Almost shed a tear today, was looking at the used car market and saw many E55K AMGs around the $13-$15K price range. Even E46 M3s cost more than that.
Mind you this car used to be the fastest sport sedan of its time with 0-60 in 4.2 and quarter mile in the the low 11's IIRC

 

It has bad resale value but I guess more people can afford it now, that engine is amazing. The E55 looks still good today, imagine it with the whole E63 W211 look and some CF.

 

the car maybe cheap to buy-but it certainly is not cheap to maintain

 

Specifically the Airmatic suspension.

 

I thought that the E55 suspension was much more robust and didnt have too many problems.

It is the suspension in the E500 that is known to break.

 

its essentially the same suspension components-just revamped to be more "sporty" with different shock/spring settings in the E55

 

^^this
Always loved this car (sans the stupid autobox). Are they really that cheap nowadays? Do they have 80K+ miles on them?

 

The E55 is definitely more reliable than the E500 in terms of the Airmatic setup. Member Montana purchased my pops from him with 60K miles on it for 25k.

If I could find one in as good of condition I'd probably snatch it up myself. These cars are bulletproof compared to similar performance cars. High 11's in the 1/4 in a big ass sedan is no joke. If you find a car that has been cared for it should be VERY reasonable to maintain in the long run.

 

Don't know about the E55, but my old E500 cost me $4200 in one month alone on those shocks. Car had just run out of the extended warranty. Beginning of the month the driver's front side went out, and at the end of the month the passenger front side went out. Between those and the SBC system, they can get very pricey to fix when out of warranty.

 

I think automatic suspensions go bad when you fiddle with the settings left and right.
When i drive any car that has it, I always leave it alone