Cabrio decision help - A207 vs A238 vs A205

[obee72]

I hope I’ve got these codes right but basically looking to upgrade our EOS to a Merc cabrio and just can’t decide between these. Got a £25k ceiling and want something to keep for next 5/6 years so reliability is important.

A207 - E350CDI local very low miles on a late 15 plate. Premium so pretty much fully loaded, drives lovely. £20k.
A238 - looking at an E300 petrol but heard stories about reliability not being up to previous gen standards. Love the updated interior but such a shame memory seats not on any in my price bracket.
A205 - C200, C300 or C300d. interior almost as good as new E.

We do around 10-12k a year and I don’t mind taking a diesel out for a run to keep DPF clean. Tax on anything post 1st Apr 17 is annoying but affordable.

So I’m after any experiences, good and bad across all three please.

Ta muchly.

 

[Peterds]

All things being equal... A207 every day of the week.

 

[Steeve]

Would personally go with the A238, newer look exterior than the old E, and superior road presence over the C. Depends how much the lower spec will bother you, no doubt your 20k will get you far higher spec on the others, but a lot of that spec may be nice to have rather than must haves, only you know your "must have" list.

 

[geoffus]

We do around 10-12k a year and I don’t mind taking a diesel out for a run to keep DPF clean. Tax on anything post 1st Apr 17 is annoying but affordable.

Don't worry about the DPF in a modern Merc it will do little regens all the time without you taking it for long runs etc. You will never notice it doing so.

 

[Peter S]

I’ve got a 238, albeit in 350 guise, and it’s been faultless. Mind you, at 18 months old and 15k miles you’d hope so... from memory the only difference between the 300 and the 350 is the mild hybrid stuff isn’t it? That and about 50bhp. I’m not sure I’d miss either, though mine is commendably brisk. It also managed an average of 34 mpg over a 3,000 mile European trip in between lockdowns last year. It even managed 42mpg between a West Sussex and the channel tunnel!

I thought memory seats were standard, but maybe they were in a package?