Mercedes w210 E430 (no titivating allowed)
Discussion
I use the pay monthly facility for my three. It's 5%more, but convenient for me.
Spare a thought for my colleague who bought a diesel Freelander 1. It's post March 2006 registration date means £500 plus a year. For a £2k car!
Anyway J, enjoy your road trip. My next venture onto the continent is not likely to be until April 2019 when I'm off to Essen.
Spare a thought for my colleague who bought a diesel Freelander 1. It's post March 2006 registration date means £500 plus a year. For a £2k car!
Anyway J, enjoy your road trip. My next venture onto the continent is not likely to be until April 2019 when I'm off to Essen.
Group outing to Techno Classica in Essen would be right up my street. I'd probably go by car using the North Shields to Amsterdam ferry.
I noticed a clanking from the rear end this morning. Loose heat shield over the back box or muffler. Repair washers will do the trick for a while, although they are only just big enough. No more than two minutes and amazingly went to plan.
I noticed a clanking from the rear end this morning. Loose heat shield over the back box or muffler. Repair washers will do the trick for a while, although they are only just big enough. No more than two minutes and amazingly went to plan.
I thought the price hilariously cheap for the standard of the car.
What is less hilarious is the cost of sat nav discs. The COMAND 2.0 system uses the Blaupunkt/Teleatlas DX discs. These are CD-Roms, one per country. The Merc price is something daft like £140 per disc. The cheapest I could find pukka discs was £80 each. This makes the sat nav pretty useless for a serious European road trip. For my forthcoming jaunt to Germany I have bought Benelux and Germany discs. But what if I wanted to go down to the Alps or take in France? I suppose the answer is only complete buffoons need sat nav anyway and I should just rely on my £11 Michelin maps.
If I keep the car—and it is really wheedling its way into my heart—I might fit this Sony job together with offline map box. I have done a bit of scouring the internet and you can pick up the whole shebang for a lot less than Sony is asking. It has Apple Car Play. I don't know whether the steering wheel volume controls would work. It is the only aftermarket headunit I can find that does not look totally gash.
Head unit: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-car-receiver...
Offline navigation module: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-car-receiver...
What is less hilarious is the cost of sat nav discs. The COMAND 2.0 system uses the Blaupunkt/Teleatlas DX discs. These are CD-Roms, one per country. The Merc price is something daft like £140 per disc. The cheapest I could find pukka discs was £80 each. This makes the sat nav pretty useless for a serious European road trip. For my forthcoming jaunt to Germany I have bought Benelux and Germany discs. But what if I wanted to go down to the Alps or take in France? I suppose the answer is only complete buffoons need sat nav anyway and I should just rely on my £11 Michelin maps.
If I keep the car—and it is really wheedling its way into my heart—I might fit this Sony job together with offline map box. I have done a bit of scouring the internet and you can pick up the whole shebang for a lot less than Sony is asking. It has Apple Car Play. I don't know whether the steering wheel volume controls would work. It is the only aftermarket headunit I can find that does not look totally gash.
Head unit: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-car-receiver...
Offline navigation module: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-car-receiver...
Just get a generic Android unit, I changed my Comand for one, much better, put another one in my other car.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Double-2-Din-Android-6...
They are basically just a screen so can only look so "gash", couldnt justify the extra on a branded one and these work really well, go for a 2GB one with a 1024 * 600 screen and Android 6 or higher. Mine has an offline mapping app built it and they usually come with a canbus module, worked fine in my CLS, the C1 doesnt have any wheel controls so not needed.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Double-2-Din-Android-6...
They are basically just a screen so can only look so "gash", couldnt justify the extra on a branded one and these work really well, go for a 2GB one with a 1024 * 600 screen and Android 6 or higher. Mine has an offline mapping app built it and they usually come with a canbus module, worked fine in my CLS, the C1 doesnt have any wheel controls so not needed.
You could always try a Parrot stereo, they don't look too bad and you may even get decent phone control through it
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-2-Din-Car-Radio-GPS-Navigation-Android-Parrot-Bluetooth-Touchscreen-DAB-3G-UK-/263012679881?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-2-Din-Car-Radio-GPS-Navigation-Android-Parrot-Bluetooth-Touchscreen-DAB-3G-UK-/263012679881?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275
J4CKO said:
Just get a generic Android unit, I changed my Comand for one, much better, put another one in my other car.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Double-2-Din-Android-6...
They are basically just a screen so can only look so "gash", couldnt justify the extra on a branded one and these work really well, go for a 2GB one with a 1024 * 600 screen and Android 6 or higher. Mine has an offline mapping app built it and they usually come with a canbus module, worked fine in my CLS, the C1 doesnt have any wheel controls so not needed.
Wow, that looks better than anything else I have seen. I know you're a fan of these. Is it basically an android-powered tablet for the car? Can you put on it whatever sat nav app you want? I did think about getting an iPad Mini and mounting it on the dash just above the air vents, but this would be better. And a lot cheaper.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-Double-2-Din-Android-6...
They are basically just a screen so can only look so "gash", couldnt justify the extra on a branded one and these work really well, go for a 2GB one with a 1024 * 600 screen and Android 6 or higher. Mine has an offline mapping app built it and they usually come with a canbus module, worked fine in my CLS, the C1 doesnt have any wheel controls so not needed.
For UK DX discs see http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=1...
Hi r129sl, I've been enjoying your 124 thread for quite some time now. Only just discovered this w210 thread as I've been away from Pistonheads for a while now.
Quite excited about your thread as I have a 2001 w210 E280 in Avantgarde spec with about 54k miles on the clock. It's not in the same league as your E430 in terms of spec and power ( (I don't have command), but it will be interesting to see how you get on as obviously the basics are the same between our cars.
I've owned mine for about 3.5 years now and am the second owner. I acquired it with about 13000 miles and shortly after had to replace one cat then another a year later. These were about £800-900 each, genuine Mercedes parts. I've also had a couple of engine mounts replaced early on, no doubt because the car sat around for a lot of it's life so they perished. The rest has mostly been general maintenance by a local mechanic.
I've not driven a w210 in Elegance trim. But with my experience in the stiffer Avantgarde I think softer suspension would suit the car better as I find mine a bit harsh on London's potholed roads.
Quite excited about your thread as I have a 2001 w210 E280 in Avantgarde spec with about 54k miles on the clock. It's not in the same league as your E430 in terms of spec and power ( (I don't have command), but it will be interesting to see how you get on as obviously the basics are the same between our cars.
I've owned mine for about 3.5 years now and am the second owner. I acquired it with about 13000 miles and shortly after had to replace one cat then another a year later. These were about £800-900 each, genuine Mercedes parts. I've also had a couple of engine mounts replaced early on, no doubt because the car sat around for a lot of it's life so they perished. The rest has mostly been general maintenance by a local mechanic.
I've not driven a w210 in Elegance trim. But with my experience in the stiffer Avantgarde I think softer suspension would suit the car better as I find mine a bit harsh on London's potholed roads.
mwstewart said:
For UK DX discs see http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=1...
I have seen these and the seller can supply European discs at the same price but my impression is that they are copies. agxster said:
Hi r129sl, I've been enjoying your 124 thread for quite some time now. Only just discovered this w210 thread as I've been away from Pistonheads for a while now.
Quite excited about your thread as I have a 2001 w210 E280 in Avantgarde spec with about 54k miles on the clock. It's not in the same league as your E430 in terms of spec and power ( (I don't have command), but it will be interesting to see how you get on as obviously the basics are the same between our cars.
I've owned mine for about 3.5 years now and am the second owner. I acquired it with about 13000 miles and shortly after had to replace one cat then another a year later. These were about £800-900 each, genuine Mercedes parts. I've also had a couple of engine mounts replaced early on, no doubt because the car sat around for a lot of it's life so they perished. The rest has mostly been general maintenance by a local mechanic.
I've not driven a w210 in Elegance trim. But with my experience in the stiffer Avantgarde I think softer suspension would suit the car better as I find mine a bit harsh on London's potholed roads.
I think the w210 is hugely under-rated. Were it not for the propensity to rust (which MB ought to be ashamed about), these would be the best barges of all time. Apart from re-gassing the air con and the regular maintenance stuff, my car has been trouble-free over the last 10,000miles. It is very refined and easy to use and I like the way it is unremarkable. I find the Elegance suspension a tad too crisp compared to my 124's, so I think the sport suspension of the AG would definitely not be for me. I quite fancy an E55 AMG but the general lairiness and the stiffened suspension put me off rather. I toy with the idea of putting the E55 engine in my E430, which would be easy enough, but the car is so nice it seems a shame to corrupt it in this way.Quite excited about your thread as I have a 2001 w210 E280 in Avantgarde spec with about 54k miles on the clock. It's not in the same league as your E430 in terms of spec and power ( (I don't have command), but it will be interesting to see how you get on as obviously the basics are the same between our cars.
I've owned mine for about 3.5 years now and am the second owner. I acquired it with about 13000 miles and shortly after had to replace one cat then another a year later. These were about £800-900 each, genuine Mercedes parts. I've also had a couple of engine mounts replaced early on, no doubt because the car sat around for a lot of it's life so they perished. The rest has mostly been general maintenance by a local mechanic.
I've not driven a w210 in Elegance trim. But with my experience in the stiffer Avantgarde I think softer suspension would suit the car better as I find mine a bit harsh on London's potholed roads.
r129sl said:
I think the w210 is hugely under-rated. Were it not for the propensity to rust (which MB ought to be ashamed about), these would be the best barges of all time. Apart from re-gassing the air con and the regular maintenance stuff, my car has been trouble-free over the last 10,000miles. It is very refined and easy to use and I like the way it is unremarkable. I find the Elegance suspension a tad too crisp compared to my 124's, so I think the sport suspension of the AG would definitely not be for me. I quite fancy an E55 AMG but the general lairiness and the stiffened suspension put me off rather. I toy with the idea of putting the E55 engine in my E430, which would be easy enough, but the car is so nice it seems a shame to corrupt it in this way.
I don't have any rust on mine yet (that I know of!). I also had mine re-gassed at Kwik-Fit back in May/June and that fixed the lack of cold air straight away. I think you have 16" wheels? I'm wondering if that might help soften the ride for me. Mine came with 17's, currently I have Michelin Pilot Sport 4 235/45 all round. They wear very quickly, I seem to replace 2 a year or about 10k miles. The wear seems even so I don't think it's a case of mis-alignment. Doing a search in Google other forums seem to say quick tyre wear on these cars is fairly normal.E55 engine would be great, although I can understand not wanting to corrupt so a good original car.
Just back from the Fatherland this morning. The E430 was a superb travelling companion, carrying the four of us from Ijmuiden to Lübeck and back in complete comfort. I am now in love with Germany, a very civilised place. And speed limits just seem more outrageous than ever before.
The 430 was great on the autobahn. Where possible we cruised at about 130mph, which seemed to be the going rate in the fast lane, although at several points I had it against the limiter at 155mph. It is surprisingly quiet and very stable at that kind of speed, though it doesn't like side draughts when passing slower traffic or when being passed by faster cars. Anyway, my wife either did not notice or did not demur, not sure which. A couple of vehicles piled past us like we were standing still, a recent BMW M5 and an Audi SQ7 I particularly recall, they must have been going maybe 175mph. An Audi A6 avant blew past us at about 160mph as well, not a sporty Audi, very discreet, I wonder whether they put the V8 TDI in those? Threadists would approve of that one.
24mpg, which is pretty astonishing all things considered. What I really want now is a S210 with a 55AMG motor in it but plain clothes bodywork.
The 430 was great on the autobahn. Where possible we cruised at about 130mph, which seemed to be the going rate in the fast lane, although at several points I had it against the limiter at 155mph. It is surprisingly quiet and very stable at that kind of speed, though it doesn't like side draughts when passing slower traffic or when being passed by faster cars. Anyway, my wife either did not notice or did not demur, not sure which. A couple of vehicles piled past us like we were standing still, a recent BMW M5 and an Audi SQ7 I particularly recall, they must have been going maybe 175mph. An Audi A6 avant blew past us at about 160mph as well, not a sporty Audi, very discreet, I wonder whether they put the V8 TDI in those? Threadists would approve of that one.
24mpg, which is pretty astonishing all things considered. What I really want now is a S210 with a 55AMG motor in it but plain clothes bodywork.
My experience of Germany was very similar.
It's a crisp, clean and bright country in the main and populated by friendly and welcoming people. Knowledgeable car-types, keen to talk about the C36 seemed everywhere.
As stated, once back on enforced roads, I was yearning for 120mph cruising.
The 430 sounds a wonderful tool for the job. A sorted E55 even better.
I'm eyeing up w211 E63s as an addition to the fleet. They're so much car for the money
It's a crisp, clean and bright country in the main and populated by friendly and welcoming people. Knowledgeable car-types, keen to talk about the C36 seemed everywhere.
As stated, once back on enforced roads, I was yearning for 120mph cruising.
The 430 sounds a wonderful tool for the job. A sorted E55 even better.
I'm eyeing up w211 E63s as an addition to the fleet. They're so much car for the money
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff