I am poised to buy a 1994 SL320 today or tomorrow; the car (red/parchment/with hard top) has 32,000 miles and looks brand new. The only thing the MB dealer (who is not the selling dealer) found wrong on a prepurchase inspection was a drop of oil at the head gasket. Neither the service manager nor the tech were particularly concerned (just a drop, no mixing of oil/coolant) or thought it needed to be attended to. What do you guys think?

And, any potential problems with this car in other areas? I can buy a 4-yr, 50,000 miles extended warranty (not a Mercedes warranty) at "dealer cost" for $1500. Worthy investment? Covers a lot of expensive stuff -- AC components, steering components, brakes components, fuel injection, suspension ... any problem with most of that stuff would pay for the warranty, no?

Lastly, is $40k too much to pay for the car?

Vic

vjd3,
I had the same situation as you are facing when I bought my '95 SL320. The head gasket was leaking oil a bit and I insisted the dealer to replace the gasket. Lucky I did that because I later found out from this forum that the 104 engine is prone to leak oil. Buying any extended warrenty is highly recommended, especially for the R129. Everything is expensive on this car. Hope this bit of information helps, and good luck on your new purchase. I ensure you are buying one of the finest car on the road.

Happy motoring!!!

95 R129
98 ML320