Out with the B, in with the E

[Brown and Boris]

Some of you may have seen this debate about my B class.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Now I need a more informed opinion, mainly about the idea of getting rid of the B class when the contract ends in January, and getting an older E class with the same/bit more money.

So, best E class model (320, 270, classic/Avantagrde, extras worth having)? Any buying tips? Pitfalls.

Private or trade?

Timing. Is the market like to stagnate further and will better deals be found around Chrimbo?

Method/tactics: stick the B class up for sale privately to try and get more than £12K, chop it in with a ealer for an E class or simply hand it back and take the £12K in cash and wave it under their nose?

[gizlaroc]

Without sounding rude, there is no way you will get even close to £12k for that car in todays climate, just spoke to my mate at MB and he said that a B180cdi with the toyus would be getting bids or £7-8k, going on sale at £12k and expecting to shift at anywhere between £10-11k.

He said that is down about £2-3k comapared with 2 months ago.

I would throw the keys back and take advantage of the slump in prices and buy a nice E320cdi for the same money on an 04 plate.

[Brown and Boris]

gizlaroc said:

Without sounding rude, there is no way you will get even close to £12k for that car in todays climate, just spoke to my mate at MB and he said that a B180cdi with the toyus would be getting bids or £7-8k, going on sale at £12k and expecting to shift at anywhere between £10-11k.

He said that is down about £2-3k comapared with 2 months ago.

I would throw the keys back and take advantage of the slump in prices and buy a nice E320cdi for the same money on an 04 plate.

Looking more likely by the minute. There seem some really good E class out there for the same or not much more money. Thanks for getting that chat. I am so glad I posted on PH before I posted the cheque.

[Brown and Boris]

So,

Which E class?

I am constantly being told 320 CDi. Is that the considered opinion?

[r129sl]

Get an E500, you can have them for peanuts. All the mugs are paying a mega premium for diesel: it only makes sense if you do a huge mileage. And even then you have to drive a poxy diesel. And yes, I have had both.

[Brown and Boris]

BAHN-STORMA said:

Brown and Boris said:

So,

Which E class?

I am constantly being told 320 CDi. Is that the considered opinion?

I think it depends on your priorities - the 320 is fast, smooth and relatively economical, although nowhere near as good as a 220 - the 270 sits neatly in the middle.

Avantgarde trim is definitely the way to go..., preferably with full leather!

Significant point there as the 220's are cheap by comparison to the 320's. What does the 220 compromise?

[matc]

The 220 has slightly smaller wheels, if you go down the 220 route it would be worth looking for a facelift as they have 170bhp (the same as the 270). There is also a 280 which is the same engine as the new 320 v6 but has 190bhp s opposed to 224bhp of the 320cdi. They all drive very well though, and as has been said the avantgarde is the one to go for as the spec is a lot nicer than the classic and elegance.

[Brown and Boris]

matc said:

The 220 has slightly smaller wheels, if you go down the 220 route it would be worth looking for a facelift as they have 170bhp (the same as the 270). There is also a 280 which is the same engine as the new 320 v6 but has 190bhp s opposed to 224bhp of the 320cdi. They all drive very well though, and as has been said the avantgarde is the one to go for as the spec is a lot nicer than the classic and elegance.

It is sounding to me like, as I have a budget to stick to, that the vehicle condition and spec itself is more important than the particular model? It might be better to take a high spec, lower mileage, FMBSH, better condition 220 than a less well spec'd and more used 320?

[gizlaroc]

Brown and Boris said:

It is sounding to me like, as I have a budget to stick to, that the vehicle condition and spec itself is more important than the particular model? It might be better to take a high spec, lower mileage, FMBSH, better condition 220 than a less well spec'd and more used 320?

I don't think so, gadgets keep me entertained for a couple of weeks, the right engine can keep me entertained for months!

Also, never spend the same amount on a smaller engine with more spec. than the best engine with minimal spec. if you are concerned with future values at all.

A 50k mile £15k 2005 E320cdi will be worth approx. £10k in 3 years time with 100k miles on it, where as a 2006 30k mile E220cdi with a few gadgets on it will be worth around £8k, so it will loose more money.

That is where Range Rover get it so right, want bigger alloys and leather and you buy the SE, want upgraded stereo and nav and you buy the HSE (or whatever they are called) then when you sell you are selling an HSE, not a base model with £9k worth of options on it.
BMW, Mercedes and Audi really need to look at this a little closer as it is killing residuals.


The other thing is be careful with consumption figures, guy across the road has just bought a ex demo E220cdi, he has the E270cdi before to try and save some money on fuel and he says it is about 2mpg different round town and on a run the E270cdi was giving better results consumption wise.

Edited by gizlaroc on Thursday 9th October 23:41

[Brown and Boris]

gizlaroc said:

Brown and Boris said:

It is sounding to me like, as I have a budget to stick to, that the vehicle condition and spec itself is more important than the particular model? It might be better to take a high spec, lower mileage, FMBSH, better condition 220 than a less well spec'd and more used 320?

I don't think so, gadgets keep me entertained for a couple of weeks, the right engine can keep me entertained for months!

Also, never spend the same amount on a smaller engine with more spec. than the best engine with minimal spec. if you are concerned with future values at all.

A 50k mile £15k 2005 E320cdi will be worth approx. £10k in 3 years time with 100k miles on it, where as a 2006 30k mile E220cdi with a few gadgets on it will be worth around £8k, so it will loose more money.

That is where Range Rover get it so right, want bigger alloys and leather and you buy the SE, want upgraded stereo and nav and you buy the HSE (or whatever they are called) then when you sell you are selling an HSE, not a base model with £9k worth of options on it.
BMW, Mercedes and Audi really need to look at this a little closer as it is killing residuals.


The other thing is be careful with consumption figures, guy across the road has just bought a ex demo E220cdi, he has the E270cdi before to try and save some money on fuel and he says it is about 2mpg different round town and on a run the E270cdi was giving better results consumption wise.

Edited by gizlaroc on Thursday 9th October 23:41

That is great advice. I am of to kick tyres today. No intentionsof buying until January as I think the market has one one way to go between now and then.

[anonymous-user]

If you're thinking of buying a used merc you should check out www.directmercedes.co.uk - Merc owned sales centres who only sell used Mercs, and do so at ridiculously low prices, lower than the franchised dealers.

I'm rather chuffed as I've just negotiated a great deal on a 4 month old E220CDI Avantgarde (still to pick it up so can't offer any advice on ownership) at a ridiculous discount on list price - PM me if you want any details.

[r129sl]

I had a boggo E220 CDI loaner the other day, facelift car, manual transmission.

Excellent. Absolutely, unbelieveably, excellent. I thought it would be rubbish but it was the best car I have driven for years. It felt like Mercs used to feel.

It made me start looking for a used E500. Big petrol motor will always win.

Edited by r129sl on Friday 10th October 14:39

[Brown and Boris]

yellowbentines said:

If you're thinking of buying a used merc you should check out www.directmercedes.co.uk - Merc owned sales centres who only sell used Mercs, and do so at ridiculously low prices, lower than the franchised dealers.

I'm rather chuffed as I've just negotiated a great deal on a 4 month old E220CDI Avantgarde (still to pick it up so can't offer any advice on ownership) at a ridiculous discount on list price - PM me if you want any details.

I had looked there but the prices were not that much better on paper than the local dealer. They have just offered me £12.5K on my B Class against a 2005/55 320Cdi Avantgarde with 30,000 on the clock.

Autotradr have on a private sale;

2005 MERCEDES-BENZ E CLASS E320 CDI Avantgarde 21000 miles 4dr Tip Auto Diesel Saloon
Price:
£14,500ono

and trade;

2005 55 Reg 30,000 miles MERCEDES-BENZ E320 CDI Avantgarde Tip
Price:
£14,950


2006 06 Reg MERCEDES-BENZ E280 CDI 20,000 miles Avantgarde Tip
Price:
£15,994



The dealer tried to sell me finance, any amount, even £4.4 K to make up the difference between my 12.5K B class and the 16,9K he wanted for a 2005/55 E320CDi with 30,000 on the clock.

Seems they like finance for some reason!!

I think I may be beter taking my £12K and £2 or £3 more and making some offers?

[anonymous-user]

Brown and Boris said:

I had looked there but the prices were not that much better on paper than the local dealer.

Maybe so, however I offered them what I thought was a silly amount lower than advertised price and they only pushed me up by a few hundred pounds from that to secure the deal. I went by the advice I'd read a few months back on PH that if you're not embarrased by your first offer then it's not low enough!

I wasn't trading anything in and didn't need them to arrange finance so I don't know if that made it any easier to get a good deal?

[Brown and Boris]

yellowbentines said:

Brown and Boris said:

I had looked there but the prices were not that much better on paper than the local dealer.

Maybe so, however I offered them what I thought was a silly amount lower than advertised price and they only pushed me up by a few hundred pounds from that to secure the deal. I went by the advice I'd read a few months back on PH that if you're not embarrased by your first offer then it's not low enough!

I wasn't trading anything in and didn't need them to arrange finance so I don't know if that made it any easier to get a good deal?

Could be worth a punt then. Thanks, I noted they were knocking a bit off some of their cars. Dealer today told me sales were up at their dealership; credit crunch is seeing some people seeing Merc as a cheaper option than some of the other Marques. Found that hard to believe but then I am not an Aston Martin buyer!

[Deva Link]

gizlaroc said:

That is where Range Rover get it so right, want bigger alloys and leather and you buy the SE, want upgraded stereo and nav and you buy the HSE (or whatever they are called) then when you sell you are selling an HSE, not a base model with £9k worth of options on it.
BMW, Mercedes and Audi really need to look at this a little closer as it is killing residuals.

Agree with that - Lexus do the same. My Merc has £9K of options and it's stopping me from getting a new one 'cos I'd be chucking away the whole value of those options and have to pay the same again to get them on the next car.

gizlaroc said:

The other thing is be careful with consumption figures, guy across the road has just bought a ex demo E220cdi, he has the E270cdi before to try and save some money on fuel and he says it is about 2mpg different round town and on a run the E270cdi was giving better results consumption wise.

The 270CDi's where only EU3 and the later 220CDi's were EU4 and the extra emissions control stuff impacted the fuel consumption.

[Brown and Boris]

Collecting it tomorrow and handing back the B class. I can't wait!

[matc]

What did you go for in the end?

[Brown and Boris]

matc said:

What did you go for in the end?

E320 CDi Avantgarde in silver with black leather and birds eye maple, on 55 plate from the local dealer.

Picking it up at 3pm. It is like Christmas eve here!

[matc]

Brown and Boris said:

matc said:

What did you go for in the end?

E320 CDi Avantgarde in silver with black leather and birds eye maple, on 55 plate from the local dealer.

Picking it up at 3pm. It is like Christmas eve here!

Good choice, it's nice to hear about someone who's actually excited about picking up their new car; too much doom and gloom around recently!! Look forward to hear how much you enjoy that lovely engine