E320 Sport (55) Pros and Cons

[DavidB52s]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy an E series Merc. I've not driven many cars so some advice would be appreciated.

I've test driven a couple of C-class but I'm worried about the legroom in the back - my little ones aren't so little any more so I really need a car to carry 4 adults in comfort, hence the decision to go for an E class.

Local dealer has an E320 CDI Sport Saloon on a 55 plate and only 35,000 miles. I took it for a drive and it is certainly the most comfortable car I have driven. It is in immaculate condition. Leather, which I love, and memory seats which would be great as I'm a foot taller than my wife The dealer has serviced it from new.

So far so good. I've done some hunting around on the web and my concerns are:

(1) should I be worried about the age of the car? I know I can expect a lot of miles out of a Merc but would I be better off getting a newer car, eg a 58 plate with say 70,000 miles?

(2) I read on Honest John about electrical problems with Mercs before the 06 facelift. When I queried this with the dealer they said that these were sorted out from the 55 plate onwards - are they telling porkies?

(3) I'm more into comfort than speed, it would appear that the Elegance might be a better spec - but is there really much difference? Would someone who hasn't driven many cars really notice the difference?

(4) Would a numpty like me notice much difference between the E220 and E320?

(5) I had to look up what low profile tyres were (did I tell you I was a numpty?). I'm pretty sure this car has 18in low profile alloys - are these (a) less comfortable than those on, say, a Elegance. (b) more expensive?

(6) Is there anything else I should be asking?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Dave.

 

[developer]

Hello David and welcome - sorry for the lack of replies - we celebrate hard at Christmas - let's make a start.

If you need room you need an E Class - C's are "compact" in the back.

Do you have a link to the car? A 55 plate Sport would seem to be one of the early "mixed spec" with pre facelift grille, steering wheel, gearstick etc. Is it a V6 - if not, it's not a Sport.

I've had pre and post facelift and my 2004 car in line 6 was almost trouble free.

The age is no issue at all and by 55 plate it will be galvanised erradicating the earlier rust issues.

With any car, service history is most important.

Elegance will be the most comfortable, Sport the least, but the Sports are more than adequate - don't forget we're talking E Class. Sport spec is likely to be the best unless a particular Elegance had many of the options boxes ticked

Powerwise, a 320 is leagues ahead of a 220 and more refined throughout (especially the V6) The 220 is a four pot.

18 wheels would indicate is is a Sport and they will be less comfortable and more expensive.

If you really want comfort over sportiness, go for an Elegance on 16" wheels.

Sports look better (IMO) as they sit lower with larger fatter tyres.

There are loads around so don't rush into it.

I hope this helps,

 

[st4]

Aye John its an early V6CDi and early 7g car. Its just like mine a "mixed spec" of facelifted and prefacelifted cars.

The big issue on these are the inlet port shut off motor problem but every large capacity diesel from the premium marques has its faults. Bet you it won't have the modified turbo seals/manifolds etc so it will let go, but its a 1x fix.

Its a very economical car and fast as well. It also can be quite expensive to fix if it does go wrong (engine related faults for my car from 44k to 81k add up to £2300 between my pocket and the warranty). At 35k miles, it won't but at 80k miles plus it might. Worse case for a new manifold is £1500 inc VAT.

It will also have SBC if a pre facelifted, dealers so far change the SBC pump (electronic assistance for the brakes rather than a servo) - worst case you have to pay a grand. A face lifted car does without this system.

7g - well I ****ing hate it but as you are actively looking for one I suspect you won't. Make sure you drive a 7g in a few good varieties of road to make sure you are ok with it. The 5g is infinitely better IMHO but that's not a view and experience shared by all.

Its not all bad however otherwise I wouldn't have one

1. In sport spec they are brilliant to drive IMHO. I had an AG it was a tad soft, whilst some say the 18's spoil the ride, they don't spoil the fun!!!
2. The engine is very smooth, not far off petrol engine smoothness, and very powerful. It feels a lot more than 221bhp. It has 368fl/lb torque (500NM) so overtaking is a doddle, I've never wanted for more power/
3. Given the above, its very economical, I get the same as my old 150bhp 220cdi fuel wise from it, maybe 3mpg less but thats it for a car that is genuinely fast

With regards to a 220cdi, your budget would move you into a facelifted car. It is a more reliable engine and IMHO a nicer tranmission in the 220cdi over the 7g in the more powerful car, and you may get 3mpg more out it. But you will notice the lack of power (relative, its still an adequate performer) over the V6. At low speeds the refinement isn't as good but on a motorway/A/B road theres not an awful lot in it. There is no sport spec on the 220cdi but if you were hell bent on the look and better handling you could get a set of 18s off eBay.

The 220cdi is also the substancially more reliable car in my experience and the feedback I got from my Mechanic, and will be more painless to own, but not so much fun to drive.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

(1) should I be worried about the age of the car? I know I can expect a lot of miles out of a Merc but would I be better off getting a newer car, eg a 58 plate with say 70,000 miles?

(2) I read on Honest John about electrical problems with Mercs before the 06 facelift. When I queried this with the dealer they said that these were sorted out from the 55 plate onwards - are they telling porkies?

(3) I'm more into comfort than speed, it would appear that the Elegance might be a better spec - but is there really much difference? Would someone who hasn't driven many cars really notice the difference?

(4) Would a numpty like me notice much difference between the E220 and E320?

(5) I had to look up what low profile tyres were (did I tell you I was a numpty?). I'm pretty sure this car has 18in low profile alloys - are these (a) less comfortable than those on, say, a Elegance. (b) more expensive?

(6) Is there anything else I should be asking?

1) I wouldn't fret too much about the mileage on one of these, I've owned the E320 V6 Cdi with 134k on and it drove the same as one with 38k.

2) The change to the V6 CDi from the IL6 saw around (iirc) 2,000 changes which was around mid-2005. The exterior face-lift happened in mid-2006.

3) I've got a 57 plate E320 CDi Sport with the 18" wheels and I think it drives perfect, the right blend between comfort and poise. I found the Avantgarde models with 16" wheels to be slightly wallowy & a bit too soft.

4) Yes, you would notice the difference between 220 & 320, the 220 can sound a tad gruff around town whereas the 320 is a lot smoother both on the motorway and around town.

5) Yes, they are 18" low profile tyres and they will be more expensive to replace than the 16" on the Elegance, but it will also come down to how many miles you do and how you drive the car.

6) I would aim for a 2006 facelift car because it will hold its money that bit better than post facelift.


May I ask, what's your budget?

 

[DavidB52s]

Thanks guys that's really helpful.

I'm looking to spend around £10-£12K but as you can tell I'm worried about running costs (I had a bad experience with an Espace which has left me scared for life, I was spending an average of £500 a year on tyres. I would expect to do about 15,000 miles a year in the car and probably keep it for a good few years so resale value is not such an issue. Can someone give me a rough idea of how many miles I can expect out each type and how much they cost? I know it depends on how people drive but any idea would help.

I'd naively assumed more gears the better - have to say I love the DSG gearbox on my Touran but the E320 I drove seemed just as good (but maybe I need to drive a few more).

 

[PXW]

Personally I think the 7g box is great. As *** says (often!!) there are differing views but MB have used a hell of a lot of them by now and mine has been fine. If you are keeping the car for a long time then I wouldn't worry about pre/post facelift. The big changes were the V6, the galvanising and the 7G box all of which are on the '55 you are considering. The facelift as far as I can tell is largely cosmetic.

In terms of life of vehicle mine was bought at two years old with 32k showing. Now has 88k and has been excellent. Olly replaced front bushes for me at the last service but apart from that it's been consumables - tyres, brakes mostly - and it still drives like it did when I first got it. Mine however is a baby compared to some on here. Have a look at the 'who's got a 211' thread where some members have listed their mileage. May be worth a PM to one or two to ask their experience.

 

[st4]

Personally I think the 7g box is great. As *** says (often!!) there are differing views but MB have used a hell of a lot of them by now and mine has been fine. If you are keeping the car for a long time then I wouldn't worry about pre/post facelift. The big changes were the V6, the galvanising and the 7G box all of which are on the '55 you are considering. The facelift as far as I can tell is largely cosmetic.

In terms of life of vehicle mine was bought at two years old with 32k showing. Now has 88k and has been excellent. Olly replaced front bushes for me at the last service but apart from that it's been consumables - tyres, brakes mostly - and it still drives like it did when I first got it. Mine however is a baby compared to some on here. Have a look at the 'who's got a 211' thread where some members have listed their mileage. May be worth a PM to one or two to ask their experience.

Mines on a similar age and from 44k miles to 82k miles the grand total for repairs is almost £3500. That's not routine servicing but failures.

It does drive the same as did new and there are no cabin rattles, funny engine noises or clonks. The basic cars are well made and do stellar miles but I'm less impressed with a wheel bearing collapsing at 60k miles and a ball joint worn at 55k. However it might have had a hard life with its previous owners.

Tyre wise the chassis must be set up well as both of my 211s did over 25k on tyres and wear rates front to read were not excessively different.

 

[chord]

I have an 06 320 CDI sport and really like it. I consciously went for a facelift car, the sport looks really good. The seats are also much better than the standard car. I also have 18" wheels, but with air suspension the ride is really good. Would have preferred 17's as they are a bit more comfy and cheaper to replace, but the 18s suit the car. The 7G gearbox is ok, can seem to grab for a gear some times, but overall it's fine. Another bonus is that the boot is massive.

I went into the ownership experience with my eyes open, so knew it could be expensive to run. I ended up getting a 3rd party warranty, which has already paid out for a faulty heated seat. The cars are made for stellar mileage and can hide their age well, my seats are still in great condition at 58k but as the mileage goes up, then in my opinion things will start to wear out and need replacing. How much you spend also depends on whether you like to do preventative maintenance. You might get lucky and it might not cost much to run, but their is always the chance that things could get expensive.

 

[st4]

Agreed re the seats and wheels. On the big engined car you want that. On a 220 it's not so important.

I wish you could get half leather/cloth seats on the sport like the 204. I had that set up on my last one and for spirited driving you were held in the seat even better with the cloth.

 

[chord]

Agreed re the seats and wheels. On the big engined car you want that. On a 220 it's not so important.

I also found the spec better on the bigger engined cars. Personally I would have regretted not getting a 320 every time one went by if I had bought a 280 or 220. But that's personal, and I'm sure plenty of people are more than happy with their 220 or 280's

 

[st4]

I also found the spec better on the bigger engined cars. Personally I would have regretted not getting a 320 every time one went by if I had bought a 280 or 220. But that's personal, and I'm sure plenty of people are more than happy with their 220 or 280's

All 211s are nice spec with all the basic niceties standard. Probably I'm one of the youngest 211 drivers I'm maybe satisfied with less kit. Bar parking sensors even a no optioned car is good spec with dual climate, xenons, partial electric seats, tinted glass, cd player etc

I have a pathological hatred of COMAND and don't need memory seats etc.

Both of my cars are/were low spec in comparison to what a lot of folk have but agree if you want toys your not going to find it on a 220. Basic AG or sport spec ticks mine. I just wish it worked..

To be honest I could easily go back to a 220 etc. I've sampled really bad cars like ford kas, little peugeots etc so a e220 basic car is luxury