W211 E320CDI or E350

[GreenArrow]

Its me again...aside from looking at AMG mercs, at the cheaper end of my potential budget, I have noticed what bargains the W211 six cylinder E class Mercs are. I started looking on Autotrader at post 2005 320 CDIs with the V6 engine as my research leaves me to believe the facelifted cars are less trouble. 5-6 grand seems to get you into a 9 year old car with 100K or more miles.
However, my head was then turned by a rare 2006 E350....1 owner, 100K miles and just under 4.5K. Now I know the petrol engine car costs an eye watering £490 on VED, but it seems to be over a grand cheaper to buy and surely less potential things to go wrong like the inlet valve thingy I have read about and the DPF, injectors etc that can plague diesels. The E350 is making 272BHP so shouldn't be too slow, the early W211 E500 only makes 35 BHP more.

So, after some feedback from 320 CDI owners, are they ok and anyone out there owned a E350?

[ZX10R NIN]

The older 3.2 Diesel is the more reliable out of the two both are pretty good, the early V6's had a few issues but in general are pretty reliable. If you were looking at a E350 I would say get an E500 the fuel difference is so small I'd have to pick the V8.

The W211's are generally reliable you just need to workout what's best for you they don't tend to suffer to many injector issues but like most diesels you could get DPF issues.

How many miles do you do a year?

Diesel 3.2's:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

3.0:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

350 Petrol:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

500:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-MERCEDES-E500-AVANT...

[GreenArrow]

ZX10R NIN said:

The older 3.2 Diesel is the more reliable out of the two both are pretty good, the early V6's had a few issues but in general are pretty reliable. If you were looking at a E350 I would say get an E500 the fuel difference is so small I'd have to pick the V8.

The W211's are generally reliable you just need to workout what's best for you they don't tend to suffer to many injector issues but like most diesels you could get DPF issues.

How many miles do you do a year?

Diesel 3.2's:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

3.0:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

350 Petrol:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

500:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2003-MERCEDES-E500-AVANT...

I do 11-12K miles a year....

Interesting about the E350/E500...is it really close in economy to the V8? I thought the V6 Merc engine was fairly decent on fuel...

Seen a few E320 CDI Sports for sale around the 7 grand mark....these are 56 plate onwards so some of the later W211s....they do look very appealing motors....

BTW, the second of the 350s you listed is the one that caught my eye on Autotrader on Friday and prompted this post., 4.5K for an 06 Merc, ridiculous value. That 500 looks lovely too! The black 320 CDI is just 21 miles away from me and looks fab for the money....Was looking at that one earlier too, before I read your post, great minds and all that...

Edited by GreenArrow on Sunday 15th November 16:13

Edited by GreenArrow on Sunday 15th November 16:15

[Phil Dicky]

I've a straight 6 320cdi estate....things I noticed when searching is there are a few low specs cars around ....mine has elec memory seats xenons , heated seats , rear blinds nav and phone prep .
On a run I get 40mpg at 80 on the motorway..with no faults in 12 months and 15k miles......very good relaxing car.