Purchase advice E320 CDI please
Discussion
Hello everybody,
I need to replace my current motorway commuting car and I want a 'performance' diesel for the relaxed feel and large torquepower reserve. I am looking between 4000 - 8000 pounds and don't mind saloon or estate. I like the look of the AMG esque body styling (I know there are no speacial chassis engine tweaks though), don't want to have a 4 cylinder car (just like the smooth, instant thrust available from a large swept volume) and thought a good option would be an 'X' reg or so. I need to buy the wife a new car so require something relatively cheap but that is also entertaining and up to the 25,000 miles a year I will be putting in. Is this car a good choice compared to the other large capacity diesels from BMW and Audi?
I need to replace my current motorway commuting car and I want a 'performance' diesel for the relaxed feel and large torquepower reserve. I am looking between 4000 - 8000 pounds and don't mind saloon or estate. I like the look of the AMG esque body styling (I know there are no speacial chassis engine tweaks though), don't want to have a 4 cylinder car (just like the smooth, instant thrust available from a large swept volume) and thought a good option would be an 'X' reg or so. I need to buy the wife a new car so require something relatively cheap but that is also entertaining and up to the 25,000 miles a year I will be putting in. Is this car a good choice compared to the other large capacity diesels from BMW and Audi?
Also don't write off the E320 V6 Petrol.
I needed something bigger as we are having our second child this week and have a dog.
I have a BMW E91 sport touring but it just isn't big enough, however I didn't want to swap that for a Merc so I decided to look for an older 100K+ E320cdi or very late E300TD.
However after trying both the MPG isn't a big enough jump to justify the massive difference in price between the two. You are looking at £6k+ for an 80k miles tidy E320cdi but you can pick up an E320 V6 for under £4k.
The Diesel returned around 34mpg in normal every day driving and 40mph on a steady run, the petrol returns around 28mpg everyday and on a run 35mpg. With diesel costing 10% more it just doesn't make sense when look at 6-8 year old cars. if buying new then diesel is a no brainer because the depreciation of the petrol is far greater, but at the moment the diesel doesn't even save you any money even if the cars were the same price to start with, the fact you can pay nearly double for the derv makes buying the petrol the sensible option.
Plus the Petrol is bullet proof where as the injectors and other things on the cdi are known to cause problems.
Also the petrol was so much nicer to drive.
Not saying it is for everyone but worth considering.
I needed something bigger as we are having our second child this week and have a dog.
I have a BMW E91 sport touring but it just isn't big enough, however I didn't want to swap that for a Merc so I decided to look for an older 100K+ E320cdi or very late E300TD.
However after trying both the MPG isn't a big enough jump to justify the massive difference in price between the two. You are looking at £6k+ for an 80k miles tidy E320cdi but you can pick up an E320 V6 for under £4k.
The Diesel returned around 34mpg in normal every day driving and 40mph on a steady run, the petrol returns around 28mpg everyday and on a run 35mpg. With diesel costing 10% more it just doesn't make sense when look at 6-8 year old cars. if buying new then diesel is a no brainer because the depreciation of the petrol is far greater, but at the moment the diesel doesn't even save you any money even if the cars were the same price to start with, the fact you can pay nearly double for the derv makes buying the petrol the sensible option.
Plus the Petrol is bullet proof where as the injectors and other things on the cdi are known to cause problems.
Also the petrol was so much nicer to drive.
Not saying it is for everyone but worth considering.
Just to show the differance between petrol and diesel we took the E55 amg down to Cornwal and my mate followed us in our ML 270 cdi. Over a 800 mile round trip at a decent pace the ml270 cost £4.00 less in fuel. The AMG showed 24.2 mpg on the on board display but the ML dosnt have a fuel computer. I think at the time 4 star was around £1.14 a ltr and diesel around £1.27 a ltr.
I did have a E320 cdi as loan car for 2 days (a 2008 7 speed) and that was showing 34 mpg in normal daily use . I have also had on loan a c200 compressor that did only 26 mpg in daily use and a A180 cdi that was doing 38 mpg.
I`m not saying you cant do better but I found I was thrashing the C200 to with in a inch of its life and I hated the 7 speed box in the E class, at around 60 it was never shure if it wanted to be in 6th or 7 th gear.
Give me a petrol any time and unles your going to do a lot of miles PA, I dont think a diesel makes as much sense as it used to do. I used to have a w124 E300 petrol that was gas converted and I think that was the cheapest car I ever ran.
I did have a E320 cdi as loan car for 2 days (a 2008 7 speed) and that was showing 34 mpg in normal daily use . I have also had on loan a c200 compressor that did only 26 mpg in daily use and a A180 cdi that was doing 38 mpg.
I`m not saying you cant do better but I found I was thrashing the C200 to with in a inch of its life and I hated the 7 speed box in the E class, at around 60 it was never shure if it wanted to be in 6th or 7 th gear.
Give me a petrol any time and unles your going to do a lot of miles PA, I dont think a diesel makes as much sense as it used to do. I used to have a w124 E300 petrol that was gas converted and I think that was the cheapest car I ever ran.
I wouldnt touch one again. I had problems with mine which I owned from 6 months old (2002 E320cdi), rust, injectors and numerous electrics, uncomfortable etc. BMW 330cd 2004 I have now is in a different league in virtually every respect. If you decide to go ahead anyway buy the petrol Merc would be my advice
junglie said:
...and I want a 'performance' diesel for the relaxed feel and large torquepower reserve.
Just to redress the balance I ran an E320 CDI for four years and as a motorway cruiser I couldn't recommend it enough. Massive interior, ultimate lazy engine and unlike the other posters mine proved quite reliable. For £8K you should be able to pick one up with leather, xenons and climate with reasonable mileage and it should hold its value well. One one run London to Birmingham I managed 48MPG from mine though around town it was more like 25.Edited by 2SPN on Wednesday 3rd September 22:20
Gassing Station | Mercedes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff