E250 Sport Estate. Surprisingly good!

[Peter DLM]

So, as I explore my many next car options, I had an hour with a 11 reg E250 CDi Sport Estate with 7g.

I had originally dismissed such a lowly engine and at first flatly refused to even drive one, but as there were no E350 CDis available I decided to at least try it.

I'm quite shocked about how quiet it is compared to my E320 CDi firstly, and how very similar they are on performance, pre-remap. I found later that the E250 is rated at 204hp and 369ft/lb which is almost indentical to the E320 of 2004 vintage.

The 7g with Drive Select was very good also, seemed always to be in the right gear, swapped quickly, and there was no delay in delivering forward motion from a stop, in fact on the cold wet roads it was very easy to get the TC activating.

Ride and handling were far better than my Avantgard, overall I came away with a very good feeling.

Obviously, I'm still going to opt for the E350 CDi, if I go down the new car route, but I think I'd be able to live with an E250 without moaning about it all the time, that's some praise!

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

I'm looking at one of these for my next lease. The 350 coupe I have now is great but occasionally I need more space so it'll be a saloon or estate next. The 250 is more than adequate in terms of power. The 350 has found me being done for speeding three times in the last two years! My licence had been clean for over 30 yrs!

The only thing that put me off the 250 back in 2010, when I got the 350, was the injector issues relating to the 4 pot diesels.

As well as fuel the 350 eats tyres and insurance premiums so perhaps I should trade down if only to protect my license!

The 350 coupe is still a great car though!

 

[st4]

I've driven the related 220cdi and the twin turbo engines are nice and quite refined. The v6 is a big jump on refinement wise and the new 4s are very young so we don't know how they'll fare five or ten years down the line. We know the issues of the v6 and although I rant about how **** they are, the new gen 4s could be worse.

 

[Red C220]

I'm really impressed with the 220 we have. As much as I'd like a 350 I no longer feel it's "needed" as these four cylinder engines are so good.

An E250 estate would be perfect for us.

 

[A210AMG]

Seems to do a lot more MPG also

That is the 'real' world figures and not the published ones.

 

[st13phil]

There's no doubt about it, the 250CDI engine coupled with the 7G Plus gearbox is an impressive combination in the E-Class. Taken in isolation, the refinement level is very good too - it's only when you swap between the 4-pot and the V6 back to back that the increased noise under load and at idle and the slight general gruffness of the 4-pot is more obvious.

In the real world, the 250CDI delivers perfectly adequate performance in an economical package, but the V6 does raise the refinement level (and running costs!) another notch.

 

[developer]

So, as I explore my many next car options, I had an hour with a 11 reg E250 CDi Sport Estate with 7g.

I had originally dismissed such a lowly engine and at first flatly refused to even drive one, but as there were no E350 CDis available I decided to at least try it.

I'm quite shocked about how quiet it is compared to my E320 CDi firstly, and how very similar they are on performance, pre-remap. I found later that the E250 is rated at 204hp and 369ft/lb which is almost indentical to the E320 of 2004 vintage.

The 7g with Drive Select was very good also, seemed always to be in the right gear, swapped quickly, and there was no delay in delivering forward motion from a stop, in fact on the cold wet roads it was very easy to get the TC activating.

Ride and handling were far better than my Avantgard, overall I came away with a very good feeling.

Obviously, I'm still going to opt for the E350 CDi, if I go down the new car route, but I think I'd be able to live with an E250 without moaning about it all the time, that's some praise!

Only two words to say to you Pete - you know what they are don't you?

May they appear on a 3.0 V6 soon .