2010 Mercedes S600 V-12 For Sale – Mine!

The time has come to sell my beloved 2010 Mercedes S600 (W221) while there’s plenty of MaxCare extended warranty left for the next owner, and so I can pursue my next unicorn. The short version is this; the car has less than 96,500 miles and the free (to the buyer) transferable MaxCare warranty is good until 125,000 odometer miles, or February 2024, whichever comes first. If you’ve read this blog at all, you know it’s all about driving deeply depreciated cars I can’t afford to repair, but the financial risk is transferred to MaxCare – “driving rich”. The car sold new for over $150,000 and is offered at $25,900 OBO on Autotrader (Link Here) and however many other Mercedes Facebook groups I can find. Shoot me a message if you are interested or have questions. I’m happy to share the service history, MaxCare details, and more photos. The Mercedes data card is at the bottom of this blog as well.

There are W221 S600’s on Autotrader for more and less money, with more and less mileage. Twenty total I think. This is the only one with an extended warranty. When I sold my 2004 Mercedes S55 it was also still covered by MaxCare, and the buyer and I met a local Mercedes dealership. I offered that anything he found that I had not noticed, we’d turn the car in and get it fixed. And we did. He gained confidence the car was solid, and he got to see the MaxCare coverage work. More than willing to do that again with this S600. That’s why the price is a little above Autotrader’s market average.

The full text of what I would have put on Autotrader (had they not limited me to 2,000 characters!) is at the bottom. What I hope to share here are some of the nuances of owning a Mercedes S600. I’ve driven it from Virginia to Oregon and back twice on pandemic runs to see my youngest adult son living in Portland, and during one of these the description of “driving from a comfortable recliner, in your living room, in a bank vault, on a bullet train” came to me. I covered Crawfordsville, Indiana to Cheyenne, Wyoming alone in a single day – 1,050 miles in just under 13 hours including gas and McDonald’s. Felt like a short drive to Grandma’s. If I can figure out how to post my dash cam video you can watch it all! I also took the car on another thousand mile loop through the Virginia countryside in the early days of the pandemic. It was my cocoon. Did an 1,800 mile run to the 24 Hours of Daytona and back last January. Previous owners put 45,000 miles on the car in nine years. I added 50,000 in three. I love driving this car.

I became a CarMax/Maxcare addict after enjoying over $35,000 in “free” (to me) repairs to my 2004 Mercedes S55 AMG – a car I paid $21,000 for plus maybe $3,500 for MaxCare. CarMax never flinched on the repairs. So far I’m over $15,000 in MaxCare repairs for the S600. The most expensive fixes have been the seats – twice. I don’t know the exact amount because a number of repairs in the early days were listed as “No Charge” on the service documents. Later they had the dollar amounts. I paid $7,500 for MaxCare when I bought the car and I’ve clearly gotten my money’s worth.

The 5.5 liter twin-turbo V-8 pumps 510 horsepower through a five-speed automatic and will sprint to 60 mph in about 4.5 seconds. It’s faster than my 911 was. Certainly quieter – silky smooth on the highway. And with gas at an all time high you’re wondering about mileage for a V-12. For my road trips I got about 22 mpg and about 18 mpg around town. It’s a powerful, but not overly large motor. Service is up to date – another 187 days until Service D. Spark plugs, ignition coils, and brakes done at 64,000 miles. Transmission service done at 85,000 miles.

In preparation for sale I put four new Tire Rack-recommended Kumho Majesty 9 Solus tires on the car, had it detailed and Virginia State inspected. It’s under cover now and I don’t plan to drive it much until it sells. If it doesn’t sell I plan to abandon plans for another unicorn and head west again. Haven’t seen my son in a while.

The S600 has Dynamic seats – the bolsters inflate to increase occupant stability when turning hard. They heat, cool, and massage – front and rear. I think the driver’s seat looks better in person but maybe all that driving has left an impression. There is a scuff (but no tear) about where the left thigh/knee goes but nothing else.

The back seat is limo-like. On the second cross country drive I cheated and had two very close, and very large friends fly to Portland and drive back with me. Three 6’4″ 225 lb (plus) guys, and we were never uncomfortable, or wanting for luggage space or highway speed.

The trunk is gigantic. My wife and I once camped in there for a long weekend. Watched TV and ate snacks. Just kidding. You can see the scuff marks on the bumper that I mention in the ad, from luggage too heavy for me to properly hoist.

The S600 has ABC suspension (Active Body Control – lowers car at highway speeds, adjustable for comfort or sport. On some Mercedes forums folks freak out over ABC and failures. On my S55 the ABC went twice, and I lost a hydraulic line and maybe a pump on this S600. All of it covered by MaxCare.

Distronic Plus (adaptive cruise control). Heated steering wheel. Somewhere on that stalk is a way to do the headlight washers. I never figured them out, but I learned they didn’t work so CarMax replaced all of the controls inside the steering housing for free. They work now.

Lover’s Leap on US 58 in Virginia. My covid drive.

Somewhere in Montana.

The bad news – I have never tried the rear entertainment system. Brought a bunch of DVD’s along for the cross country drive with my friends but we talked nonsense the whole way. The good news? It’s 100 percent covered by MaxCare so if it isn’t proper it will be.

Full disclosure. Chips the detailer could not buff out. Might have been more had I not covered the front end in track tape for one of the cross country drives. Looked like crap but protected it a bit.

Learned recently the keypad interacts with my phone as well as the audio system for choosing tracks, entering radio stations, etc. Wish I knew that from the beginning! The button on the center left drops the rear head rests (below). How cool is that?

The manufacturer BlueTooth for Mercedes of this era, like Subaru and others, is for voice and phone calls. There’s a port in the glove box for iPod plug in, and I added cables for USB and the Bovee tune2air BlueTooth puck. I stream music here. There’s also an SD card reader for music files as well as a six disc CD changer in the dash.

The new tires. And new lug nuts all around. When the tires were installed the mechanic said the old lug nuts were “swollen” so I replaced them all.

Check out the night vision switch on the left. Good for running moonshine in the night, or driving Navy SEALS on raids.

Doors have storage space!

Center console storage. Not much. Think a phone was supposed to go in there.

Storage cubby for the rear DVD headphones and remotes – or a go bag?

Yellowstone.

Going nuclear with my friends.

February, 2019 – the day I bought this beauty. Going to stop writing now and get this all on the internet for your viewing pleasure. Holler if you have questions.

2010 S600 Autotrader Ad Information

“Like driving from a comfortable recliner, in your living room, in a bank vault, on a bullet train.”–Chuck Banks (me) after two coast-to-coast drives in the S600.

Selling my fully loaded & well maintained 2010 Mercedes S600 V-12 (W221) protected by a transferable CarMax/MaxCare extended warranty good for another 28,000 miles to February 2023. Bought this California/Nevada car in February 2019 with 45,000 miles on it. Have previous owner service & repair records from CarMax back to April 2016 & 25,000 miles. The car was driven about 4,000 miles yearly until 2016, about 6,600 miles a year until I bought it in 2019, and I’ve put 50,000 on it in three years – including 15,000 miles on two Virginia-Oregon-Virginia runs and several long drives to Florida and back. The car gobbles up highway miles, as you can tell from my 1,000 day from Crawfordsville, Illinois to Cheyenne, Wyoming on one of the cross country drives. All services up to date – Service D not due for another 187 days. Spark plugs, ignition coils, & brakes done at 64,000 miles. Transmission service done at 85,000 miles. Leveraged MaxCare for over $15,000 in “free” repairs (so far), including motor mounts, steering rack, main bearing oil seal replacements, unbelievable repairs to the dynamic seats, replaced the idler pulleys, sheave pulleys, & even the ABC dual pump. In preparation for sale this month at 96,000 miles installed four new tires from Tire Rack, passed Virginia State Inspection, & had the car professionally detailed. Imperfections include small stone chips on the hood that won’t buff out, luggage scuff marks on the rear bumper, & the slight separation of carpet from the footwell on the driver’s side – that’s where my foot always ended up as a dead pedal & yours will too. Should you see anything more in the pictures I haven’t noticed happy to take additional photos or pursue. Also, happy to share data card, service details, etc. that can’t go here via email.

Summary of Features: Distronic Plus Adaptive Cruise Control, Heating/Cooling/Massaging seats front & rear – rear seats recline also. Heated steering wheel. Dynamic seats, front left & right (the bolsters inflate to increase occupant stability when turning hard). ABC suspension (Active Body Control – lowers car at highway speeds, adjustable for comfort or sport), Rear seat DVD entertainment system with remotes & headphones. Automatic Lane Recognition. Night View Assist (Night Vision!). KEYLESS-GO Package, Driving Assistance Package Plus, Automatic Lane Recognition, COM& DVD APS USA With Navigation, Exclusive Leather Trim, Attention Assist (Drowsiness Detection), Electric roller blind (Sun Shade) for rear windows, including electric blinds for left & right rear passenger windows. Automatic rear head rest collapse. Automatic Climate Control, AMG “2LOOK-EDITION” Special Model. Parking Guidance, Blind Spot Assistant, Panoramic Sliding Sunroof/Glass Sunroof, Heat Insulating+IR Reflecting Safety Glass (replaced front & rear windshield in 2022), Headlight washers, Automatic High Beam Switch (IHC), Bi-Xenon Headlight Active Curvelight Cornering Illumination, Wood Burred Walnut Veneer Interior Trim Pieces, Harman Kardon Premium Sound System, DVD Changer, Heated Windshield Washer System, Remote Trunk Locking & Power Closing System, Adaptive Stop Light Flashing, & best of all – M275 V12-Gasoline Engine M275 Bi-Turbo. Oh yeah, car has a six CD music changer & I added Bovee Tune2Air Bluetooth for music.