Selling my beloved ML55 now that my wife and I have decided to upgrade to something a little newer (looking at an ML63). As many of you know, this engine and transmission are bulletproof and you will have many hundreds of thousands of miles left to enjoy this car. Mercedes only made 4,000 of the ML55 AMGs so they are extremely rare, and I’ve personally never seen another one. I bought the car in 2022 for $10k and have put about $10k of repairs and maintenance into the car during that time. See attached spreadsheet of my maintenance log. I have service records going back to 2014. Last owner and I have both done a TON of maintenance (pretty much everything imaginable). I know the car isn’t still worth $10k though so I’m looking to get $7700 for it. Comes with a set of brand new Zimmerman front brake pads and rotors! When I replaced the rear brakes the front ones still had tons of life left so I held off on replacing them. Also comes with a box of some random miscellaneous parts. It doesn’t need any repairs right now and could drive you across the country with no issues. Most flaws are pretty minor or simply cosmetic. I have lots of more pictures and videos available (although KSL only restricts me to 1 video).

The good:

• Body has no cracks, dents, or rust. Undercarriage is 99.9% rust-free, probably the least amount of rust you’ll ever see on an ML55. Pet-free and smoke-free!
• Car runs, drives, and shifts great! With over 340 horsepower, this was the fastest SUV in the world when it came out. Still very powerful. Never been in an accident. Stereo works amazingly (invisible Bluetooth module installed). Leather seats have no tears and suspension is in great condition too.
• Binder full of service records with a chronological spreadsheet of all services performed (see picture)
• Headliner in good condition other than one of the C-pillars has a small sagging portion (hardly noticeable)

The bad/quirks:

• Some faded clear coat in multiple areas (wheel arches, top of front bumper, bottom part of the tailgate). It presents well enough though and the car has had some prior paintwork to address some fading paint (top sill of the rear bumper and back right wheel arch). It wasn’t a super professional job but it presents well enough and hasn’t bothered me. Some minor rock chips and small scratches throughout but nothing huge.
• The area around the rear main seal is a little wet but has never dripped onto my garage floor. Service records show that area has been wet since 2017, so it’s not something to worry about. I used to have a W210 E55 (with the same engine) and it was also wet in that same area for years and never dripped. I’ve had 3 different shops tell me they wouldn’t recommend replacing the rear main seal at this time. I’ve never had to top off the oil.
• The blend door often makes a clicking sound when you turn the temperature dial to the blue, however the clicking sound stops when you turn it to the red and you’ll still get ice cold A/C as long as the A/C button is pushed. Turn off the A/C button and you’ll still get hot heat, so everything works well.
• The rear window controls in the back seat recently stopped working. You can still roll the rear (and front) windows up and down with the front controls.
• The buttons on the key fob recently stopped working. The fob key (and the spare key) still start the car and unlock/lock the doors just fine though and the power locks work. I don’t have a dealership close enough to me to take in the key fob to get looked at.
• Obviously all W163s suffer from the crappy plastic front seat frames. Mine are pretty tightly fastened and not falling apart, but the front part has some missing internal clips so it’s not fully connected to the side portion (doesn’t make any noise or bounce around so honestly doesn’t need repairing unless you’re OCD about that).
• Gauge on the ceiling for gas mileage (and other metrics) works, but the yellow back light doesn’t work so if you wanna check your gas mileage at night you gotta shine a flash light on that gauge. We know these cars get bad gas mileage so I’ve hardly ever checked that.
• Washer fluid reservoir must have a small hole or crack up high, because if you fill it up full it will leak a little bit then stop, so I only ever fill it up about halfway. It can fit at least 2 jugs of washer fluid so even halfway full lasts you a very long time.
• A few minor cracks in the interior wood trim

• SRS light comes on and off

• One fog light lens is cracked (fog lights still work though)

Modifications:

• Black A-pillar covers (although the original A-pillar covers are included with the car). The last owner wanted some that were more durable so he put those on. Can be swapped out very easily.
• Bluetooth module that works very well for playing music from phone etc. Only part of it that’s visible is the connect button behind the steering wheel.
• Small magnetic phone holder stuck onto the dashboard above the climate vents. Installed by last owner and I use it occasionally. Could be peeled off easily.