Advice Needed on Estate Car

[Dieselman]

What warranty is he going to get on a £3000 car.?
None worth talking about and I bet a £3000 300TD has a lot less go wrong with it than a £3000 vectra.

 

[fatherpierre]

You can't go wrong with a new/newish Focus, assuming your budget will cover it.

Nice to drive with surprising build quality. I use one for work that is less than year old and one of the pool cars open to 200 people, so gets ragged hard and is still tight and new after 30k+ miles.



As new as possible if you're covering big miles.

 

[ms500]

Get a Mercedes, preferably a W210.

Once you've owned a Mercedes, all other cars feel like cheap, poorly made rubbish, with a few exceptions

 

[fatherpierre]

Get a Mercedes, preferably a W210.

Once you've owned a Mercedes, all other cars feel like cheap, poorly made rubbish, with a few exceptions

What, like a new Merc lol.

Modern Fords are as well built as modern Mercs. The difference is in the statndard options and extras offered.

Audi are the quality marque in today's market IMO

 

[ms500]

What, like a new Merc lol.

Modern Fords are as well built as modern Mercs. The difference is in the statndard options and extras offered.

Audi are the quality marque in today's market IMO

Probably true, but I don't think I could drive anything other than a Merc since having my 124.

It only cost a few hundred but I just feel special driving it, they have a kind of timeless charm.

 

[bigstuff]

a4 avant tdi would be a smart move if not a merc

 

[fatherpierre]

I drive a 123.......... I also use an M class at work, and know which is the better built!

The M class won't last as long as my 123 will despite its 22 year start!

 

[bigstuff]

Probably true, but I don't think I could drive anything other than a Merc since having my 124.

It only cost a few hundred but I just feel special driving it, they have a kind of timeless charm.

i had both. used the tdi when i did 600mls a week till i moved my job close to home then sold it & use a 124 again

 

[Will]

Yep, MBs are certainly nice cars, I love them more than most. But they're not always the most financially sensible or logical choice.

Dieselman is quite correct that a 210 300TD should be very reliable, but I still reckon you'll have better peace of mind with a directly-financed new car in this instance.

As reliable as they are, an older 210 will still be a 10 year old/100k ish type of car - I'm thinking of the additional costs/servicing/repairs/hassles (rust..) that running such a vehicle would entail. Eg, say the air con packs in - hassle and cost, key stops working - £200 for a new one, do you want the hassle of chasing MB for rust repairs to the bodywork (you say this vehicle is to make a good impression for your company?). Even brakes and tyres - it's just extra £££ and hassle, a brand new car will have 100% new tyres and brakes. Should probably last you 25k miles if your doing 95% motorway driving.

No MOTs, no complicated/no out of warranty repairs etc. It's just another way to look at it IMO - for your type of use it sounds to me that a new car could well make good overall sense

Will

 

[flango]

Hi All

Thanks for the comments so far but thought I would just clarify the options I have looked at so far.

Lease is out of the question as I can't get a lease deal on anything big enough for 12 months and 25k miles, cheapest even for a Focus estate (which is my minimum size) is over £400 / month and also the over mileage charges are horrendous.

Considerations so far, Volvo V70, Lexus GS 300 (not an estate but could prob manage with this), Merc (Various) Land rover Freelander,

Also I should say a little about my jobs, My main job is as a chemical engineer but also I work for a motorsport company doing driver training (road, track, police, government) and have access to maintenance at cost, so as long as we are not talking heavy crash repairs then I'm in a good position and can get everything from an oil change to a full engine rebuild at cost.

Please keep your comments and suggestions coming as this is a big decision for me, but meanwhile will investigate the 300TD

Thanks again all the help is appreciated

 

[pint6x]

Here's a few:

Older style Volvo V70 at £2,195 - this is the T5 - very quick - same as the Police use - good for well over 200,000 miles - this has done just 93,000.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...odel=V70&min_pr=2000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=

Newer style V70 for £2,250

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...odel=V70&min_pr=2000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=

Another new shape V70 for £2,500 - just 67,000 miles

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...odel=V70&min_pr=2000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=

Yet another new shape V70 - diesel this time from 2002 for £3,000

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...odel=V70&min_pr=2000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=

1997 E class 300TD for £2,295

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...=E+CLASS&min_pr=2000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=

Another E class 300TD for £2,995

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...=E+CLASS&min_pr=2000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=

There's plenty out there - just get busy with www.autotrader.co.uk !

Let us know what you get.

 

[gIzzE]

You may have moved away from the idea of an older Merc with all the suggestions of a Mundaneo's and dAudi's, but you did ask about E320 estate consumption.

I bought a 2000 model (late 99 car) facelift E320 Elegance estate, with 80k miles on it for £3300 recently, 2 months ago. It needed some wheels as the ones on there were seriously curbed so I spent another £200 on some 17" rims and put some Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tyres all round.
It needed new droplinks and anti roll bar bushes too which cost me around £20 from Mercedes.

The car drives like new!

Purely around town I get 24 miles to the gallon, that is short journeys and in traffic.
If I do a couple of 20 mile round trips to the coast on each tank that figure is closer to 28mpg.
Do a couple of 100 mile runs sat at 80mph on the motorway and it jumps to over 30mpg for the tankful.
I have only done one tankful where the majority, say 80%, is motorway and it returned 34mpg for that tank.

To put this in perspective, I just to fill my 320d (2008 effcient dynamics model) with diesel for £75 and get, 400 miles round town, 460 miles mixed driving, 520miles on a run.

I filled up yesterday and it cost me just under £58, I will get 360 miles round town, 420 mixed driving or 470 on a run.

Now I'm no mathmatician, but the difference in fuel just doesn't justify anything imho. I think it is now down to what you prefer.
I was looking for an E320 cdi originally, but I was only seeing between 28 and 36mpg on the tests, and they were around £6k for a 75k mile one comared with £3300 for this one, or they were 120, 130, 140k mile cars that were feeling their age.

I only bought this car as we needed something bigger to get the baby buggy in and the dog, I also had a new 320d sport touring, but it has been an excellent car and I have fallen for it, it is comfy, it goes well, it is remarkable with the fuel really (was expecting 18-26mpg before taking one out, not 24-34mpg), has a great sound system with the Bose etc. and has the 7 seat option which will help sell it on again when we are finished with it.

I actually sold the 320d sport touring as I like this so much, and I was going to sell this too, and buy a 2005 W211 estate, I am that smitten. But at the moment I am enjoying this too much, it is so much car for the money. Owes me what? £4k? A 2005/6 E320cdi will cost me £15-20k in avantgarde with the right spec and I'm not sure it is going to give me anything more?

Other thing is I really love the silky smooth V6 petrol, I have actually enquired about a 2003 E320 avantagarde petrol that is up on autotrader, but even at £10k with loely spec. it seems silly to swap this over, do I really want to bung another £6500k in to swap??


So I think if you find a good'un you have nothing to worry about, and I would much rather be wafting round in a nice comfy E Class than some old A4 or even a new Mondeo, as nice a car as it is I would just feel so numb sat in it.
The W210 should feel like new, and I mean like new, to drive, 80% out there don't anymore, so if it feels the slightest bit tired then walk.

 

[gbjeppm]

I agree with gIzzE, the 320 V6 is a great engine, I have it in my 208, and my dad has the same engine in the T203 and W210.

Interestingly he reckons that he gets better fuel economy in the 210 than the 203.

Over the last 2000 miles, my trip computer is showing an average of 28mpg. I have a 25 mile M25 run to work, so 50 miles a day in traffic that could be stop/start or moving nicely, who knows.

Anyway I would not rule it out.

 

[flango]

I'm pretty familiar with the 320 petrol engine as I did a lot of homework before I bought my CLK and it was down to either the 320 or the 230 Kompessor. In the end i went for the 230K because it had a Brbus K1 tuning pack & exhaust on it and had a full MB London service history as it was owned by a famous chef from new, anyway....

There appears to be quite a lot of E240 estates for sale but I do not know anything about this engine, other than its a 2.4 V6. Could someone give me some pointers, how many valves, reliability, economy etc

Sorry to be a pain but I really do apprciate all the help and advice you are giving me.

Thanks & best regards

 

[gIzzE]

E240 is 18v V6 with 170bhp.

Bit underpowered for the E Class, but then it is a cruiser. But no fuel savings and some say they get better from the E320 V6.

 

[jeremytaylor]

If you go for a Freelander, you'll surely be making full use of those mechanical repairs 'at cost'!

 

[kusanku]

I have not owned a 240, but I looked at the official figures for performance and fuel consumption in a CLK (another car I considered, but have not got round to owning yet), and it did not seem like a sensible option. I think performance was roughly equivalent to the 230k, but the fuel consumption was considerably worse.

I might add, on the petrol/diesel debate, the only disappointment with my current E320cdi (not my previous one though) is the fuel consumption. I think I should have paid less attention to the manufacturers figures, and paid more attention to the consumption that owners on this forum were reporting. With hindsight, I think I might have gone for a petrol.

 

[hawk20]

I have not owned a 240, but I looked at the official figures for performance and fuel consumption in a CLK (another car I considered, but have not got round to owning yet), and it did not seem like a sensible option. I think performance was roughly equivalent to the 230k, but the fuel consumption was considerably worse.

I might add, on the petrol/diesel debate, the only disappointment with my current E320cdi (not my previous one though) is the fuel consumption. I think I should have paid less attention to the manufacturers figures, and paid more attention to the consumption that owners on this forum were reporting. With hindsight, I think I might have gone for a petrol.

If you want economy and pretty good performance the 220cdi is fine. And lots of owners get really good economy from the 280cdi and the 320cdi -but it all depends on how hard you use the right foot.

 

[flango]

Anyone got any comments on the 320 in the early ML? or ML comments in general? Thanks

 

[gbjeppm]

I have just bought one, and pick it up tomorrow.

See this thread
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=55941

Only problem was that everything I have read says to stay away from the pre facelift ML, as they were much improved in 2001. You wont get a facelift for 3k.

That said I am sure there are members on this forum running the pre facelift W163 quite happily.