Profile
Name: Lisa Kingsley
Job: Community Management (and Founder of Ninth Degree Ladies Club)
From: UK
Wheels: 2006 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Wagon, 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante
In the UAE: 13 years
Welcome to wheels, Lisa! We all love a loud, fast wagon and your 2006 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG combines speed with outrageous character! How did you come across this beauty?
First of all, thank you for featuring me and my rides in wheels! Well, I have had the Mercedes for just over two months now but I spent quite a while trying to find one. It was imported from Japan and I wanted one for quite a few months as they are very rare in the Middle East and something very different to everything else on the road. I have always been a Dodge fan and have owned a Charger and Challenger and very nearly went for another Challenger — but in the end I decided on the Mercedes which was a brand that I had not owned before. Now, this is my daily driver, and I would say it is more of a cruiser now (but it still has plenty of power!) it was built for luxury combined with speed.
Tell us about AMG’s 469 horsepower hand-built 5.4-litre supercharged V8 and overall hHow well does your Merc handle? Does it give you any problems?
It’s an incredibly smooth ride in fact I was surprised by how quick it was whilst feeling like it was no effort at all. However, as expected for a 15 year old car, the air suspension has just been replaced with coil overs but the car was looked after very well by the previous owner in Japan so apart from that maintaining it isn’t too difficult but parts can be tricky — you just need to go to the garages that specialize in German brands. It is all in original shape but there are plans to spruce up the exterior a little bit and maybe get a new exhaust system, but I will leave the engine and transmission alone for the foreseeable future at least.
What do you like best about it — and is there anything that you don’t like?
The rarity of it and the overall look, I have had the exterior de-chromed and the wheels painted black in order to achieve the stealthy look that I wanted. As for dislikes, there aren’t many, apart for the breaking distance. Occasionally, the computerized voice of a woman shouting in Japanese comes through the speaker! I have still no idea what she is saying.
Got a hot ride? Email us at mywheels@gulfnews.com with a photo and description and you could be our next my wheels star!
