The 2004 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Started the Horsepower Wars

CHECK OUT CARS & BIDS

The Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG (W211) is an excellent high-performance sedan. Today I'm reviewing a 2004 E55 AMG to show you all around it, and I'm going to show you all the quirks and features of the E55 AMG. Then I'm going to drive the Mercedes E55 AMG and tell you what it's like on the road.

E55 AMG MONSTER COMMERCIAL:

WEBSITE & MERCH!

FOLLOW ME!

[donkmeister]

As someone with an E500 of similar vintage, you missed some quirks!
1) The cupholder is only intended for use when stationary. Apparently Germans don't drive with a coffee, but need four ashtrays!
2) The compartments under the front seats; mine came with a comprehensive first aid kit, shaped to fit neatly into the slot on the passenger side. the driver's side had nothing in it so i use it for fluorescent jackets for driving in France.
3) 7:00 see those three buttons under the mirror? You can programme those to open electric gates and garage doors.
4) 9:20 slats in the sunroof cover? Those aren't to let in sun, it's so you can block out the sun (mostly) but still get a draft when you have the sunroof in the raised position.
5) the dome lights can be dimmed and brightened from the menus.
6) 13:30 did you notice that you get a picture of the E-class in the background of the menus? fancy!
7) 15:00 the big empty compartment at the rear of the arm-rest is the compartment to store the owner's manual in its leather envelope. Seriously! Every other car I've had you just shove it in the glovebox.
8) 16:15 you can't see it here, but the main battery lives under the floor of the boot. Yes, main battery. This car has an auxiliary battery in the front, located underneath the cabin air filter.
9) 17:20 see that red cap in just behind the supercharger? That's a dipstick tube with no dipstick. You can buy a dipstick, for workshop use only. The main purpose of this tube is actually for removing old engine oil. The engine is designed in such a way that a minor service can be carried out without ever going underneath the car. Of course, it has 16 spark plugs so a sparkplug change is expensive and takes a while!
10) 17:20 see that thing that looks like an ABS manifold at the front starboard side? That's an SBC pump. These cars did not have vacuum-servod brakes. No, they took the brilliant step of installing an electro-hydraulic pump for the brakes (hence the auxiliary battery). Unfortunately, as the MTBF of the pump was not well-understood, they coded a software limit into the pump so when the arbitrary number of pedal presses has taken place... you need to have the pump replaced or you cannot pass roadworthiness tests in pretty much any country. Cost? Between £1500 and £3000 in the UK for a refurbished unit, fitted and coded to the car. So between $2k and $4k US.
11) The hifi has an analogue TV tuner (yay, obsolescence!) but you can also pop a DVD in to watch whilst stationary, and even connect up to two additional devices to the RCA A/V inputs (which are located... in the trunk, behind a trim panel!)
12) it has air suspension! above 135kph (85mph) the car lowers itself by 3 cm to reduce drag and improve directional stability. The button just aft of the gearshifter allows you to choose the ride mode, and the button next to it raises the suspension for driving slowly through an uneven surface.
13) Dynamic seats - the one you tested here had the dynamic seats, which can inflate air bladders in the bolsters to keep you in place on corners.
14) Climate control - there is a carbon filter that you can switch in and out by a button, and if you are driving with the windows down and hold down the air-recirculate button it will close everything, then a second press will reopen it to where you had it. Intended for driving into tunnels!

[kevinjones]

Doug: Thank you for reviewing my car. Brought lots of smiles to me, my family and friends!

[haas]

Thanks Doug for nearly doubling the price of e55s.

[dummekommentarefullhdvonka]

I got the unofficial 'Drug-Dealer-Edition' of this E-class. No CD changer, but a small storage to hide my cocaine.

[RAZGRIZ]

Doug the type of guy to say a German car started a war.

[LocoLeeep]

9:20 the holes in the sunroof cover is so you can vent the sunroof with the cover closed. VW/Audi does it too

[sonnyblack]

And the quad exhausts were actually real back then 👌

[brettswan]

I remember when my dad brought home his black on black 2006 E55, I was 10 at the time, and it was the first fast car he'd bought himself since the musclecar era, which also made it the first truly fast car I'd ever been in. Some of my favorite memories of my dad go back to him driving me to school in the backseat. We played a game where I would see if I could grab onto the headrest poles as he accelerated away from stoplights. One of my favorite car stories from my childhood was driving to Union Station in downtown LA at 6AM on the 110 North, doing 135mph because we were running late, and blowing past our exit only making us more late lol. He always loved the torque and sleeper status of this car and the impression it left on me is still with me as I now own my own AMG. Thanks for the great vid Doug!

[gevorgnalbandyan]

Some dude: Hey ! Wanna review my E55 AMG?
Doug: Yeah, but does the cup-holder work tho ??

[Gnomosfortheoffice]

I love how understated these older sports sedans look. Modern AMGs lack that 'sleeper' effect.

[ZGryphon]

The button to turn off the climate control is labeled "0" because _Klimatisierungssystem deaktivieren_ wouldn't fit.

[MrTrollus]

The Hellcat literally owes its heritage to this bad boy. Figuratively and literally.

[MarkCarraher]

Doug getting pulled over:

Officer: License and registration please

Doug: is my license and thissss is my registration.

[JebHoge]

The slowness of the steering is because these are supposed to be Autobahn burners, and you don't want sports-car twitchy steering at 150+ on the highway.

[ABQ]

An E55 owner, the kind of guy to have two pens.

One to write his own speeding tickets and one to lend the BMW M5 driver.

[sweetnothingsirobot]

The sunroof “holes” are for ventilation so heat isn’t trapped and mess with the headliner

[anasnasir]

in my opinion it is one of the best looking cars from 2000s and overall the most timeless and best looking E-class.

[sandrorossi]

In my opinion the W211 is the most beautiful E Class ever built, such a timless piece of art

[ashreyluthra]

Doug’s the type of guy to call himself a “cup holder enthusiast”

[aceorocha]

What’s crazy is this is like a base e55! You could spec these things out with some pretty crazy options, active cruise control, keyless go, parking sensors, heated and cooled seats, a solar panal and a panoramic sun roof. This cars technology is literally what modern cars still use today!