£10-13k hero.....335/535 - is there anything else?
Discussion
Sorry to bump this up, but after some research it seems there might be another contender....
Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
mrdanbartlett said:
Sorry to bump this up, but after some research it seems there might be another contender....
Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
Sounds like you really really want a 3l Diesel and then to remap it...Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
If so then do it!
If you need to decide whaether it be a BMW or MErc then go test drive one.
mrdanbartlett said:
Sorry to bump this up, but after some research it seems there might be another contender....
Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
You might find you are ok with less hp when you have 600 nm of torque at your disposal. Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
For driving enjoyment, I'd take the C over the E any day, and the pre-facelift interior is not bad at all; I find it more somber, utilitarian and purposeful than the facelift, and the hideaway nav unit design is much nicer than what followed.
Edited by scherzkeks on Thursday 22 January 13:23
texasjohn said:
C Class has an offset steering wheel, it doesnt line up to the middle of the drivers seat. Causes some people a bad back but not obvious on initial test drives etc.
Ah thats a good bit of info, thank you. Not in a huge rush, monitoring prices at present to know what is the 'going rate' for a few different cars. As others said in this thread though diesels might be a whole lot less popular soon......
Petrol wise very few options beyond a 335, and the reliability stories are a concern.
mrdanbartlett said:
Just the tax is off-putting - in terms of money to pay out but also cars with the £500 tax seem v hard to shift - I see loads of 545i's for sale for aaaaaaaaages etc
seems a great package though.
FYI, all 545i's are in the old tax brackets.seems a great package though.
Most (but not all) 550i's are in the new brackets. All facelift cars are in the new brackets.
That said, I have a W211 E500 5.5 and all of those are in the new brackets. When you fill the tank up once or sometimes twice a week, an extra couple of hundred quid a year is insignificant really.
Any newer Mercedes with the 500 badge (2007 onwards) have the 5.5 engine and it feels quite a bit faster than the equivalent BMW. I am comparing with the 550i I had before. It's the better car in many ways, but the BMW is more of a driver's car (not night and day difference, but more).
Neither will attack corners like a Focus ST, mind. Nice cars though and after test driving an ST last night I was glad to get back in the E500 all things considered.
Not sure an S4 (v8) is £500 tax - mine wasn't - and just about squeezed 26 on a long run (but day to day was more like 22). Was much more of an event to drive than my e91 330d but obviously chassis not as accomplished. Was unstoppable on rural wet and wintery roads though. A 335i would probably be my choice on your list (as you can get a manual one) but the problem is that they're just fast, not a real event to drive. Older BM sixes just had more character. Similarly I found my Z4 3.0i fast but totally anodyne (but my Z4M is a real event).
Ah yes the 545 is pre 07, the post 07 5's seem nicer - yet to drive a post 07 535d, I drove a 530d 2006 once and was a bit under-whelmed.
E500's are nice, keeping tabs on a 09 one on ebay actually, the tax wouldnt be ideal but I don't think they are too terrible on fuel given the engine, but maybe that is just wishful thinking. I REALLY like the E coupe, would have one in a heartbeat if I wasn't going for 4 doors.
S4 - engine is nice, just the MPG is way too of putting and I don't want a car as old as 2005 or before, so tax would be alot.
Funny you had a Z4 too, it's lovely but just feels slow, would love an M Coupe but defo should go more practical next really. Need to make time one weekend to have a day test driving really, easy to talk about it during work but finding the time when off isn't so easy.
Some great ideas and comments bouncing around here. What I really need is the Merc C series looks, passast interior/DSG and the BM 335d engine
E500's are nice, keeping tabs on a 09 one on ebay actually, the tax wouldnt be ideal but I don't think they are too terrible on fuel given the engine, but maybe that is just wishful thinking. I REALLY like the E coupe, would have one in a heartbeat if I wasn't going for 4 doors.
S4 - engine is nice, just the MPG is way too of putting and I don't want a car as old as 2005 or before, so tax would be alot.
Funny you had a Z4 too, it's lovely but just feels slow, would love an M Coupe but defo should go more practical next really. Need to make time one weekend to have a day test driving really, easy to talk about it during work but finding the time when off isn't so easy.
Some great ideas and comments bouncing around here. What I really need is the Merc C series looks, passast interior/DSG and the BM 335d engine
mrdanbartlett said:
Sorry to bump this up, but after some research it seems there might be another contender....
Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
Just an observation on the C350CDI. I've been watching these for a short while with a view to buying one but they seem to suffer quite heavy depreciation.Mercedes C350 diesel, you can get a 2010 one with ok miles for £10-12k. However only 235bhp, but the facelift one looks better, has a MUCH MUCH better interior and is around £15k if you get lucky - plus its 265bhp.
Both remap to 300bhp+.
Any horror stories about these? Or maybe an E350 would be better, slightly older but the interior is more on par with the facelift C series (which happened around april/may 2011).
Vs a 3 or 5 series they look alot more modern, are alot newer but not a huge amount more. Plus I cannot find too many bad stories about reliability.
My budget of £20k last year would have just got me into a facelift model, now I'm looking at 125 editions (2012) or shortly Sport+ models (2013).
I wouldn't be too pleased if I spent £30k on a used 'premium brand' 12 months ago to see it lose £10k. Not sure if it's because MB flooded the market with 4 pot diesels before the new model came out and that's not forgetting there's no new C class with the V6 diesel yet.
graham22 said:
Just an observation on the C350CDI. I've been watching these for a short while with a view to buying one but they seem to suffer quite heavy depreciation.
My budget of £20k last year would have just got me into a facelift model, now I'm looking at 125 editions (2012) or shortly Sport+ models (2013).
I wouldn't be too pleased if I spent £30k on a used 'premium brand' 12 months ago to see it lose £10k. Not sure if it's because MB flooded the market with 4 pot diesels before the new model came out and that's not forgetting there's no new C class with the V6 diesel yet.
True but that was a year ago looking at a 1-2 year old car. A car will lose less money as it gets older, but those first few years will be big hits. My budget of £20k last year would have just got me into a facelift model, now I'm looking at 125 editions (2012) or shortly Sport+ models (2013).
I wouldn't be too pleased if I spent £30k on a used 'premium brand' 12 months ago to see it lose £10k. Not sure if it's because MB flooded the market with 4 pot diesels before the new model came out and that's not forgetting there's no new C class with the V6 diesel yet.
The way I see it, £15k gets you (with a little luck) into a 2011 C350, a 335i/d of that year is going to be more like £20k++. Seems good value for the year/spec/engine etc.
I was looking at 2007/8 335's and good ones are £10-12k, so for a bit more I can get a car thats half as old again.
I recently bought a 2007 Audi A6 4.2 FSI Quattro for just under £7k. It has 350hp, combined 26mpg (32+ on a decent motorway run) and goes rather well whilst being huge and rather comfy. There aren't any others for sale at the moment but if one pops up I would definitely recommend it. I like V8s and it provides an excellent combination of pace, traction, economy, comfort, space and toys for the price.
What's the tax? 26mpg is not too great but not terrible, and maybe a little on the large side. I want to like Audi's but I find the looks so dull (except the A5's and TTS) 
Must be a rare car, you don't see many. I saw a A8 4.2 TDI at aucton on a 2005 plate with just 31k sell for £12,100 + £600 fee's, I thought that was fairly steep for a 10 year old car, but I imagine that is a good all round package, shame they are so massive!
Must be a rare car, you don't see many. I saw a A8 4.2 TDI at aucton on a 2005 plate with just 31k sell for £12,100 + £600 fee's, I thought that was fairly steep for a 10 year old car, but I imagine that is a good all round package, shame they are so massive!
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