2004 Mercedes-Benz SL 5.4L Petrol · CU04 SFJ

The 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL presents a stable and reassuring maintenance trend, with the most recent MOT conducted on 14 February 2025 at 103,859 miles returning a clean pass and no recorded defects. Every test in the available history, stretching back to August 2021, has passed without advisories or failures. This is an unusually clean record for a vehicle of this age and suggests consistent, attentive ownership rather than neglect or deferred maintenance. The mileage pattern tells an interesting story. Between the August 2021 test at 100,849 miles and the July 2022 test at 100,973 miles, the car covered just 124 miles in nearly a year. The August 2023 test at 101,232 miles shows similarly restrained use, adding only 259 miles over the following thirteen months. However, the jump to 103,859 miles by February 2025 represents a notable acceleration, with 2,627 miles covered in roughly eighteen months. This shift from near-static use to more regular driving could indicate a change in ownership or usage pattern, and it warrants closer scrutiny of components that deteriorate from standing rather than wear. Despite the clean MOT record, a pre-purchase inspection should focus on areas that MOT tests do not fully assess. The SL's complex hydraulic folding roof mechanism deserves careful examination for leaks, slow operation, or motor strain, as repairs are costly. Suspension bushes, coil springs, and dampers on a low-mileage car of this age often suffer from perished rubber and corrosion rather than wear, so a thorough underside inspection is advisable. Brake calipers and discs may show surface corrosion from prolonged standing, and tyres should be checked for date codes and sidewall cracking regardless of tread depth. The most recent MOT is now over seventeen months old, so a fresh test before purchase would provide the most current snapshot of the vehicle's structural and mechanical condition.