[R129 SL] Planning on buying an SL500

[Andrew Somers]

Hello,

    I am a current R107 owner (Her name is Freya   http://www.my450sl.com 
   ) which I've had for about 10 years - she runs fine,  but I am  
thinking that I want to upgrade now to an R129, and trying to get an  
idea of best years, and what kind of problems I should look for etc.  
For instance, I hear:

1) The transmission in the 90 thru 95 aren't great, and the 96-98 are  
better.

2) The engine in the 99-02 is not desirable.

3) The hydraulics for the roof fail often and are expensive to fix (Is  
this true for all years?)


QUESTIONS:

    My 450SL has about 165K on it, and runs great save for an oil leak  
in the main seal. The 450SL is know to go for 750,000 miles - how  
robust are the engines in the SL500? How many miles before they are  
performing badly? Since it's an aluminum block engine, I'd think it  
was likely to be somewhat less than a big iron block like a 450. For  
instance, there's a 1995 SL500 with 109,000 miles on it. The car seems  
pretty clean, but what kind of work can I expect to have to put into  
one with such mileage? Any endemic/systemic problems that these cars  
are known for?

Any website I should look at that discusses the R129 series and  
potential issues?


Thanks!


Andy