2004 E class W211 v BMW 3201 X Drive 15 Reg

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My old man (72) has just blown 32k on a spanking BMW 320i Xdrive...nice car with lots of toys, he is very proud of his purchase....until it broke down with less than a 1000 miles on the clock doh!

Collected him in my 11 year old E class, which has had its issues!, whilst driving him home the compliments started to slip out about 'wonderful ride quality' and 'lovely comfortable seating' and 'great materials' etc. towards the end of journey in the old W211 he was questioning buying his BMW.....hard ride, cramped interior etc.... my parting shot was that he could have bought 5 or 6 W211 for the price he's just shelled out for his new broke BMW

 

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Or he could have bought a 5 series with more toys for less too.

The 2 litre petrol in the 20i has known issues, has been the same for a couple of years. Many are fine, but think it is injector problems from memory.

 

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I'm not a fan of the new 3 series, makes sense in the M3 and even the 335xd and 335i, but not sure why anyone would buy a 320xi, as it is just not that comfy, great chassis for a family car, and lots of fun, but with that you need it to be quick, even the 328xi makes a bit of sense, but if you're buying a slow car then you may as well buy comfy.

The 5 series Touring is the class leader in comfort, followed by the XF, the current Merc E Class is more 3 series in comfort, even the A6 is more comfy.

I would rather a nice late S211 over any of them though, but the newest one is now 6 years old and many want new.