Finding an E320cdi

[coneybiller]

I’ve posted in the wanted section, my want for an S211 E320cdi. I’m wondering if such cars come up for sale very often with the minimum spec that I would like!
They seem to be very far and few between to find that diamond shining in the rough, with most being cheap well and truely used and abused!
I did once see an example (a fair few years ago) that had every conceivable option available, heated/cooled massage memory seats, pan roof, HK audio, 4way climate, keyless go/entry distronic, almost AMG spec including factory body kit (obviously without the engine, seats and massive brakes)!! It was an amazing bit of kit and I can well imagine that these are extremely rare due to the options price tag this would of had on the initial purchase price of an E320cdi.

I’d love to find a car that has at least half of these options, but it also must have the sweet OM648 inline 6 which in my opinion is superior to the V6 in almost every aspect.

When it comes to buying cars, I’m very impatient and always get lost in the fact I treat it as a “toy” when looking at new cars, then end up putting smaller faults in the “Ahh I can fix that cheaply enough” category and ignore it, then either live with it or regret it due to it being worse than suspected! I’ve done this on so many cars and ended up spending silly money on them because it was a lemon in the first place! My Mrs just rolls her eyes when I’m car shopping, she knows what I’m like

How long would you wait to find the perfect car?

 

[davymead]

As long as it takes. Months in my E350’s case. As the range of specs on Mercs is SO enormous, and you being so picky, sounds like it could well test your patience.

 

[mersum1es]

I have bought last two from Sweden (well, mainly beacuse of price of course), BUT especially my W212 specs combos were so difficult they simply didn't exists in Finland... watched almost an year. You UK guys have problem because you are driving 'wrong side' and no neighbours can help. Even Japanese prefer LHD MB cars (some weird status thing I have heard).

 

[coneybiller]

They’ve got to a price point now, where they are a cheap reliable workhorse, so a lot of people buy them and treat them like a 15 year old Ford Fiesta or even a work van! Used and abused daily and neglected. So it’s going to be hard to find a decent example!

There’s one on auto trader at the moment, a 53 plate with only 29k! It’s got the min spec I’d like too, but they also want £7500 and that’s more than I’m looking to spend unfortunately!

It’s just a waiting game now, I’m in no real rush to buy, but it’s frustrating knowing that someone out there somewhere is pondering about selling their mint, low mileage and well specced S211 320cdi!

 

[MrGreedy]

I gave up 1 year ago after about 6 months of looking and ended up with a w212

Mercedes E Class Estate - W211 or W212? | General Discussion

My budget at the time was about £5k, but back then, £5k was about the top price being achieved for E320 diesels. Since lockdown, prices have seriously strengthened by at least 50% at the top end, and I've seen cars up to £10k.

 

[m80]

They’ve got to a price point now, where they are a cheap reliable workhorse, so a lot of people buy them and treat them like a 15 year old Ford Fiesta or even a work van!

You've found me out.
The overly complicated 651 Viano was taking too long to return to the road due to an engine strip, and I neeeded transport.

It thought Astra vans had served me well years ago, but it turns out estates are cheaper and come with cruise and AC.
So what about an E, I thought, taking one of those would make me feel happier I've heard.

But seriously, I saw 2 that were 140K and 160k but pre facelift.
A 2009 2.1 646 with 121k came up. More than enough toys , although memory seats would be groovy.
Far better than any Astra, far more spacious and comfortable. The return to London at w/e gave a calculated 47.75mpg
It's a posh van and serving very well.

At less than £3k it's difficult to complain.

 

[jdrrco]

How about this?

https://www.mtsv.co.uk/info/w211e320cdiavbs21n.htm

 

[coneybiller]

How about this?

https://www.mtsv.co.uk/info/w211e320cdiavbs21n.htm

Looks like a nice no expense spared example. However, I’m after an estate for practicality. I have 2 young kids and love having the option of being able to transport almost anything at the drop of a hat.

You've found me out.
The overly complicated 651 Viano was taking too long to return to the road due to an engine strip, and I neeeded transport.

It thought Astra vans had served me well years ago, but it turns out estates are cheaper and come with cruise and AC.
So what about an E, I thought, taking one of those would make me feel happier I've heard.

But seriously, I saw 2 that were 140K and 160k but pre facelift.
A 2009 2.1 646 with 121k came up. More than enough toys , although memory seats would be groovy.
Far better than any Astra, far more spacious and comfortable. The return to London at w/e gave a calculated 47.75mpg
It's a posh van and serving very well.

At less than £3k it's difficult to complain.

And while the prices are so cheap, you’d be daft not to! All the luxuries and probably more load space than an Astra van! It’s a win win situation!

 

[coneybiller]

I gave up 1 year ago after about 6 months of looking and ended up with a w212

Mercedes E Class Estate - W211 or W212? | General Discussion

My budget at the time was about £5k, but back then, £5k was about the top price being achieved for E320 diesels. Since lockdown, prices have seriously strengthened by at least 50% at the top end, and I've seen cars up to £10k.

The example I’ve seen for £7500 is the highest I’ve seen for a 3.2 OM648. It seems to of vanished from autotrader now, so I’m assuming someone’s bought it! Probably a good buy, but was a little more than I’m willing to spend.
The 320cdi Sport of the facelift models seem to hold their value the most, but unfortunately they didn’t make those with the 3.2 OM648. It’s a shame, as I prefer the look of the facelift, but I really want this engine! It’s more frugal with less issues in the long run. It’s also easier to work on should issues arrive AND there’s more scope for a few tuning tweaks (should I decide to take this route ).

 

[m80]

I can understand why you want that particular engine.
I have the 651 in the Viano, smooth, quiet, more frugal, but with all the additional emissions cr*p is horrible to work on.
I've had the 642 in 2 mo mo's. Smooth, quiet but not frugal. In a spacious enclosure it isn't as horrible as the 651to work on.

I am surprised how tractable the 646 is in the E class though. Facelift so past the SBC. Hopefully less rust to worry about. I'm finding it frugal but I do drive for economy.
170 broken gee gee's, 400nm of chat chat, it can go if I want it too.
I'm finding it more than acceptable for smoothness and quietness, but accept other engines could be better. It might be worthy of your consideration.

 

[Peterds]

Any luck with the car hunting or have you widened your horizon.

 

[coneybiller]

Narrowed it down a wee bit. I’ve decided I don’t need an estate now. If one comes up in the right spec then I’ll certainly go for it, but it’s not a necessity.
I’ve seen a very late model with 75k on the clock going for £3995. It’s also got airmatic and a pan roof. Only downside, is that it has cream leather and one of the rear parking sensors is pushed in via a bit of bumper contact and a small scratch. Not major things, the parking sensor shouldn’t be too difficult to fix. I’m just not 100% sure if I really want to settle for cream leather

 

[coneybiller]

Well, thought I’d do a late update. I ended up buying the car I mentioned on my last post and managed to knock the dealer down from £3995 to £3400! Ive since spent around £700 on some preventative maintenance and some other parts that required attention and I must say that I’m very pleased with it.

Things I’ve done so far:
2 x tyres (nsr had a chunk missing on the inner sidewall, which I would never of seen + NSF had large golf ball size bulges on the inner sidewall bad enough that my friend who was doing my repairs, said he wouldn’t let me drive it away without replacement!)
4 x locking wheel nuts removed (no key with the car)
Radiator fan (coolant, visit workshop message)
Coolant level sensor (also for above fault)
NSF lower arm
NSF lower arm hub ball joint
NSF Track control arm
NS + OS inner and outer track rod ends (found to be pretty bent apparently when attempting to align it!)
NSF + OSF anti roll bar drop links
Full hunter 4 wheel alignment
Full service (air, oil, fuel and cabin)
Gearbox service
Replaced NS folding wing mirror mechanism
Rear windows tinted
Headlight lens restoration
Osram Nighbreaker laser 200% d2s bulbs (how much!!!)
Had the pan roof front glass wind deflector vinyl wrapped in Matt black after it shattered from a stone chip, 3 days after buying the car

Still a few things I need to do yet before I’m completely happy though. Could do with a rear bumper as it’s a bit scuffed and scraped and I still need to fix the rear parking sensor that’s pushed in. It needs a new front right middle parking sensor due to it being faulty as well.
After all of the suspension parts as well. It still has the knock I’ve been trying to cure! There’s 3 things it can be now: NSF airmatic strut, NSF upper arm ball joint, or the anti roll bar bushes, everything else is new!. There’s no play in anything, so it’s not dangerous or going anywhere, but it’s just annoying and don’t really want to change the strut that’s otherwise fully functioning!
Other than that, it’s not the estate car I thought I’d needed, but a nice big saloon car that’s big enough for my family of 4 and perfect for my 150mile per day commute!

 

[fabes]

Well done, but....

 

[W1ghty]

Well, thought I’d do a late update. I ended up buying the car I mentioned on my last post and managed to knock the dealer down from £3995 to £3400! Ive since spent around £700 on some preventative maintenance and some other parts that required attention and I must say that I’m very pleased with it.

Things I’ve done so far:
2 x tyres (nsr had a chunk missing on the inner sidewall, which I would never of seen + NSF had large golf ball size bulges on the inner sidewall bad enough that my friend who was doing my repairs, said he wouldn’t let me drive it away without replacement!)
4 x locking wheel nuts removed (no key with the car)
Radiator fan (coolant, visit workshop message)
Coolant level sensor (also for above fault)
NSF lower arm
NSF lower arm hub ball joint
NSF Track control arm
NS + OS inner and outer track rod ends (found to be pretty bent apparently when attempting to align it!)
NSF + OSF anti roll bar drop links
Full hunter 4 wheel alignment
Full service (air, oil, fuel and cabin)
Gearbox service
Replaced NS folding wing mirror mechanism
Rear windows tinted
Headlight lens restoration
Osram Nighbreaker laser 200% d2s bulbs (how much!!!)
Had the pan roof front glass wind deflector vinyl wrapped in Matt black after it shattered from a stone chip, 3 days after buying the car

Still a few things I need to do yet before I’m completely happy though. Could do with a rear bumper as it’s a bit scuffed and scraped and I still need to fix the rear parking sensor that’s pushed in. It needs a new front right middle parking sensor due to it being faulty as well.
After all of the suspension parts as well. It still has the knock I’ve been trying to cure! There’s 3 things it can be now: NSF airmatic strut, NSF upper arm ball joint, or the anti roll bar bushes, everything else is new!. There’s no play in anything, so it’s not dangerous or going anywhere, but it’s just annoying and don’t really want to change the strut that’s otherwise fully functioning!
Other than that, it’s not the estate car I thought I’d needed, but a nice big saloon car that’s big enough for my family of 4 and perfect for my 150mile per day commute!

Also PCV is worth changing , as well as turbo orange inlet seal (maybe the green and black ones as well ) .

 

[coneybiller]

Also PCV is worth changing , as well as turbo orange inlet seal (maybe the green and black ones as well ) .

It’s an OM648 straight 6 not the OM642 V6, which is one of the reasons I bought it. So I don’t need to worry as much about blocked PCV’s and turbo inlet seals leaking into the valley and killing the swirlflap motor
It’s a late 2005 build year but only registered in 2006, hence it being on an 06 plate

 

[coneybiller]

One of it looking filthy with the tints just applied.

Haven’t got many photos as of yet. You can see some of the damage to the rear bumper and the pushed in parking sensor that I need to remove the bumper for