheels, radiator, brake rebuild, _ALL_ coolant hoses , water pump, ball joints, upper strut mounts, tune up parts, alternator rebuild and some other bits. These are parts only prices as I do all of my own work. Many of these repairs are preemptive as it makes no sense to let the car break down then chase all of this one item at a time through the summer. Winter will see round 2 of tiding up

The car has Xenon headlights , AMG wheels / bumpers / side skirts , wood trimmed steering wheel and shifter. I think this is all part of the Sport package but have not found any information confirming this.

You may get more responses by posting your question on the SL section of this forum. 90 thru 93 SL's do not have the wiring harness issue. They are pre OBDII, so are somewhat more difficult to diagnose. They have a simpler top controller than the later models which gets confused more often, but is easier to manually reset. Look for rust under the bottom of the doors, as the drainage on this vintage is poor. Seating of early 129's is also more "vintage". 3 liter 4V engine has 5 speed auto which starts in 2nd gear unless over riden, so car feels a bit pokey until 3K rpm's, especially if AC is on. Gas mileage is up to 26 or 27 on a long freeway trip, but drops to 20 or so routine driving. I've a 91 with 110K and have had very few problems. What the car is worth $ depends on how well it has been maintained, not so much the mileage or age. It's a much better vehicle than the R107's.

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Resistance is Futile.

I believe the hydraulic cylinders for the top mechanism (12 of them!) are prone to leaking over time -- not a weeping condition, but when they go, they gush fluid.

I went to look at the car yesterday. The top didn't work on it. It has play in the steering wheel, and the odometer showed just under 100k. It was at a dealer, and there was no records on car or mileage guarantee with the age of the car. The outside looked pretty good but the front light bezels were kind of caulked to keep together or whatever. Under the hood one of wires unplugged on the passenger side. It didn't appear to have a lot of oil dripping underneath the car from just a quick check. On inside the car a wire was unplugged and hanging down behind the driver's seat. The interior showed the cars age quite well I thought. The wood like covering was broken out in places. The seats had the rips & tears the reviews I read on the cars beforehand. The radio had the left channel out on it. One thing I read on them was it was hard to get technical information on servicing etc. I wasn't for sure why that might be? I thought maybe where they were made or?

I thought they are kind of cool, but I decided to forget about this one. It would take too much to get it ok!