At $13,800, Is This 2012 Mercedes S550 A Highway Star?

While the mileage on today's Nice Price or No Dice S550 is high, the seller says its former life as a limo means those were mostly racked up on the highway. Aside from the odometer, the car doesn't otherwise show its age or those miles, but could that have us showing it the money?

Jimmy Durante, Barbra Streisand, and Gérard Depardieu are all celebrities known for having prominent noses. Well, Depardieu is now known for something else, so maybe we'll leave him off the list. At any rate, the point is that a substantial schnoz shouldn't prove a hindrance to success. What can we then make of the long-nosed 1996 Pontiac Trans Sport minivan we looked at yesterday? An extremely low-mileage and seemingly well-kept example, it couldn't muster much enthusiasm in either comments or the vote for its $10,000 asking price. Many of you remarked that these vans were not good to start with and are unlikely to have aged like fine wine. Ultimately, we wound up giving the van a hefty 78 percent No Dice loss.

Today we're looking at a 2012 Mercedes-Benz S550 that the seller says has racked up a substantial 191,350 miles in service as a livery vehicle for its previous owner, a limousine company. That's a lot of rubber on the road, but we're assured that those miles were mostly amassed shuttling between Sacramento and San Francisco on I-80, and are hence are the proverbial gold standard of distance delineation: highway miles.

The limo business handled its own maintenance, the ad says, and serviced the car every 4,000 miles. The company apparently also took pride in the big Benz's appearance as it doesn't look like it's pushing 200,000 either inside or out. The dark grey paint is described as being a "super rare" choice and is claimed to have a full ceramic coating if that's something that floats your boat. Regardless, it comes across as being in great shape, and aside from the smoked tail lights, it looks pretty impressive.

Equally impressive are the under-hood stats. The S550 is powered by a twin-turbo 4.7-liter V8 with a healthy 429 horsepower and get-outta-town 519 lb-ft of torque. With the standard seven-speed automatic, that can move the big (124-inch wheelbase!) sedan from zero to sixty in about five and a half seconds. Naturally, that doesn't come without a cost, which is a Nosferatu-sized thirst in the Benz's case. This is the RWD edition and not the heavier and more complicated 4Matic, so while it should prove to be a bit more of a handful in inclement weather, it should also be a little cheaper to operate. The ad claims this car has some AMG aspect, but it doesn't explain exactly what that might be, so we'll just have to discount that.

Notwithstanding any AMG-ness, the car is claimed to be mechanically sound, with no leaks, warning lights, or worrisome noises. It also just received an oil change and an alignment so those two boxes can be checked off any new owner's honey-do list. In fact, based on the description, this big sedan is a turnkey car. Hopefully it also smells as good as it looks. It would be a shame if passengers were allowed to smoke in the car, so an olfactory test is probably the only thing it needs.

Other plusses here include a clean title and current tags. The seller also handily shows a picture of an OBDII reader plugged into the car and showing green lights across the board. That's set against the handsome burled walnut and leather steering wheel, which is matched with the rest of the cabin accouterments. This is an S-Class so everything in the cabin is well-appointed and the car is filled with all the technological marvels 2012 could muster. That included multi-zone climate control, heated and cooled seats, a panoramic roof, and, perhaps coolest of all, soft-close doors. Who the heck wants to slam a door closed like a schmo when your car can suck them closed on its own, all in church mouse-quiet fashion?

Craigslist

The car also comes with a backup camera, lane assist, and blindspot monitoring, features that impress even today. Overall, this probably won't feel like a car that's old enough to watch PG-13 movies on its own, and should hold up for several more years to come on the feature front as well.

There's some bling to be had here too. The seller has fitted the car with Mercedes star-capped 22-inch wheels—10-inch in the front and 11 in the rear—and combined with the ultra-low profile tires those give the car a very distinctive look. Will they be for everybody? Probably not, but if that's the only issue with the car, it's an easy one to fix.

Of course, that's likely not the only issue with the car. We do, after all, need to contend with its $13,800 asking price. That's slightly-used Kia money, and it's arguable that this does represent a lot of car for that money. Naturally, the question for us is whether that's too much when considered against the car's substantial odometer reading. The seller assures us that, if properly maintained, the car could do another 200K, but is that a realistic assumption or pure ad hyperbole?

Craigslist

What do you think? Is this luxurious technological tour de force of a car worth that $13,800 as it sits? Or, given the mileage and the age, is that too big a risk to take?

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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