C220 cdi or c250 cdi - any advice which to choose?

[gIzzE]

Funnily enough, all UK Alpinas come with cloth as well, so this one with leather is a rarity.

 

[Goldfish11]

I will get some images off him and some details.

Actually, he signed up here as he was looking at an C220 or C250 sport estate.
Chrisbin is his username.

This was the image I sent him when he was trying to think what colour leather to have in his car, so guess it looks like this...

Neighbour has a similiar 320d with the M styling looks great, but has the M alloys with 19inch run flats on it (y rated for some reason)

Has just done 25K miles since September and needs replacement tyres.

Guess how much for each tyre? £360

He is even considering changing the lovely alloys to 16 or 17 inch ones as it will work out cheaper than fitting a new set of rubber to these alloys.

(Just realised I am becoming a sad old man when re-reading this post!)

 

[gIzzE]

I have had a few E91 tourings, on 17" M-Sport wheels, 18" Msport wheels (both of them with run flats) then 19" BBS CH wheels and on 18" M3 wheels with oversized tyres.
The 18" M3 wheels with proper tyres slightly oversized was the best, comfy and huge amounts of grip.

 

[st4]

Don't need Y rated tyres on a 320d, doesn't go fast enough, and ditch the OEM runflats for normal conti sport 3's

 

[gIzzE]

Or Pilot Sport 2's, they suit the BMW like no other, an amazing combo.

 

[withabix]

I have never managed over 49mpg in my C220 estate, although long motorway journey do improve things.

Most of my journeys are <40 miles on 50% M6 and 50% Cumbrian A & B roads.

38mpg is my average over the last 15000 miles since 6th Feb (Ouch!).

New tyres (at 25k miles) on the back have improved this a bit. These are 18" Falken Ziex 912 at £138 each (about £100 less than a Conti!) and seem to be excellent so far. Less traction loss than the Contis even...

S mode takes about 5mpg off, but increases the fun proportionally.

I don't keep below the magic 2000rpm though...

The 250 must be a blast. The 220 is quick enough.

The fuel consumption should be almost the same or better(??), as the 250 is still 2143cc and just has an extra turbo, does it not.

 

[ivandraganov]

We have been waiting long for MB to come up with 4 cyl.-204 bhp diesel engine.250 cdi is my advice.

 

[chrisbin]

I will get some images off him and some details.

Actually, he signed up here as he was looking at an C220 or C250 sport estate.
Chrisbin is his username.

Is this "Pimp your ride"....???!!!!

Nice work gIzzE!!!

Now I've got to find some pics!!!

Still totally undecided on what I'm doing, but a generous offer might help...

Exterior can be seen in Other marques section. There's an interior shot here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/WWESTY/IMG00034-20100413-1246.jpg

 

[Frugal]

For whatit's woth, I'm getting pretty good MPG figures from my c250 but it's a manual driven reasonably carefully (but not obcessively so) ... trip computer is about 7-8% optimistic and says nearly 58 but fuelly figure is based on brim-to-brim from new and is accurate.

 

[jonnyMercUK]

I got the C220 last September but notice now the C250 has same official mpg figures. Back in September this was not the case, so they tweaked the engine during the last 10 months. As I am so tight I also spotted that if you change the wheels from 17 inch to 16 inch alloys you drop the tax to a lower level as the CO2 changes. This was a no-cost upgrade.

Had my first service today and have done 16K miles in the vehicle. My loan vehicle was a E250 CDI and to be quite honest my C220 has far more zip and refinement.

My mpg on motorway runs is now between 56 and 62mpg :bannana:and this is the C220 with 7G so very impressive. (During winter and on winter tyres this was about 50mpg but I doubt the car was run in) On short town runs of about 5 miles I get about 43mpg.

Dont forget on the 7G you have a switch with E and S. E is Economy and S is Sport or Stupid mode. When in S the C220 is a little rocket ship and gives me more than enough fun the C class is relatively small so on the motorway the C220 has ample power. I will press the the button to select S if on country roads and wanting to overtake and you can scare yourself with the difference.

If I was going to buy today I may go for C250 as they claim same mpg and if insurance etc is all same you are not loosing much. But would still go for the 16 inch alloys at no cost. This gives great ecomomy and also reduces the cost of tyres by £50 to £60 a corner and lowers the tax

The other question is are the service costs the same?

Are you me? Am I you? Same boat! Mine is a 2011/2012 though

 

[Goldfish11]

Or Pilot Sport 2's, they suit the BMW like no other, an amazing combo.

Yes I came up with this choice for him. A 320d does not need Y rated as stated it does not go that fast but these are standard fit. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 does not come in run flat but I found a BMW emergency tyre inflation mobility kit (Box with compressor and a load of gell to fit the puncture). I assume all you need to be legal is to have one of these with normal tyres if you carry no spare. These are about £120 then Pilot Sport 2 about £1100 for a set. Or with a 20% off costco promotion about £850. This is then getting reasonable.

Question is will it mess Warranty and compromise Insurance? As now you have changed original spec.

Just to get this back on topic. Got car service yesterday, first service, today got even better mpg out of my C220, must love the new oil

 

[gIzzE]

You can buy a compressor and a can of gunk from Halfords for £29 all in. Exactly the same.

The other tyre to consider on a BMW is the Kumho KU31, these can be had at excellent prices and work really well.

The Michelin Pilot Sport Zero Pressure is the PS2 run flat btw.

 

[NISFAN]

Evening,

I'm new to the forum and not quite yet a Mercedes owner (looking to change that!).

I'm just about to put a deposit down on a new C220 CDI Blueefficiency 7-G Sport Plus, but I've been told that the delivery is likely to be late/early october.

I've been offered a C250 cdi blueefficiency 7-G Sport Plus instead, with a delivery date of mid July and the cost isnt too much more...

I've ran insurance quotes - both the same.

The dealer tells me that both cars are the same road tax bracket (I need to confirm this myself) but also that the MPG of both cars is virtually the same...

I always take the claimed MPG stats at face value and I'm after a bit of advise whether or not I'll really be able to tell much of a difference in real life... perhaps from some current owners?

I'm aware theres a thread already about the C250CDI's MPG's and I've read through that, but a bit unsure about the C220's to compare it against.

Would be grateful to hear from some of you guys about which option you would take engine wise, and any guidance on the differences in efficiency that I may notice?

Perhaps anything I've overlooked that might be worth considering?

Thanks a lot, and hopefully I'll be an owner soon!

List price of the 250 is around £1100 more than the 220. Has basically the same engine bar the Turbo chargers, 250 is twin turbo.

I chose the 220, why? well if I was going to spend the extra £1100 for 34bhp, then for just a couple more grand you can have the daddy C350CDI. So the price of the 250 was too close to the 350 if that makes sense......probably not!

That said, if MB have offered a 'deal' on the 250, then 250 any day of the week

 

[developer]

The 220 is a twin turbo also.

 

[Mark HS]

Go for the 250 , I have 203 270 before that I had c220
Not much diffrent in mpg

 

[portal_96]

Thanks for the guidance. I opted for the c250 - picked it up Friday night. so far driving about town I'm getting about 39-45mpg and on long motorway runs its up to about 51mpg. Quite happy with that.

I'll post some photos up in the members gallery for anyone interested.

Cheers!

 

[st4]

Nice one, enjoy.

 

[Frugal]

Congratulations, hope it goes well for you.

 

[chrisbin]

Any more feedback on your first impressions, other than the mpg?

Car looks great btw!

 

[Jim55]

The 220 is a twin turbo also.

Is it ??