1999 Mercedes-Benz E-Class E55 AMG from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing has gone wrong as such, however, the steering wheel is slightly left-hand-down and the shoulder of the nearside front tyre is smoother by the hour. Something ain't quite right here.

Also, the car is extremely prone to stone-chipping; this may be because the front of the E-Class is very slab like; it could also be because the quality of the paint and finish is below par. Hard to say.

Basically a standard E430 Avantgarde on steroids, the E55 AMG pumps out more torque than a BMW M5 and gets to 60mph in about the same time. In terms of performance, it's on a par with most modern supercars, although is limited to 155mph.

The ride is a little too rough at times, being somewhat at odds with the Mercedes badge and the comforting, cosseting ride everyone associates with it. Down bumpy backlanes or around broken, urban roads you'll wince at crashes and jarring from the horse and cart AMG suspension.

The gearbox is extremely smooth, and seems fully capable of dishing out all that torque, but on hot summer days and after long runs it becomes prone to slipping. A number of times I've lost forward thrust altogether, and have had to coast gently to the side of the road, saw the transmission selector up and down its gate a few times, and pray for Drive to wake up again.

The interior, while accommodating, airy and pleasant, is not quite up to the standard of BMW, and the silver/black leather, although unique and striking, is actually rather crude (the Nappa option in the 5- and 7-series is a world away in terms of quality).

Other than that, it's a teenager in grandfather's clothing: it barks like a NASCAR winner and spins its tyres in second and first gear -- no mean feat for a large, automatic saloon -- and at 100mph the shove in your kidneys is really rather addictive. 120mph arrives only a few moments later; the limiter is reach soon after that.

Bottom line: sure, it has its faults, as does any car, but it's an all-round superb rocket ship with nothing else to rival it (the M5 is not automatic and has a less than desirable image). I can't think of another vehicle that's large, low-key, comfortable, well made, automatic, has four doors plus a large boot, and sprints to 60mph in less than five seconds. All wrapped up in an unassuming bodyshell without the nasty bad-boy extras on rival BMW M-sport cars. Definitely worth more than a glance if you're in the market for an ubersaloon!

You raised two of my personal beef's with Mercedes Benz.

Paint chipping and leather quality.

I work for a Mercedes dealership and I continually see 2 month old Benzes covered in paint chips - and then you go and look in the yard at 5 year old Benzes with none at all, and yet these 5 year old Benzes have 70k's on the clock. So I'm starting to think Mercedes have totally gone downhill on their quality.

As for the leather, it's crap. Unless you specify the Comfort leather which equals the standard BMW leather, you'll end up with this holey crap that tends to rip or just look really bad.

So from now on I'm not going to consider buying a Mercedes, Go for a BMW, they haven't diluted their values.

I have a 99 E-Class here in America, and with 19k miles, it's got paint chips everywhere on the front end. My Chevy Tahoe (SUV) has 100k miles and zero chips, and it's been used offroad. Says something about Mercedes' paint quality. Thumbs down. Otherwise a bomb-ass car.

I'm thinking that the paint chips due to more "environmentally friendly" paint. The same problem exists with new BMWs as well.

Paint chips. Paint chips. Paint chips. They do make me want to cry! Other than that, I'm pleased with my E430. I love the elliptical front lights and the smooth power to pass up people on rural roads.

I have just bought a E55 AMG, and it's awesome. it doesn't feel like a mercedes, its finnished better than any other normal Mercedes, and makes the driver feel special and cared for. Workmanship second to none. And it doesn't draw attention to thieves etc. The car will smoke a 911 from the lights. People pull up next to it at lights and, because of its refined looks, they think its slow, they couldn't be more wrong! The interior fine, and I think the leather is really god quality. The seats are really comfortable and the adjustable pressure device makes them even more relaxing. As yet he doesn't have any chips, but theres still time! Chipped it does well over 160mph. Take yours to an air strip and try it out!

I have owned a 1983, 1984 and 1985 MB. After over 200,000 miles on each of these cars, the combined number of paint chips on all three cars is less than the number of chips I have on my 1998 E-320 (opal). The paint on the recent MBs has gone down in quality. It has become such a problem for me that I am selling the car.

Just bought an '01 E55 AMG trading in my '97 E320 with 92K miles from new. The '97 high miler had just a few stone chips: the '01 model was so pitted I insisted the garage respray the bonnet & wings before delivery.

The only previous time I've seen this scale of problem was on my Porsche 928SE after some fast driving when a gritter lorry came my way. Went through a hail of grit and had to re-paint the bonnet.

Could it have something to do with the speed these cars get to between corners?

This is funny! You guys are so peeved at chips you go as far as selling your cars! LOL!

Have you guys seen the new E55 (350kw plus)? Good thing you older E55 owners have sold your cars - what with their crappy paint quality and all. If you really want a sublime car that most people would not think twice about, you should have bought Audi's RS4 station wagon - err, Avant. Great seats and you can take your poodles with you. No problems with paint chipping either.

Just traded our 1990 300E for a 99 E430 sport I love the look my 300E had 140000 no rust no where This E430 benz seem to pick up chips every day and I WAX AT LEST ONCE A WEEK THIS IS VERY DEPRESSING.not to say there is rust on the trunk and door.

We had a '99 Merc E240 Elegance. It was metallic silver. We had the car until 200 000kms (125000miles). We live in South Africa and we have some of the worst roads in the world. Potholes everywhere, which means gravel and small rocks flying everywhere! Our car was manufactured locally. In the 200000kms we had it, of which a great deal was long distance, high speed driving, it managed to collect 5 noteworthy stone chips. 2 on the bonnet, another 2 between the headlights where the body is actually plastic, we also had a large chip on the back of one of the side mirrors. The plastic front bumper had quite a few minor chips which could only be seen close up.

Once our electronic security gate closed into the side of the car as my mother was entering the driveway. The car had a green mark from the front door up to the rear bumper. I buffed it out in 10 minutes. Afterwards no sign of the gate's impact could be seen.

We thought that the quality of the paint was excellent.