Hi from a Brit in a Japanese Car in Germany :)

[Deleted member 37751]

I like the sound of that and the added fuel economy means it would be driven more. Are there many other tuning options? Being here I would have thought it was a prime opportunity for me.

From the research that I've done, the most power that you'd want to go up to in the V6 is 300bhp.

Your problem would be the gearbox, if you wanted to go more powerful than that you would probably be better off with the IL6 with the 5 speed gearbox because its able to take a lot more torque. Which thinking about it would maybe be more in your price range.

What is your ideal budget?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

What are the E and C class like in winter? Here I'd have to fit winter tyres which helps but having not experienced RWD for a very long time I have concerns over my rather heavy right foot. You don't exactly see Mercs in ditches, etc all the time so I'm guessing the safety systems do their job well.

I don't think you'll struggle when you've got winter tyres on, but with the amount of torque available, they can get a bit tail-happy.

Which is fun.....

 

[Beastlee]

Ideally the budget would be mre like £6-8000 which will allow for me to do any work needed and the cost of a set of winter wheels unless they were included. £10K is the absolute max and would need to be the exact match to my needs as well as mechanically perfect.
Whatever I buy will be expected to be my next car for at least another 4-5 years. When I finally come back to the UK (2-5 years) I need to make sure I can still afford to run whatever I buy. I get cheap (90p/litre for Super Plus, less for diesel) fuel and tax free repairs now and this makes running a more expensive car much easier. If I knew I was definitely staying for 5 years I think I would have decided on an E55 already.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

For £8,000 you're better off buying a really well looked after IL6 320 then. For the V6 at that money, they will be quite high mileage etc and if you're keeping it for 5 years I'm guessing that you want as low a mileage as possible?

It's a shame about the V6 being slightly out of budget because the Sport models are drifting towards the £10-12k mark. These have stiffer suspension, bigger wheels etc etc

 

[Beastlee]

How do I know the difference? Is the V6 the Euro4 ones I see?
Mileage isn't too much of an issue TBH as I only do about 4-5000 a year, although with a diesel that may increase. As long as it's been serviced properly it just goes to prove how well they can last. High mileage means lower prices, although you wouldn't think that to look at places like Autotrader!

I've not looked at the sports as I didn't think they had the gadgets the Avantgarde models have. Mind you, it seems you either get COMAND and nothing or everything else and no COMAND, even with the AMG models.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The V6 has 224 bhp, whereas the IL6 has 205 bhp. The V6 started around the 55 plate, which is what mine is.

What specification in particular are you looking for, besides COMAND?

 

[Beastlee]

I'm an absolute gadget freak and I don't really know what the full list of possibilities are but the base I would really want are:

COMAND
TV
Bluetooth
iPod or Aux connectivity for my iPhone 4
Not too worried about the Sat-Nav as I have TomTom on my iPhone

Cruise Control
Distronic

Park Distance Control
I much prefer to use my eyes and mirrors but helps resale value

Leather Seats
Prefer dark colours
Memory for driver and passenger
Heated, Ventilated and Dynamic

Electric adjust steering wheel
Easy exit feature

Climate Control
4 Zone
Digital main unit

Electric Tailgate

Sunroof
There'sprobably more but the choices are mind-boggling! Basically the more it has the better as far as I'm concerned. It's one of the things I like about the C32 I've been looking at, it has most of the C32 options, save the suroof.
I realise some of the above options are not on a C-Class but I figured it was easier to show what I'm looking for overall.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I'm an absolute gadget freak and I don't really know what the full list of possibilities are but the base I would really want are:

COMAND
TV
Bluetooth
iPod or Aux connectivity for my iPhone 4
Not too worried about the Sat-Nav as I have TomTom on my iPhone

Cruise Control
Distronic

Park Distance Control
I much prefer to use my eyes and mirrors but helps resale value

Leather Seats
Prefer dark colours
Memory for driver and passenger
Heated, Ventilated and Dynamic

Electric adjust steering wheel
Easy exit feature

Climate Control
4 Zone
Digital main unit

Electric Tailgate

Sunroof
There'sprobably more but the choices are mind-boggling! Basically the more it has the better as far as I'm concerned. It's one of the things I like about the C32 I've been looking at, it has most of the C32 options, save the suroof.
I realise some of the above options are not on a C-Class but I figured it was easier to show what I'm looking for overall.

The most common specification you are likely to find on an E320 estate is;

Parking sensors

Heated memory seats (memory seats include the easy entry function)

COMAND

Full leather.

You will really struggle to find an S211 in your price bracket with distronic; it's probably the rarest option on the E-Class and I'd include the E55 in that.

My estate has the following;
COMAND
Digital TV
DVD
Rear factory TV with Aux input
Aux input for iPhone
Bluetooth
Parking sensors
6 CD changer
2 seats in the boot making it a 7 seater
Brabus box, adding 48bhp.

 

[Beastlee]

Nice spec, I've added the rear TV to my list as that was on one of the E55's I saw and had forgotten about that. Also the Brabus, is that a factory option?
Distronic is a nice to have rather than a must, just like the parking sensors.
I can take or leave the 7 seats, There's 3 of us and two smallish dogs, Border Collie and Portugeuse Podengo, so they would only be necesarry if we have visitors.

I've considered looking at Saloons and just using a seat protector for the dogs but I don't know how the Merc seats would handle the dogs claws.

EDIT: I haven't added to the list as the edit function has already gone....I've never understood why some sites have that set to such a short time. So now it's :

COMAND
TV
Bluetooth
iPod or Aux connectivity for my iPhone 4
Rear factory TV
Not too worried about the Sat-Nav as I have TomTom on my iPhone

Cruise Control
Distronic*

Park Distance Control*
I much prefer to use my eyes and mirrors but helps resale value

Leather Seats
Prefer dark colours
Memory for driver and passenger
Heated, Ventilated and Dynamic

Electric adjust steering wheel

Climate Control
4 Zone*
Digital main unit

Electric Tailgate*

Sunroof*

Brabus box / Resonantor delete (model specific)

Items with a * are nice to haves.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The Brabus box plugs in to different sensors on the engine and is sat in a cradle under the bonnet, so you can remove it if needs be.

I've also got quad zone climate.

I keep forgetting the spec on my car!!!

 

[Beastlee]

/me potters off to research...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Here's a couple of pictures of mine. The paintwork is called Flint grey

 

[Beastlee]

I know I said E55s were out and saloons weren't my preferred opton but look at this for the money : 2004 Mercedes AMG E55 Kompressor One Owner High Spec. | eBay

Everything but the roof it seems!

 

[Beastlee]

Here's a couple of pictures of mine. The paintwork is called Flint grey

Wow, even the E-Class can leave the rear passengers with little leg room. I'm guessing the seat is all the way back as the current rear passenger doesn't have any worries about leg room, more worried about cleaning drool off the leather I'm right in my understanding that even though the seats aren't memory they are still electric, as is the wheel?
The digital TV is a useful feature given the shutdown of analogue services!

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Wow, even the E-Class can leave the rear passengers with little leg room. I'm guessing the seat is all the way back as the current rear passenger doesn't have any worries about leg room, more worried about cleaning drool off the leather I'm right in my understanding that even though the seats aren't memory they are still electric, as is the wheel?
The digital TV is a useful feature given the shutdown of analogue services!

Yes they are electric seats with lumbar support and that passenger seat is all the way back.
When my wife's in that seat, the little 'un can't kick the seat and she's about 5'8".

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I know I said E55s were out and saloons weren't my preferred opton but look at this for the money : 2004 Mercedes AMG E55 Kompressor One Owner High Spec. | eBay

Everything but the roof it seems!

You will get a lot more car for your money by going for a saloon, I think that car has been posted in the 'spotted on ebay' section on the forum.

 

[Beastlee]

The little 'un is 5'8 I dread to think what the big 'un is LOL

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The little 'un is 5'8 I dread to think what the big 'un is LOL

Lol

I'm on about the wife being 5'8" sat in the front seat.

 

[deltashad]

If you look around you'll eventually find a fully specc'd car. I owned an ML500 ex mercedes car, I was adamant I wanted full spec. I managed to get one with full AMG kit, 6x electric windows, 7x seats, front and rear screen (comand), tip, rain, headlamp, Xenon etc. The goodies made all the difference. My CLK has everything apart from the Comand. Not the end of the world as the non updated disc was a pain in the @ss and I am installing Parrot.

Personally as a fellow petrol head I wouldn't go for a diesel. Even when chipped they become very boring very quick. E500 all the way...

 

[Beastlee]

Tried out a local E320 CDI Avantgarde with Distronic, heated and ventilated seats and COMAND-APS. The discs and tyres could have done with a change and there were a few scuffs around it, perhaps they should have specced Parktronic after all! This was my first drive of a Mercedes, although I've been a passenger in one many at time here as nearly all the taxis are Mercedes. It had 143k miles and FMBSH.
With a very humid 28 degrees I turned on the A/C but that seemed to take it's time to cool down and was blowing a storm so loud I couldn't hear the directions the dealer was giving me. Is this normal for the A/C?
The 7G-Tronic box seemed very good but still seemed to 'thud' into place when the throttle was pressed hard, is this normal given I've only heard they are super smooth. I was going to test the tip mode but got confused as to why you can't select anything particular between 3 and D, that's not tip mode in my book.
It was apparent there was power there but at no time was I left feeling like there was 500+Nm of torque pushing me along. I wasn't able to give it a large poriton of lous due to being in 20mph zones or in rush hour traffic on the Autobahn, meaning 70mph at best. Even so it was apparent I wasn't in my Japanese rocket ship. There was judder from the brakes which confimed my concerns over the discs. I wasn't too sure about the parametric steering either as it just didn't seem to give the feedback I am so used to, it did corner better than I thought it would though.
Everything seemed to be put together well and there were no creaks or rattles. The seats seemed good but I was un-impressed by the ventilation, that can come off my list of wants. Distronic is disconcerting if you've never experienced it before and the cruise, as well as all the other electrics seemed good. I do like the way it uses the blips in the center of the speedo to indicate what's happening.
Whilst I say this is the first I've driven it was the second we've looked at recently. I notice with both that they were rusting where the trim at the top of the number plate recess was rusting. I was under the impression boot and bonnet were alumnium and shouldn't suffer this. There was a small rainstorm when I opened the boot lid and under braking the dash would complain about the boot being open despite me knowing the soft-close had operated. Again, is this a common factor with the boot lids?

Overall it was a lovely car and a comfortable drive but i just didn't find it appealing enough. I don't know what difference the Brabus D6 makes ot the overall drive but a stock car just doesn't cut it for me. I appreciate it's a performance diesel rep-mobile but I was still hoping for a little more sportiness.
I checked with my insurer and I'm looking at €60 a month to insure it here but €92 with the Brabus unit fitted and I'm not sure I would value the chip that much considering the VR4 only costs me €40 a month.

We went to look at a C320 (06) earlier with some lovely adjustable support seats but it just felt too small inside so I now know the C-Class is definitely out.

The same dealer had a 530d SE (06) with the panoramic roof. I've always liked the E60 5 series estated to look at and this was my first time in one. We didn't drive it but I did sit and play with the roof and iDrive. I don't see everyone's issue with iDrive, it was simple to understand and operate. I wondered if MB's iteration can control where the heat will be focussed and offer all the A/C control it has.
I've always swayed toward MB but the 5 has now piqued my interest. I guess I need to drive one to compare them fairly.
I haven't written of the E-Class yet, it does offer an amazing package, but either my expectations need to be lowered or I need to forget diesel for a performance car under £10K.